A (supra)nationalist personality? The Big Five’s effects on political-territorial identification
| DOI | 10.1177/1465116520988907 |
| Author | Steven V Miller,K Amber Curtis |
| Published date | 01 June 2021 |
| Date | 01 June 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
A (supra)nationalist
personality? The Big
Five’s effects on
political-territorial
identification
K Amber Curtis
Department of Political Science, Clemson University,
Clemson, SC, USA
Steven V Miller
Department of Political Science, Clemson University,
Clemson, SC, USA
Abstract
Recent work suggests personality affects the subjective psychological weight one
attaches to an identity. This study extends prior findings showing a static effect on
European identification in a single country by investigating whether a similar systematic
relationship exists for a wider range of political-territorial identities (regional, national,
supranational, and exclusively nationalist) across different country contexts (Germany,
Poland, and the United Kingdom) and over time (2012–2018). Original cross-national
and panel survey data show that different traits predict both the type and degree of
inclusivity of individuals’ identity attachments. These results contribute to the growing
scholarship surrounding personality’s effects on EU support while underscoring the
impact predispositions have on citizens’ sociopolitical orientations. They especially illu-
minate the contrasting profiles associated with those who identify as exclusively nation-
alist versus supranational European.
Keywords
Big Five, European Union, identification, nationalism, personality traits
Corresponding author:
K Amber Curtis, Department of Political Science, Clemson University,232 Brackett Hall, Clemson, SC 29634-
1354, USA.
Email: acurti2@clemson.edu
European Union Politics
2021, Vol. 22(2) 202–226
!The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1465116520988907
journals.sagepub.com/home/eup
Scholars have long wondered what leads some to be more prejudiced and exclu-
sivist than others. Seminal studies like Adorno et al.’s (1950) The Authoritarian
Personality or Allport’s (1954) The Nature of Prejudice both posited that there was
something inherently different about those who discriminated—something innate,
perhaps, that wires certain individuals to reject whole categories of others so
strongly and unabashedly. Despite scholarly strides in understanding what
causes bias and linking identity politics to intergroup relations, questions remain
about the extent to which particular personality traits are responsible for these
socially undesirable outcomes. Finding answers is all the more salient in light of
European integration, increased immigration, resurging populism, and Brexit.
Indeed, nationalism’s influence on public evaluations of the European Union
(EU) has only strengthened over time (Clark and Rohrschneider, 2021).
Is there a specific cocktail of traits that comprise a “nationalist” personality?
Contrarily, does a countervailing “supranationalist” personality exist to bolster
EU efforts? The short answers are, yes. Building upon extant work analyzing
whether personality affects identification with Europe in single country contexts
(Bakker and de Vreese, 2016; Curtis, 2016; Gallego and Oberski, 2012), we inves-
tigate whether and how the Big Five (B5) personality traits of openness to expe-
rience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability
affect four types of political-territorial identification (regional, national, suprana-
tional, and exclusively nationalist) across three countries (Germany, Poland, and
the United Kingdom (UK)) and over time (2012–2018). After outlining concrete
theoretical expectations for which traits should matter and how, we use original
survey data to test both cross-sectional and panel models isolating which predis-
positions matter for each level of identification, with a special focus on which trait
combinations lead one to identify in exclusive, “national-only” terms.
1
Results
show not only that personality is significantly associated with all four forms of
identification, but that in each case it has one of—if not the—most sizable impacts,
adding significant explanatory power beyond existing explanations.
The power of personal predispositions
Personality encompasses enduring psychological orientations that influence indi-
viduals’ actions and decisions (Hibbing et al., 2011; Ozer and Benet-Mart
ınez,
2006; Winter, 2003). One of many benefits of studying personality is its early
development in life (Funk et al., 2013) and potential heritability (Funk et al.,
2013; Verhulst et al., 2012), as well as its relatively stability throughout
adulthood (Block and Block, 2006; Bloeser et al., 2015; Terracciano et al.,
2010), which ensure its causal precedence to almost any attitudinal or behavioral
outcome (Mondak, 2010).
Of several typologies out there, the B5 classification dominates political psy-
chology research (Gerber et al., 2011b) and consists of five overarching factors.
2
Openness to experience reflects open-mindedness and intellectual curiosity.
Conscientiousness denotes a psychological preference for order and routine.
Curtis and Miller 203
To continue reading
Request your trial