Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Researchers have found conservative UF students may be happier than their liberal peers because of personality traits.

UF psychology researchers John Chambers and Barry Schlenker studied more than 400 UF students over three years. Their research revealed conservative participants tended to exhibit greater optimism, self-esteem and feelings of control over their lives.

The research provides a new explanation for what political psychologists call the “happiness gap.” In a 2006 Pew Research Center poll, 61 percent of Republicans said they were very happy as opposed to only 47 percent of Democrats.

This created a mystery for researchers. Factors such as income, religion and age accounted for part of the gap, but they wondered if there was a deeper psychological explanation.

In 2007, two social psychologists from New York University took a crack at the puzzle. Analyzing the happiness gap in the United States and nine other countries, professors Jaime Napier and John Jost concluded conservatives were happier because of their ability to rationalize inequalities.

For example, right-wingers may perceive the difference between rich and poor in the U.S. as natural or inevitable, whereas left-wingers find it more troublesome.

Public relations senior Hannah Brown, 28, describes herself as politically neutral. She said she’s seen these differences play out in debates on Turlington Plaza and in class.

“I think conservatives focus more on control and responsibility,” she said, “and liberals think more about systems.”

Yet Chambers and his UF colleagues thought this wasn’t enough to explain a persistent difference in well-being. By arguing that conservatives have positive personality traits, they triggered a barrage of criticism.

“I find his data really interesting and useful,” Jost said, “but I think the paper goes too far. It ends up telling an incomplete, Pollyanna-ish story.”

Chambers, however, defended his political neutrality.

“Listen,” he said, “I don’t have a pony on the track here.”

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox
Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.