Real Political Psychology research shows liberals are more prone to mental health concerns and lack of personal responsibility
“What's interesting though too is that people on the right tend to rate higher on personal responsibility, and it's true. So people on the left, like they tend to be higher on measures of collectivism, and people on the right tend to be higher on measures of individualism. And we do know that an internal locus of control versus external locus of control is associated with stronger and better mental health”
Within Western samples, the political right tends to endorse higher individualism and self-reliance norms (“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”), while the left endorses higher collectivism
Locus of control and mental health
- An internal locus of control (belief that one’s outcomes are largely shaped by one’s own actions and choices) is consistently linked to better mental health, lower psychological distress, higher academic and occupational performance, and better physical health trajectories
- An external locus (outcomes driven by luck, powerful others or systemic forces) is associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and poorer coping
The Right is associated with an “internal locus.” The alert is associated with an “external locus”
