Blame and Political Attitudes : The Psychology of America's Culture War

"A reader-friendly, well-researched and insightful analysis of an array of social attitudes and behaviors pertaining to abortion, political ideology, poverty, Donald Trump, and more. Guided by established psychological theory, these are embraced within a unifying framework centered around the concepts of responsibility and blame. A valuable contribution to the understanding of fundamental social issues." Bernard Weiner, Distinguished Research Professor, University of California, Los Angeles Questions about the causes of events, from terrorist attacks to mass shootings to economic and public health crises dominate conversations across the US. Recent research in social psychology outlines the process we use to identify the causes of such events, reveals how we determine who is responsible or to blame, and documents the far-reaching consequences of these determinations for our emotions, our actions, and our attitudes. Current approaches to political opinions posit a direct path from a persons worldview (liberal or conservative) to their attitudes toward specific political issues like abortion and welfare. This book argues that blame is the missing link between the two. Gail Sahar demonstrates that the current emphasis on value differences, whether between conservatives and liberals in the U.S. or between religious and secular countries on a global level, ignores commonalities in the way people think about issues. She proposes that focusing on perceived causes of social problems is a much more promising avenue for dialog than trying to reconcile fundamental belief systems. Informed by the latest psychological science, this new take on how to change attitudes has implications for anyone seeking to influence the viewpoints of others, from politicians and activists to ordinary people talking about current events at a dinner party. Gail Sahar is Jane Oxford Keiter Professor of Psychology, Wheaton College, Massachusetts USA. Professor Sahar has been researching the effects of causal perceptions on political attitudes for over 30 years. Her research focuses on the links between political ideology, perceptions of the causes of social problems, blame, emotions, and attitudes toward controversial social issues, such as poverty, abortion, and terrorism Acknowledgments 6 Contents 8 List of Figures 9 1: Blame: A Social-Psychological Perspective 10 The Search for a Cause 11 This Is Common Sense! 15 The Social World as a Courtroom 16 Why Blame? 18 Biases in Causal Attribution 20 Culture and Blame 26 A Note About the Term “Bias” 29 Worldview: Is American Polarization a Myth? 30 Plan of the Book 32 2: Economic Issues 36 The Undeserving Poor 36 “It’s the Economy, Stupid” 44 3: Issues of Sexuality 56 Ambivalence About Abortion 56 Were You Born Gay? 64 She Was Asking for It 70 4: Racial Issues 82 The Paradox of Contemporary Racial Attitudes 82 If Only They’d Try Harder, We Wouldn’t Need Affirmative Action 84 Causes of Police Violence Toward Black Americans: A Few Bad Apples or a Broken System? 89 5: Issues of Violence 104 Why Do They Hate Us? 104 Terrorism Is What the Other Guys Do 113 How to Stop a Bad Guy With a Gun 117 Some Final Thoughts on Responsibility for Violent Actions: I Was Just Following Orders 120 6: Blame in the Age of Donald Trump 127 The Psychology of Donald J. Trump 128 The Psychology of Trump Supporters 131 Trump’s Use of Blame During the Campaign: Mexican Immigrants, “Radical Islam,” Obama, and “Crooked Hillary” 137 Trump’s Use of Blame During His Presidency: Radical Democrats, Fake News, and China 141 Why Do Trump Supporters Not Hold Him Responsible? 145 7: Blame, Ideology, and Reason for Hope 158 “Why Blame?” Revisited 158 “Cancel Culture” 160 A Few More Words on Ideology and Blame 162 Reason for Hope: Attributions of Blame Can be Influenced 166 Final Thoughts 175 Index 181