“You are either with us, or against us”: The association between dichotomous thinking and political extremism among Israeli voters

Abstract

Purpose of the study: people prone to political extremism often exhibit a rather simplistic black-and-white view of social reality. This is a consequence of the psychological tendency to perceive and interpret the world in a certain way. The hypothesis underlying this study is that this tendency manifests in a style of thinking defined as “dichotomous thinking”. That is, a tendency to perceive and interpret the world in terms of binary options (i.e., “black or white”, “good or bad”, or “all or nothing”). The study was conducted in Israel during the 2019 election campaign, which initiated a prolonged political crisis leading to deep polarisation between the two main political camps in Israel. Participants (N = 312) completed an online survey, which included a demographic questionnaire and measures of political identification and dichotomous thinking style. The study found both linear and quadratic associations between dichotomous thinking and political identification. Thus, dichotomous thinking was associated with both right-wing political orientation and an overall propensity for political extremism, both right-wing and left-wing. These results provide empirical support for theoretical models suggesting that there is a U-shaped relationship between cognitive rigidity and political identification, but this relationship is stronger at the right end of the political spectrum

Keywords

• political extremism
• political polarisation
• conservatism
• cognitive rigidity
• dichotomous thinking