There are social and psychological reasons supporters of President Donald Trump show less empathy toward the minorities and enemies he targets, according to new research.
“Conservative political ideology is associated with social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, psychopathic propensities, and other malevolent dispositions, and reduced empathy,” according to a new paper by Craig S. Neumann and Darlene A. Ngo of the University of North Texas.
While not all conservatives or all Trump supporters lack empathy, the sample studied was less likely to embrace empathy than moderates and liberals.
Mariann Edgar Budde
Progressive and liberal theologians and pastors have been shouting for years now that Americans should have empathy for immigrants and minorities. This was the substance of a portion of the Inaugural Week sermon preached by Marian Budde at Washington National Cathedral. The Episcopal priest begged the incoming president to “show mercy” on immigrants and the LGBTQ community, and Trump supporters attacked her for the comments.
On the other hand, conservative religious figures including Allie Beth Stuckey and Doug Wilson and John MacArthur have declared war on empathy and said it is not a Christian virtue.
That puzzles moderates and liberals, who read the Gospels and the words of Jesus and see those teachings dripping with empathy.
According to Neumann and Ngo, this gap is due to the way people are wired to think rather than what they know of the Bible.
Jemar Tisby
Historian Jemar Tisby wrote about the new study and explained: “The researchers point out that malevolence and its opposite, benevolence, exist on a continuum — all of us have a bit of both. But Trump supporters consistently lean hard toward the malevolent side.”
The article, “Malevolent vs. Benevolent Dispositions and Conservative Political Ideology in the Trump Era” is published in the Journal of Research in Personality.
Neumann serves as professor of clinical psychology at UNT. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and did post-doctoral studies in the Department of Psychology at Emory University. Ngo is a fourth-year clinical psychology Ph.D. student working with Neumann.
They reported four high-level findings:
- Conservative political ideology is represented by symbolic and operational ideology and a positive view of Trump
- Psychopathic traits and a malevolent disposition predicted increased conservative political ideology
- Benevolent disposition predicted decreased conservative ideology and more liberal ideology
- Those viewing Trump favorably reported elevated malevolent and reduced benevolent dispositions and less empathy
The study specifically looked at traits called social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, psychopathic propensities, other malevolent dispositions, and reduced empathy. The researchers found conservative political ideology is associated with all these traits.
Citing multiple other academic studies, Neumann and Ngo note Trump “has radically reshaped the nature of U.S. conservativism, moving the GOP toward authoritarianism and political unrest such as the January 6 assault at the United States Capitol.”
Despite Trump’s incitement of that uprising and his litany of other controversies in business and family — things that “would destroy most politicians” — “some people view Trump favorably,” they write.
Craig S. Neumann
“His popularity can be understood in part via the links between conservative political ideology with right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation. However, the shifting sands of conservativism in the U.S. suggests that other factors may also be at play.”
Trump did not invent or cause the correlation between conservative ideology and these social beliefs, the authors say. While he may have exploited them, the connection already was noted.
“Even before Trump, robust evidence documents the affinity between conservative ideology and authoritarianism, though of course, not all conservatives are authoritarians.”
“In the era of Trump, his supporters share Trump’s authoritarian targeting of women and minorities, use of aggression to dominate out-groups, and as the U.S. becomes more of a majority-minority population, white individuals show a shift toward a conservative ideology,” they explain.
“A conservative ideology that includes a positive view of Trump can be understood from these frameworks with respect to Trump’s boast, and his adherents’ belief, that ‘he alone can fix it; (rigid dogma), their unflagging support of him no matter what he does, such as claiming he can shoot someone without losing voters (parochial altruism), and the ever present MAGA paraphernalia (identity markers). In addition, Trump’s rage about dangerous immigrants can lead Trump’s supporters to also embrace conservative policies such as a strong miliary and minimal gun regulations.”
Moreover, they warn, Trump as an aspiring autocrat manifests “malevolent traits in the Dark Triad: narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism,” they write. “Similar results have been found for authoritarians’ loyal foot soldiers.”
Rather than expressing empathy or goodwill, “a malevolent disposition reflects wishing ill will or doing harm to others,” the authors write. “This is not to suggest that persons are either good or bad. The empirical evidence documents that malevolent and benevolent dispositions are dimensional in nature. Thus, these dispositions reflect continuums, with some persons inclined to be more caring and others more calloused, some more selfless and others more selfish with many gradations in between.”
Tisby illustrates the difference in Americans’ view by citing the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the Trump administration wrongly deported to a prison in El Salvador until a federal judge ordered him returned. Soon after, ICE agents seized him again —threatening deportation to Uganda, a country he’s never been to.
At a rally last weekend, Abrego Garcia declared: “God is with us, and God will never leave us. God will bring justice to all the injustice we are suffering.”
Moderates and liberals cheered that statement, but conservative Trump supporters did not.
“His ordeal is a window into the deeper moral crisis of our time,” Tisby wrote. “How can a government inflict such cruelty, and how can so many cheer it on?”
The answer, according to Neumann and Ngo, is personality traits.
Tisby explains: “The complete embrace of malevolence in today’s Republican Party and the Trump regime can make many of us wonder if our perceptions are accurate. Can people really delight in cruelty? Are the ICE abductions, vindictive lawsuits and wanton displays of violence actually enticing to some? The science says, ‘Yes.’ The research confirms it — Trump supporters aren’t ashamed of his cruelty. They’re drawn to it.”
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