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Personal, Interpersonal, and Political Temperaments

Author

Listed:
  • John R. Alford

    (Rice University in Houston, Texas)

  • John R. Hibbing

    (University of Nebraska-Lincoln. With Elizabeth Theiss-Morse)

Abstract

Are political liberals generous? Are political conservatives conscientious? Are generous people personally agreeable? Research in behavioral genetics and elsewhere increasingly indicates a biological basis for the manner in which people behave in personal, interpersonal, and political situations, but this biological basis does not mean behavior in these three very different contexts is correlated. In this article, using an original data set obtained from nearly three hundred subjects, the authors are able to test for the degree to which personal, interpersonal, and political temperaments are related. As expected, the overall correlations are quite low. Standard personality traits do not predict political attitudes, and neither political attitudes nor personality predicts the extent to which subjects are generous in interpersonal situations. Human behavior is partially biological, but the systems involved in shaping political behavior seem to be largely but not completely distinct from those involved in shaping personal and interpersonal behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • John R. Alford & John R. Hibbing, 2007. "Personal, Interpersonal, and Political Temperaments," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 614(1), pages 196-212, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:614:y:2007:i:1:p:196-212
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716207305621
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jeffrey Milyo & Jennifer M. Mellor & Lisa Anderson, 2004. "Do Liberals Play Nice? The Effects of Party and Political Ideology in Public Goods and Trust Games," Working Papers 0417, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.
    2. McClosky, Herbert, 1958. "Conservatism and Personality," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(1), pages 27-45, March.
    3. Stuart Mestelman & David Feeny, 1988. "Does ideology matter?: Anecdotal experimental evidence on the voluntary provision of public goods," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 281-286, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alexa Bankert, 2022. "The Personality Origins of Positive and Negative Partisanship," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 299-310.

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