The Cognitive-Motivational Roots of Conservatives' Desire for the Past

Abstract

As a political ideology, conservatism is primarily focused on maintaining and restoring past society. This aspect is so central that conservatives’ support for policies is increased simply by framing them as a return to the past. Until now, the underlying process of this temporal framing effect is unclear. Drawing on theories of conservatism as motivated social cognition, four preregistered studies (Ntotal = 2,405) test the hypothesis that it results from conservatives’ epistemic and existential beliefs about the past. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that American conservatives’ preference for past-focused political communication is blocked if the past is perceived to be inconsistent with these beliefs. Studies 3 and 4 (a representative UK sample replication) find that the effect is mediated by epistemic and existential beliefs about the past. This research theoretically integrates the earlier-established conservative temporal framing effect into the wider literature of conservatism as motivated social cognition.