Electing to Take Control

Political Identification and Personal Control

Bibliographic Data

ID6337115
AuthorsKatharine H Greenaway (0000-0002-0271-5312, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume44
Issue5
Pages1031-1051
Publication date2023-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-895X • E-ISSN: 1467-9221
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/pops.12873
OpenAlexW4312198341
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited39

Engaging in the political process is one way that individuals can exert control over society in general. Yet, emerging research suggests that engaging with political groups also helps people feel more in control of the course of their own lives. The present research examined whether this is always the case, using the natural experiment afforded by political events to probe the psychological mechanisms underpinning the relationship between group identification and personal control. Two cross‐sectional studies conducted immediately after the 2016 Presidential election (total N = 752) and one longitudinal study conducted immediately before and after the 2020 Presidential election (N = 743) investigated the relationship between political group identification and personal control. Together, the studies tested whether this relationship is weakened under conditions of low agency (i.e., in a group that lost the election) and low predictability (i.e., immediately following a surprise election outcome). The results suggest that the relationship between political identification and personal control is robust except in the case of low agency and low predictability. The studies contribute to understanding the processes that link group‐level political factors with individual‐level psychological outcomes

Agency (philosophy · Control (management · Economics · Identification (biology · Management · Political science · Politics · Predictability · Presidential election · Presidential system · Sense of agency · Social science · Sociology · Surprise · Voting · Voting behavior · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Law · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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