The effects of political ideology on interpersonal interaction: does exposure to opposing ideology lead to resource depletion?

Abstract

The present study compared conservatives and liberals’ use of self-regulatory resources and stereotypical knowledge while they anticipated an interaction with an opposing- or a similar-view other. Previous research indicated a relationship between conservatism (high level of resistance to change and opposition to equality in society) and intolerance for dissimilar ‘others’. In the present study, conservatives anticipating an interaction with an opposing-view other (i.e., a liberal person) were hypothesized to rely on their self-regulatory resources (and experience resource depletion as a result) more than liberals in the same situation (i.e., anticipating an interaction with a conservative person) and also more than both liberals and conservatives anticipating an interaction with ideologically similar other. The results showed that the amount of resource depletion experienced, operationalized by Stroop task performance, in these four conditions (conservative/liberal participant and opposing/similar-other) did not differ from one another. Nevertheless, conservatives had their outgroup and ingroup stereotypes (for ideological groups) more accessible than liberals in both similar and opposing-other conditions. In the opposing–other condition alone, as participants’ outgroup and ingroup stereotypes became more accessible, they experienced less resource depletion (i.e., showed better self-control), suggesting that stereotypes served an energy-saving function. Intergroup anxiety, ingroup identification, and chronic self-control strength did not have an effect on the relationship between political ideology and resource depletion. Implications of these findings were discussed.