Psychology Research explains the elections: SD voters have a negative view of humanity – Mynewsdesk (press release)

The Sweden Democrats sympathizers have lower trust in other people and a more negative view of humanity than others. SD’s thinking can also be found among some voters in S, M and KD – totaling about 30 percent of voters. Swedes generally does have a pretty big trust in other people and have a positive outlook.

It shows a new research in psychology from Södertörn University.

The report is about how the values ​​of humanity, and other psychological factors affect how the Swedes vote. The report is part of a research project led by Maria Sandgren, PhD and lecturer at Södertörn University. The project also includes Henry Montgomery, emeritus professor of cognitive psychology, and Philip Gustafsson, Research Assistant, and Girts Dimdins, professor of psychology.

The study is based on 1331 completed surveys of a total of 4000 sent to a representative selection Swedes in spring 2015. There is good correlation between the distribution of party sympathies in this survey and Statistics Sweden’s party preference survey in May 2015.

the survey shows that the two parties stand out: SD voters have the most negative view of human beings and their answers in the survey is clearly more to the right on the traditional left-right politics. Meanwhile, MP-voters the most positive view of human beings. SD sympathizers are more socially conservative than others and want to keep the standards and traditions. Sympathizers to SD also has stricter requirements than the other that you should have a genuine Swedish origins in many respects to be seen as Swedish. SD’s voters believe more often that people deep down are egoists and that there is more evil than good people.

– Our research shows that human perception and basal values ​​have significant impact on how people vote, says project manager Maria Sandgren. Human Approach, and lack of trust is what most distinguishes SD-oriented voters from the other party supporters.

The group other voters (voting for small party or no party) is quite close to SD in their opinions, which also applies to some S, M, and KD-voters. This means that about 30 percent voters leaning towards SD in their thinking. The remaining 70 percent of the voters have thought patterns that can be clearly linked to the sympathies of the red-green (32%) or Alliance parties (38%). According to the survey, there are thus three nearly equal sized blocks when it comes to thinking patterns among Swedish voters.

Red-Green supporters, especially the MP-voters, values ​​of humanism higher than bourgeois voters do. They look positively on people and believe more that people are good. Bourgeois sympathizers are also positive people and have political views that are more to the right. Being able to control himself and to enjoy higher value of this group.

– the social background also plays a role in how people vote, but contrary to what many believe, it is not crucial, says Henry Montgomery, professor emeritus of psychology.

research

The research Polor has the overall aim to investigate political thinking and behavior from a psychological perspective. In a recent research project funded by the Foundation for Baltic investigated psychological aspects that may be associated with different political orientations in a new (Latvia) and old (Sweden) democracy.

Read more: http://bit.ly/1QzFc9w

People in the project

Maria Sandgren is a lecturer at Södertörn University. She is the project manager of the research project Polor. Her research areas include political psychology and aesthetic psychology. Within political psychology she is interested in mental processes and values ​​in political context. In the aesthetic psychology she is interested in emotions, learning processes and self-concept for the song and singer.

Henry Montgomery is a professor emeritus at the University of Stockholm. He is a successful project Polor at Södertörn University. His research deals with mental processes and structures that can be related to people’s values, judgments and decisions with applications in economics, medicine, organizations and political contexts.

More material relating to this press release

• The research report “Why do we vote as we do?”
  
• Photos available
  • Maria Sandgren portrait
  • Henry Montgomery portrait
  • Maria Sandgren and Henry Montgomery together

Photo: Södertörn University

• Tables in EPS format – a selection. For all tables, see the report.
  • Table’s 18-reliance, democracy, life satisfaction
  • Table’s 19 humanism
  • Table’s 20 normativism

For more information, contact
Ulrika Bremberg, press officer, Södertörn University, ulrika.bremberg@sh.se, 08-608 43 13, 070-513 63 31

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Södertörn University is an institution in Stockholm training, research and cooperate for the sustainable development of society.

The college has more than 11,000 students, about 70 programs and 270 courses. Education and research are conducted in the humanities, social sciences, technology and science. School also provides police training and teacher training with an intercultural profile. Much of the research deals with issues related to the Baltic and Eastern European region.

On Södertörn University mixed topics, perspectives, people and experiences. Here are the curious and questioning. Those looking for unexpected combinations, development and challenges. This cross-fertilized reality and science.