“Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now”: Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader

Stefanie Sprong; Jolanda Jetten; Zhechen Wang; Kim Peters; Frank Mols; Maykel Verkuyten; Brock Bastian; Amarina Ariyanto; Frédérique Autin; Nadia Ayub; Constantina Badea; Tomasz Besta; Fabrizio Butera; Rui Costa-Lopes; Lijuan Cui; Carole Fantini; Gillian Finchilescu; Lowell Gaertner; Mario Gollwitzer; Ángel Gómez; Roberto González; Ying Yi Hong; Dorthe Høj Jensen; Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti; Minoru Karasawa; Thomas Kessler; Olivier Klein; Marcus Lima; Laura Mégevand; Thomas Morton; Paola Paladino; Tibor Polya; Tuuli Anna Renvik; Aleksejs Ruza; Wan Shahrazad; Sushama Shama; Heather J. Smith; Ana Raquel Torres; Anne Marthe van der Bles; Michael J.A. Wohl

doi:10.1177/0956797619875472

“Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now”: Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader

Stefanie Sprong
, Jolanda Jetten^*
, Zhechen Wang
, Kim Peters
, Frank Mols
, Maykel Verkuyten
, Brock Bastian
, Amarina Ariyanto
, Frédérique Autin
, Nadia Ayub
, Constantina Badea
, Tomasz Besta
, Fabrizio Butera
, Rui Costa-Lopes
, Lijuan Cui
, Carole Fantini
, Gillian Finchilescu
, Lowell Gaertner
, Mario Gollwitzer
, Ángel Gómez

Roberto González, Ying Yi Hong, Dorthe Høj Jensen, Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti, Minoru Karasawa, Thomas Kessler, Olivier Klein, Marcus Lima, Laura Mégevand, Thomas Morton, Paola Paladino, Tibor Polya, Tuuli Anna Renvik, Aleksejs Ruza, Wan Shahrazad, Sushama Shama, Heather J. Smith, Ana Raquel Torres, Anne Marthe van der Bles, Michael J.A. Wohl

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Psychology and Cognitive Science

Trinity College Dublin
University of Queensland
Hangzhou Medical College
University of Exeter
Utrecht University
University of Melbourne
University of Indonesia
Université de Poitiers
Institute of Business Management, Karachi
Université Paris Nanterre
University of Gdańsk
University of Lausanne
University of Lisbon
Université libre de Bruxelles
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
National Distance Education University
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Aarhus University
University of Helsinki
Nagoya University
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Universidade Federal de Sergipe
University Institute of Lisbon
University of Copenhagen
University of Trento
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Daugavpils University
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Kurukshetra University
Sonoma State University
Universidade Federal da Paraíba
University of Groningen
Carleton University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

166 Scopus citations

Abstract

Societal inequality has been found to harm the mental and physical health of its members and undermine overall social cohesion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that economic inequality is associated with a wish for a strong leader in a study involving 28 countries from five continents (Study 1, N = 6,112), a study involving an Australian community sample (Study 2, N = 515), and two experiments (Study 3a, N = 96; Study 3b, N = 296). We found correlational (Studies 1 and 2) and experimental (Studies 3a and 3b) evidence for our prediction that higher inequality enhances the wish for a strong leader. We also found that this relationship is mediated by perceptions of anomie, except in the case of objective inequality in Study 1. This suggests that societal inequality enhances the perception that society is breaking down (anomie) and that a strong leader is needed to restore order (even when that leader is willing to challenge democratic values).

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1625-1637
Number of pages	13
Journal	Psychological Science
Volume	30
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619875472
State	Published - 1 Nov 2019

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities

Keywords

anomie
authoritarianism
economic inequality
leadership
populism
preregistered
subjective and objective inequality

Access to Document

10.1177/0956797619875472

Cite this

Sprong, S., Jetten, J., Wang, Z., Peters, K., Mols, F., Verkuyten, M., Bastian, B., Ariyanto, A., Autin, F., Ayub, N., Badea, C., Besta, T., Butera, F., Costa-Lopes, R., Cui, L., Fantini, C., Finchilescu, G., Gaertner, L., Gollwitzer, M., ... Wohl, M. J. A. (2019). “Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now”: Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader. Psychological Science, 30(11), 1625-1637. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619875472

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title = "“Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now”: Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader",

abstract = "Societal inequality has been found to harm the mental and physical health of its members and undermine overall social cohesion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that economic inequality is associated with a wish for a strong leader in a study involving 28 countries from five continents (Study 1, N = 6,112), a study involving an Australian community sample (Study 2, N = 515), and two experiments (Study 3a, N = 96; Study 3b, N = 296). We found correlational (Studies 1 and 2) and experimental (Studies 3a and 3b) evidence for our prediction that higher inequality enhances the wish for a strong leader. We also found that this relationship is mediated by perceptions of anomie, except in the case of objective inequality in Study 1. This suggests that societal inequality enhances the perception that society is breaking down (anomie) and that a strong leader is needed to restore order (even when that leader is willing to challenge democratic values).",

keywords = "anomie, authoritarianism, economic inequality, leadership, populism, preregistered, subjective and objective inequality",

author = "Stefanie Sprong and Jolanda Jetten and Zhechen Wang and Kim Peters and Frank Mols and Maykel Verkuyten and Brock Bastian and Amarina Ariyanto and Fr{\'e}d{\'e}rique Autin and Nadia Ayub and Constantina Badea and Tomasz Besta and Fabrizio Butera and Rui Costa-Lopes and Lijuan Cui and Carole Fantini and Gillian Finchilescu and Lowell Gaertner and Mario Gollwitzer and {\'A}ngel G{\'o}mez and Roberto Gonz{\'a}lez and Hong, \{Ying Yi\} and Jensen, \{Dorthe H{\o}j\} and Inga Jasinskaja-Lahti and Minoru Karasawa and Thomas Kessler and Olivier Klein and Marcus Lima and Laura M{\'e}gevand and Thomas Morton and Paola Paladino and Tibor Polya and Renvik, \{Tuuli Anna\} and Aleksejs Ruza and Wan Shahrazad and Sushama Shama and Smith, \{Heather J.\} and Torres, \{Ana Raquel\} and \{van der Bles\}, \{Anne Marthe\} and Wohl, \{Michael J.A.\}",

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Sprong, S, Jetten, J, Wang, Z, Peters, K, Mols, F, Verkuyten, M, Bastian, B, Ariyanto, A, Autin, F, Ayub, N, Badea, C, Besta, T, Butera, F, Costa-Lopes, R, Cui, L, Fantini, C, Finchilescu, G, Gaertner, L, Gollwitzer, M, Gómez, Á, González, R, Hong, YY, Jensen, DH, Jasinskaja-Lahti, I, Karasawa, M, Kessler, T, Klein, O, Lima, M, Mégevand, L, Morton, T, Paladino, P, Polya, T, Renvik, TA, Ruza, A, Shahrazad, W, Shama, S, Smith, HJ, Torres, AR, van der Bles, AM & Wohl, MJA 2019, '“Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now”: Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader', Psychological Science, vol. 30, no. 11, pp. 1625-1637. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797619875472

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T2 - Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader

AU - Sprong, Stefanie

AU - Jetten, Jolanda

AU - Wang, Zhechen

AU - Peters, Kim

AU - Mols, Frank

AU - Verkuyten, Maykel

AU - Bastian, Brock

AU - Ariyanto, Amarina

AU - Autin, Frédérique

AU - Ayub, Nadia

AU - Badea, Constantina

AU - Besta, Tomasz

AU - Butera, Fabrizio

AU - Costa-Lopes, Rui

AU - Cui, Lijuan

AU - Fantini, Carole

AU - Finchilescu, Gillian

AU - Gaertner, Lowell

AU - Gollwitzer, Mario

AU - Gómez, Ángel

AU - González, Roberto

AU - Hong, Ying Yi

AU - Jensen, Dorthe Høj

AU - Jasinskaja-Lahti, Inga

AU - Karasawa, Minoru

AU - Kessler, Thomas

AU - Klein, Olivier

AU - Lima, Marcus

AU - Mégevand, Laura

AU - Morton, Thomas

AU - Paladino, Paola

AU - Polya, Tibor

AU - Renvik, Tuuli Anna

AU - Ruza, Aleksejs

AU - Shahrazad, Wan

AU - Shama, Sushama

AU - Smith, Heather J.

AU - Torres, Ana Raquel

AU - van der Bles, Anne Marthe

AU - Wohl, Michael J.A.

PY - 2019/11/1

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N2 - Societal inequality has been found to harm the mental and physical health of its members and undermine overall social cohesion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that economic inequality is associated with a wish for a strong leader in a study involving 28 countries from five continents (Study 1, N = 6,112), a study involving an Australian community sample (Study 2, N = 515), and two experiments (Study 3a, N = 96; Study 3b, N = 296). We found correlational (Studies 1 and 2) and experimental (Studies 3a and 3b) evidence for our prediction that higher inequality enhances the wish for a strong leader. We also found that this relationship is mediated by perceptions of anomie, except in the case of objective inequality in Study 1. This suggests that societal inequality enhances the perception that society is breaking down (anomie) and that a strong leader is needed to restore order (even when that leader is willing to challenge democratic values).

AB - Societal inequality has been found to harm the mental and physical health of its members and undermine overall social cohesion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that economic inequality is associated with a wish for a strong leader in a study involving 28 countries from five continents (Study 1, N = 6,112), a study involving an Australian community sample (Study 2, N = 515), and two experiments (Study 3a, N = 96; Study 3b, N = 296). We found correlational (Studies 1 and 2) and experimental (Studies 3a and 3b) evidence for our prediction that higher inequality enhances the wish for a strong leader. We also found that this relationship is mediated by perceptions of anomie, except in the case of objective inequality in Study 1. This suggests that societal inequality enhances the perception that society is breaking down (anomie) and that a strong leader is needed to restore order (even when that leader is willing to challenge democratic values).

KW - anomie

KW - authoritarianism

KW - economic inequality

KW - leadership

KW - populism

KW - preregistered

KW - subjective and objective inequality

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U2 - 10.1177/0956797619875472

DO - 10.1177/0956797619875472

M3 - 文章

C2 - 31566081

AN - SCOPUS:85074037689

SN - 0956-7976

VL - 30

SP - 1625

EP - 1637

JO - Psychological Science

JF - Psychological Science

IS - 11

ER -

“Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now”: Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader

Abstract

UN SDGs

Keywords

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