White KRG, Kinney D, Danek RH, Smith B, Harben C. The Resistance to Change-Beliefs Scale: Validation of a New Measure of Conservative Ideology.
PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2019;
46:20-35. [PMID:
31064288 DOI:
10.1177/0146167219841624]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The motivated social cognition (MSC) model of conservative ideology posits there are two core facets of conservative political ideology-endorsement of hierarchies and resistance to change. The present research tested the validity and reliability of a scale developed to measure resistance to change. Five studies support the validity, reliability, and factor structure of the Resistance to Change-Beliefs (RC-B) scale. Scores on the RC-B scale correlated with social and cognitive motivations as well as self-identified conservatism. RC-B also predicted more conservative stances on political issues and factor analyses supported the predicted internal structure of the RC-B scale. This provides the field with a validated instrument that avoids problems inherent in previous measures, can be used to test predictions from the MSC model, and has potential applications beyond political psychology.
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