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Libertarianism, Culture, and Personal Predispositions Undergraduate Journal of Psychology 22 Libertarianism, Culture, and Personal Predispositions Ida Hepsø, Scarlet Hernandez, Shir Offsey, & Katherine White ​ Kennesaw​ State University Abstract The United States has exhibited two potentially connected trends – increasing individualism and increasing interest in libertarian ideology. Previous research on libertarian ideology found higher levels of individualism among libertarians, and cross-cultural research has tied greater individualism to making dispositional attributions and lower altruistic tendencies. Given this, we expected to observe positive correlations between the following variables in the present research: individualism and endorsement of libertarianism, individualism and dispositional attributions, and endorsement of libertarianism and dispositional attributions. We also expected to observe negative correlations between libertarianism and altruism, dispositional attributions and altruism, and individualism and altruism. Survey results from 252 participants confirmed a positive correlation between individualism and libertarianism, a marginally significant positive correlation between libertarianism and dispositional attributions, and a negative correlation between individualism and altruism. These results confirm the connection between libertarianism and individualism observed in previous research and present several intriguing questions for future research on libertarian ideology. Key Words: Libertarianism, individualism, altruism, attributions individualistic, made apparent through the increased The United States has witnessed two important use of words and phrases focusing on oneself rather trends over the last several decades. Firstly, there than communal words or phrases (Twenge, has been a growing interest in the Libertarian Party, Campbell, & Gentile, 2012). These two trends may as evident by the increased proportion of votes be connected, given the distinctly individualistic going to the Libertarian Party in each consecutive nature of the libertarian ideology. For example, general election (Lightner, 2016; Dwilson, 1 libertarians tend to believe that life, liberty, and the 2016).[1] Secondly, the nation is becoming more pursuit of happiness is not guaranteed by the hugely unpopular, resulting in support for alternative third 1 The surge in Libertarian votes during the 2016 election was party candidates (Yglesias, 2017). ​ partly due to the fact that both major-party candidates were 28 29 LIBERTARIANISM AND PERSONAL PREDISPOSITIONS government and therefore prefer that more power is Ames, 2001). People from Eastern (i.e., given to each individual (Iyer, Graham, Ditto, & collectivistic) cultures tend to be less likely to Haidt, 2012). Additionally, the libertarian ideology commit the fundamental attribution error places a premium on individual freedom and (explaining a behavior in terms of personal choices (Libertarian Party, 2017). Extensive dispositions and neglecting to consider situational psychological research has been performed on other influences) than are those from Western (i.e., prominent political ideologies, such as conservatism individualistic) cultures. This could be because (e.g., Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003), people from Eastern cultures tend to be more but far less attention has been devoted to the inclined than Westerners to think in broader terms exploration of libertarian ideology. One exception regarding the influence of social institutions, roles, is recent work by Iyer and colleagues (2012), which and external dispositions (Choi, Nisbett, & examined libertarian morality. The present research Norenzayan, 1999). Overall, this research suggests extends this initial work by exploring cultural and that individualists are more likely to make dispositional factors related to libertarian ideology. dispositional rather than situational attributions. The individualistic tendencies found among Cultures and individuals can differ greatly in the libertarians in Iyer and colleagues’ (2012) research extent to which they are individualistic or led to the prediction that endorsement of libertarian collectivistic. As mentioned previously, libertarians ideology would be associated with making tend to prefer more power to the individual and dispositional attributions (Hypothesis 2). highly value self-reliance and independence, which are hallmarks of the individualistic mindset. It is According to their party’s platform, libertarians are not surprising, then, that Iyer and colleagues (2012) generally opposed to government interference. The found that among self-proclaimed libertarians, argument is that people should not be compelled to conservatives, and liberals, libertarians tend to score help others; rather, they should help because it is the lowest on collectivism and higher or evenly with their own choice, such as in the case of charitable conservatives on individualism. This suggests that giving (Libertarian Party, 2017). This raises an libertarians tend to be more individualistic and less interesting question: is it reasonable to expect collectivist than both liberals and conservatives. people, especially those who are strongly This could be because libertarians reject the notion individualistic, to render aid where it is needed? of group effort or participating in groups that are Research on attributions and altruism cast some not voluntarily chosen, which is in line with their doubt on this particular question. Weiner's (1980) self-reliant ideologies (Rand, 1964). Given the attribution model outlines whether people are more previously documented connection between or less likely to offer help to those in need. libertarians and individualism, we hypothesized that Specifically, the model predicts that when people people who endorse libertarian ideology will also attribute a person's state of need to controllable score high on individualism, as evident by a factors (e.g., their disposition), they feel less positive correlation between libertarianism and sympathy and more negative emotions towards the individualism (Hypothesis 1). person in need, which in turn is associated with less willingness to help. However, if the person's state Research conducted in collectivistic and of need is attributed to factors outside their control individualistic cultures has found consistent cultural (e.g., their situation), people tend to be more willing differences in the attributions (i.e., explanations) to offer aid (Weiner, 1980). Given that people make regarding other people’s behavior. individualistic people tend to make more Specifically, there is a sharp split between Western dispositional attributions than situational and Eastern cultures (Morris & Peng, 1994; Lee, attributions, it is possible that individualistic people Hallahan, & Herzog, 1996; Morris, Menon, & would also be less likely to offer aid and assistance 30 Hepsø et al. to those in need. By extension, this also suggests that endorsing libertarian ideology - which scores The 20-item Libertarianism-Totalitarianism scale higher on individualism - is associated with lower (Mehrabian, 1996) was used to measure altruistic tendencies (Hypothesis 3). Additionally, participants’ preference for individual freedom or a we expected this relationship to be mediated by more autocratic government. The items assess the attributions (dispositional versus situational) extent to which an individual prefers a government (Hypothesis 4). that is involved with economic and social issues, versus a government that is less involved with these Findings from previous research suggest that issues. Sample items from the scale are “we need a libertarians tend to be more individualistic and may stronger government to create a better society” therefore make more dispositional attributions than (reverse-coded), and “the more powerful a people who endorse conservatism or liberalism. government becomes, the greater the risk that it will Additionally, as libertarians tend to score higher on become corrupt and unresponsive to the will of its individualism, it is suggested that endorsement of people.” Participants responded to the scale using a libertarianism may also be associated with lower 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly ​ altruistic tendencies and helping behaviors. The disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The scores were ​ ​ ​ current research will study any possible correlations averaged before analysis, with higher scores between libertarian ideology, individualism, indicating greater endorsement of libertarian dispositional attributions, and altruism. This study ideology. The scale demonstrated good internal will also search for evidence that the connection reliability in the current sample (α = .853). between individualism and altruism is mediated through attributions, as proposed in Weiner’s Individualism (1980) model. The Auckland Individualism and Collectivism Scale Method (Shulruf, Hattie, & Dixon, 2007), was used to measure how individualistic or collectivistic an Participants individual is, with individualism measured in three subscales and collectivism measured in three Two hundred and fifty-two undergraduate students subscales. In this scale, individualism is defined in from a large southeastern university participated in terms of how much responsibility one takes over the study in exchange for partial course credit. one’s action, how unique the individual perceives Participant data was excluded if the participants themselves, and the competitiveness of the were under the age of 18 (N =
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