Differences in media preference mediate the link between personality and political orientation

bs_bs_banner Political Psychology, Vol xx, No xx, 2015 doi: 10.1111/pops.12307 Differences in Media Preference Mediate the Link Between Personality and Political Orientation Xiaowen Xu University of Toronto Jordan B Peterson University of Toronto Research has consistently demonstrated that political liberalism is predicted by the personality trait Openness to Experience and conservatism by trait Conscientiousness Less well studied, however, is how trait personality influences political orientation The present study investigated whether differences in media preference might mediate the links between personality and political orientation Participants completed measures of Big Five personality, media preferences, and political orientation Results revealed that increased preferences for Dark/ Alternative and Aesthetic/Musical media genres, as well as decreased preferences for Communal/Popular media genres, mediated the association between Openness to Experience and liberalism In contrast, greater preferences for Communal/Popular and Thrilling/Action genres, as well as lower preferences for Dark/ Alternative and Aesthetic/Musical genres mediated the link between Conscientiousness and conservatism KEY WORDS: trait personality, political orientation, media preference Given that differences in political orientation exert important influence in people’s lives, a substantial body of research has been devoted to exploring the underlying causal roots of political difference This research attempts to answer the question: What are the mechanisms that lead one person to become politically liberal and another to become conservative? Although it may seem that people adopt different political stances rationally by reviewing the available facts and evidence (which then predispose them to one view or another), recent work indicates that people’s political viewpoints are also strongly influenced by basic personality and dispositional traits, many of which manifest early in life Longitudinal research has indicated, for example, that children characterized in preschool as more self-reliant, resilient, and active became more politically liberal adults, while children described as more rigid, inhibited, and fearful became more politically conservative in adulthood (Block & Block, 2006; Fraley, Griffin, Belsky, & Roisman, 2012) Political orientation and ideology also have influences on people’s lives extending beyond the realm of politics For instance, increased conservatism is associated with higher need for closure, reduced tolerance of ambiguity, and more motivated avoidance of uncertainty, which may suggest a decrease in cognitive exploration and reduction in processing of novelty (Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003; Jost et al., 2007; McAdams, Hanek, & Dadabo, 2013; Shook & Fazio, 2009) Similarly, situations that limit effortful thought processes (i.e., increased alcohol consumption or cognitive load) can lead to an increase in conservative beliefs (Eidelman, Crandall, C 2015 International Society of Political Psychology 0162-895X V Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, and PO Box 378 Carlton South, 3053 Victoria, Australia Xu and Peterson Goodman, & Blanchar, 2012) Aside from impacting people’s cognitive processes, differences in political orientation can also affect other important judgment processes, such as moral decision-making When making moral judgments, for example, liberals generally focus on the harm and fairness aspects of the moral situation, whereas conservative individuals also emphasize the ingroup, authority, and purity moral foundations (Graham, Haidt, & Nosek, 2009; Haidt & Graham, 2007) Personality Predictors of Political Orientation There is increasing evidence stating that these political differences between individuals are influenced by personality As adults, temperamental differences among liberals and conservatives appear to be reflected primarily in the two Big Five traits Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness Liberals tend to score higher in trait Openness to Experience and conservatives higher in trait Conscientiousness (Carney, Jost, Gosling, & Potter, 2008; Hirsh, DeYoung, Xu, & Peterson, 2010; Sibley, Osborne, & Duckitt, 2012; Xu, Mar, & Peterson, 2013) These associations indicate that liberals value creativity, curiosity, and the desire to experience new ideas, as characterized by their higher Openness to Experience (John & Srivastava, 1999), while conservatives value order, organization, and the maintenance of rules, reflecting higher Conscientiousness (John & Srivastava, 1999) These personality differences between liberals and conservatives also manifest themselves in people’s everyday behaviors Liberals own more personal items reflecting higher Openness to Experience, such as books, CDs, and art supplies Conservatives, for their part, own more organizational items, such as calendars and laundry supplies, reflecting their higher Conscientiousness (Carney et al., 2008) Media Preference as the Mediating Factor Between Personality and Political Orientation But how personality traits come to influence and shape political orientation? That is, why are open individuals more likely to be politically liberal and conscientious individuals more likely to be conservative? Thus far, this question remains understudied and less well understood Given the evidence for substantive genetic influence on personality traits (e.g., Jang, Livesley, & Vernon, 1996), it would be of importance to understand how these more “innate” traits help to shape differences in political orientation, which not only develop much later on in life, but are also supposed to be based more on logic and reasoning As such, better understanding of these mechanisms would not only contribute to the personality and political psychology literatures, but may also improve people’s understanding of each other’s fundamental motivations or predispositions towards certain sides of the political spectrum Consequently, this could potentially lead to means of facilitating discourse and communication between different political groups Personality traits affect many aspects of perception, value, and behavior, including the manner in which people interact with the broader social world (e.g., Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005; Ozer & Benet-Martinez, 2006) One potential way in which personality can influence political orientation may be via its impact on people’s exposure to and consumption of media products Given that information about political events and values are primarily communicated through mass media, it is possible that personality’s effect on media preferences might influence the development of different political viewpoints, perhaps as a consequence of increased exposure, preexistent bias, or postexposure emotional and cognitive reactions The media types and content that individuals choose to expose themselves to might further influence their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors towards various issues and topics, exaggerating or modifying their already existing individual differences and ideological beliefs Thus, in the present study, we propose and test a theoretical model in which people’s preferences for different genres of media mediate the link between trait personality and political orientation (Figure 1) Specifically, we hypothesized that differences in media preference might partially account for Personality, Media, and Political Orientation Figure Theoretical model in which differences in media preference mediate the association between trait personality (i.e., Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness) and political orientation how Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness shape political orientation We propose that people’s inherent personality predispose them towards selecting specific types of media for consumption, and the exposure to these different types of media further influences their political beliefs This model is noteworthy, as it asserts that the impact on people’s political beliefs by a somewhat uncontrollable variable (i.e., personality) may in part be due to an apparently voluntary, controllable variable (i.e., media preference) Our model is founded theoretically in the selective exposure literature (Atkin, 1985; Stroud, 2008; Zillmann & Bryant, 1985a,1985b) Selective exposure, a theory with its background in the cognitive dissonance literature (Festinger, 1957), essentially states that people perform deliberate behaviors to obtain or maintain control of particular stimuli or events around them (Zillmann & Bryant, 1985a) So, for example, people’s behaviors or motivations will influence the types of stimuli they choose to experience The notion of selective exposure has been applied to research in media and mass communication, investigating whether selection of specific forms of media was intended, and attempting to delineate the motivations underlying the selection of these media Selective exposure to media can stem from the need for guidance or reinforcement (Atkin, 1985) People are also motivated to select media congruent with their own attitudes and beliefs Thus, people selectively expose themselves to media that enhance their positive moods or minimize aversions (Zillmann & Bryant, 1985b) Our model hypothesizes that people use selective exposure to media to buttress the validity of their temperamentally influenced viewpoints People may choose to consume media consistent with their personality predispositions, and the consumption of such media may further enhance their ideological viewpoints in a congruent manner This is a reasonable assumption, as the exposure to inconsistent information that challenge the fundamental assumptions people hold about the world can elicit emotional and motivational confusion, including anxiety (Gray, 1982; Hirsh, Mar, & Peterson, 2012; Peterson, 1999) As such, people strive to avoid such challenges People may also be motivated to create a personal microenvironment, selected from the broader world, where the assumptions of their personality traits can serve as valid guides to perception and action With regards to media selection, it is impossible for any single person to consume all the media products available, as this would require great amounts of effort and attention To simplify the situation, people may rely on their personality to guide them and select media genres congruent with their traits The genres of media that are consistent with say, Openness to Experience or Conscientiousness, may contain information that would foster more liberal versus conservative political views We provide a brief overview of the relevant literature below Associations Between Media, Personality, and Political Orientation Impact of Media on Daily Life The importance of mass media as a carrier of information can hardly be overstated People listen to music or read books on their way to work, check the news on their phone at work, and watch Xu and Peterson television or movies in the evenings to relax In the United States, people spend an average of 42 hours per week on media consumption (25% of their daily lives; Motion Picture Association of America, 2007) In Canada, media consumption accounts for about 70% of the average annual household expenditure on cultural goods and services: people spend more money on movies, television, music, and books than on any other leisure activities, such as attending museums (Statistics Canada, 2006) It is clear that exposure to media information changes the way people view the world and act Consumption of print and narrative fiction, for example, is associated with wider vocabulary and increased world knowledge, as well as improved social abilities (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998; Mar, Oatley, Hirsh, dela Paz, & Peterson, 2006; Mar, Oatley, & Peterson, 2009; Mol & Bus, 2011; Stanovich & Cunningham, 1993) Exposure to films can influence people’s decision-making toward health-related behaviors, such as smoking (Dal Cin, Gibson, Zanna, Shumate, & Fong, 2007) or risky sexual behaviors (O’Hara, Gibbons, Gerrard, Li, & Sargent, 2012) People’s music preference also plays an integral and multidimensional part in helping people to reveal information about themselves (e.g., personality, attitudes, social behaviors), and to accurately gather information and form impressions about others (North and Hargreaves, 1999; Rentfrow & Gosling, 2006, 2007; Rentfrow, McDonald, & Oldmeadow, 2009) Political Orientation and Media Preferences More germane to our present question, an abundance of work found that media exposure and preferences have important influences on people’s political orientation Different forms of media have varying effects on how people process and remember political and ideological information Entertainment media (e.g., late night talk shows), for example, appears to influence affective or emotional impression formation (Kim & Vishak, 2008), as well as increasing attentiveness towards political issues for less political individuals (Cao, 2010) By contrast, news media is more effective and accurate in helping people acquire factual information about political issues (Kim & Vishak, 2008) Mass media can also more broadly alter how people interpret and form judgments about political issues and events (e.g., Adkins & Castle, 2014; Butler, Koopman, & Zimbardo, 1995) One study showed, for example, that participants were significantly more likely to believe conspiratorial accounts of the John F Kennedy assassination (e.g., the involvement of the CIA) and reported decreased intention to engage in political activities after viewing Oliver Stone’s film JFK (Butler et al., 1995) Similarly, participants who viewed Fahrenheit 9/11 were less likely to endorse the Bush administration’s rationale for the war in Iraq and indicated decreased intention to vote for Bush (Koopman et al., 2006) Finally, there is evidence pertinent to our model suggesting that the type of media people expose themselves to can further shape their existing political views For example, devoted listeners of the Rush Limbaugh radio program appear to become even more politically conservative over time, compared to casual or nonlisteners of the show (Jones, 2012) These results, in particular, seem supportive of the selective exposure theory, as devoted listeners of the show were more likely to be conservative to begin with, and prolonged exposure to this specific form of media served to further polarize their political beliefs Such effects appear characteristic of both liberals and conservatives, such that liberals (or conservatives) who consume more liberal (or conservative) media become increasingly polarized in their attitudes and beliefs (Stroud, 2010) Personality Traits and Media Preference Given the important and diverse roles that media play in people’s lives, researchers have begun to examine individual differences factors that might contribute to media preferences and consumption Trait personality, for example, consistently appears to predict differences in media preference and engagement With regards to the two traits most commonly associated with political orientation— Personality, Media, and Political Orientation Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness—researchers have found that individuals high in the former preferred media genres highlighting complexity, culture, intensity, and aesthetics (e.g., arts, foreign), while disliking conventional and communal genres (e.g., pop, romance; Rentfrow, Goldberg, & Zilca, 2011) Specifically, Openness appears positively related to preference for reflective, complex music (e.g., classical, blues), as well as rebellious music (e.g., rock, heavy metal), and negatively related to preference for upbeat and conventional music (e.g., pop; Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003) Open individuals are also more likely to enjoy reading books about literature, culture, and science and are prone to dislike romantic or people-oriented books or magazines, such as news about celebrities (Kraaykamp & van Eijck, 2005; Schutte & Malouf, 2004) Individuals higher on Conscientiousness, on the other hand, tend to prefer conventional, factoriented media (e.g., reality television, news; Rentfrow et al., 2011; Schutte & Malouf, 2004) Conscientious people enjoy music that is upbeat and books related to science, romance, and current events However, they dislike intense, edgy media (such as punk music, cult, and horror films) (Kraaykamp & van Eijck, 2005; Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003; Schutte & Malouf, 2004) A recent set of studies, more relevant to our current research question, demonstrated that exposure to cultural or media products (e.g., books and films) mediated the relationships between political orientation and the traits Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness (Xu et al., 2013) Specifically, higher Openness to Experience and lower Conscientiousness were both associated with increased exposure to cultural and media products (such as reading more books and viewing more films) This increased cultural exposure then predicted higher political liberalism These findings provide some evidence for the notion that media may indeed be an important mechanism through which personality traits shape political orientation These studies were limited by the fact that the researchers measured cultural/media exposure in a very general manner—by assessing people’s overall knowledge of and exposure to a specific media domain However, measurements of people’s general knowledge of or exposure to a media domain cannot provide information about actual media consumption or preferences for specific genres People can be exposed to and therefore know about various different genres of books (e.g., romance, science fiction, academic, etc.) but may choose to consume or read only a subset of these genres (e.g., only science fiction) that fit with their own preferences Differences in the preference for and consumption of specific media products may exert different influences on people’s beliefs and attitudes Therefore, to further understand how media exposure and consumption may influence people’s political beliefs, it would be important to distinguish between general exposure to media and specific preferences for media genres Present Research The present study therefore aimed (1) to investigate the link between preferences for media genres and political orientation and (2) to determine whether media preferences could serve as a mediator between trait personality and political orientation Participants completed measures of media preference, trait personality, and political orientation Mediation analyses were conducted to test the model of whether preferences for specific media genres would partially explain the link between personality and political orientation Based on past work, we hypothesized that preference for more aesthetic and unconventional media would be related to higher Openness to Experience and greater political liberalism, whereas preference for more communal and conventional genres would be related to increased Conscientiousness and higher conservatism With regards to our model, we predicted that preference for different media genres would mediate the relationships that Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness have with political orientation Specifically, higher Openness would be associated with preference for more aesthetic and unconventional media genres, which would then predict increased Xu and Peterson liberalism, while higher Conscientiousness would be associated with preference for more conventional and structured media genres, which would then predict greater conservatism Methods Participants Participants for this study were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (Mturk, www mturk.com), an online crowdsourcing website that allows employers (known as “Requesters”) to post descriptions of various types of work (“Jobs” or “HITs”), which are then completed by potential employees (“Workers”) Requesters can set qualification criteria on the HITs, such that only Workers meeting these criteria are allowed to complete them Workers are compensated if the completed HIT is deemed to be of satisfactory quality by the Requester Past research suggests that data collected through Mturk are as reliable as data generated through traditional means (e.g., in-lab studies) As well, Mturk samples are found to generally be more diverse than traditional undergraduate and Internet samples (Buhrmester, Kwang, & Gosling, 2011; Goodman, Cryder, & Cheema, 2013; Paolacci, Chandler, & Ipeirotis, 2010) For the present study, a total of 543 participants were recruited Of the 543 participants, 498 (91.71%) completed all the relevant measures for the study On average, it took these participants 27.81 minutes to complete the study (SD 52.24, ranging from to 1,108 minutes) To ensure quality, we only included participants who spent greater than 10, but less than 120, minutes to complete the study in our final analyses Thus, our final sample consisted of 458 participants (84.35% of the total sample), of which 209 (45.63%) were males.1 The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 81 years old (M 35.96 years, SD 13.03 years) Participants averaged 15.03 years of education (SD 2.48 years), which is equivalent to some college On Mturk, it was specified that only participants with prior approval ratings of 97% or higher (based on previously completed HITs) and who were residents of the United States were qualified to complete this study Data collection took place over the course of one day, and participants were compensated $1.00 for their participation in this study Materials Media preferences Preferences for different types of media were assessed using the Entertainment Preference Measure (EPM; Rentfrow et al., 2011) Participants were asked to rate their preference for various genres, from a comprehensive list, on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from “Dislike strongly” to “Like strongly.” The EPM contains a total of 108 genres, spanning four media domains: book/magazine (34 genres, e.g., adventure, philosophy), film (18 genres, e.g., suspense, foreign), television (34 genres, e.g., educational, reality television), and music (22 genres, e.g., alternative, classical) Trait personality Big Five personality was measured using the Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS; DeYoung, Quilty, & Peterson, 2007), which consists of 100 items describing behaviors and dispositions In addition to assessing the broad Big Five personality traits, the BFAS also measures two lower-level aspects within each trait The BFAS has been validated against other standard Big Five personality scales, such as the Big Five Inventory and the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (DeYoung et al., 2007), and has been increasingly used as a valid measure of personality in empirical We have also conducted our analyses by including all participants who have completed the study (n 498) and have found similar patterns of results In the article, we therefore only report the results obtained using the sample of 458 participants Personality, Media, and Political Orientation research (e.g., Cortes, Kammrath, Scholer, & Peetz, 2014; Robinson, Joel, & Plaks, 2015, etc.) Participants indicated their agreement with each of the 100 items using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree.” Political orientation Participant political orientation was assessed using a battery of items measuring liberalism, political party preference, and overall political attitude, which would allow for the evaluation of different aspects contributing to an individual’s political orientation Liberalism was assessed using the 10-item IPIP Liberalism scale (Goldberg, 1999), which requires participants to rate their agreement with various political value statements (such as “Believe laws should be strictly enforced”) on a 5-point Likert scale Participants were also asked to indicate their preference for the two primary American political parties (Democratic and Republican) on a 5-point Likert scale Finally, participants rated their overall political orientation on a one-item 7-point Likert scale ranging from “Very conservative” to “Very liberal.” Procedure A recruitment ad for this study was posted on the Mturk website Interested participants who met the qualification requirements were directed to the study online Participants first completed a consent form, after which they completed the EPM, BFAS, political orientation measures, and demographics information Participants received an online debriefing form and were compensated in standard Mturk manner Results Personality Predictors of Political Orientation The three measures of political orientation (liberalism, political party preferences, and overall political orientation) were highly correlated (rs ranging from 0.54 to 0.80) Therefore, similar to previous research (e.g., Xu et al., 2013), we created an aggregate measure of political orientation by calculating the mean of the z-scores of the above-mentioned measures (the scores for the Republican Party preference measure were reverse-coded prior to aggregation) This measure had good internal reliability (a 0.90) We first conducted correlational analyses to determine how the Big Five personality traits and demographics (age, gender, and education) were related to political orientation (see Table for descriptives) Demographically, more liberal political orientation was correlated with younger age (r 20.14, p 0.003) With regard to trait personality, higher liberalism was correlated with higher Openness to Experience (r 0.15, p 0.001) and lower Conscientiousness (r 20.17, p < 0.001) (Table 2) Next, we conducted a hierarchical regression analysis to determine how personality predicted political orientation, after controlling for the demographic variables Age, gender, and education were entered into Block and the Big Five traits into Block of the regression analysis The total model was significant, R2 0.10, F(8, 448) 5.92, p < 0.001 Liberal political orientation was predicted by youth (b 20.16, t(448) 23.29, p 0.001), higher education (b 0.10, t(448) 2.09, p 0.04), as well as higher Openness to Experience (b 0.19, t(448) 3.82, p < 0.001) and lower Conscientiousness (b 20.16, t(448) 23.08, p 0.002) These results are consistent with the findings of past work on the personality predictors of political orientation (e.g., Carney et al., 2008; Hirsh et al., 2010; Sibley et al., 2012; Xu et al., 2013) 8 Xu and Peterson Table Descriptive Statistics for the Demographics, Trait Personality, and Political Orientation Variables Variable Mean SD Age Education Openness to Experience Conscientiousness Neuroticism Agreeableness Extraversion Political Orientation (Aggregated) Liberalism Democratic party preference Republican party preference Overall political attitude 35.96 15.03 3.78 3.56 2.72 3.84 3.28 0.00 3.08 3.22 2.31 4.62 13.03 2.48 0.55 0.63 0.77 0.56 0.64 0.88 0.78 1.37 1.30 1.67 Table Correlations Between Demographics, Trait Personality, and Political Orientation Age Gender Education Openness to Experience Conscientiousness Neuroticism Agreeableness Extraversion Liberal Political Orientation † 0.13** 0.14** 0.06 0.14** 20.18*** 0.11* 20.06 20.14** 0.01 0.10* 0.04 0.14** 0.27*** 20.04 0.04 0.09* 0.01 20.02 20.04 0.05 0.08† 0.16*** 20.18*** 0.27*** 0.33*** 0.15** 20.44*** 0.29*** 0.37*** 20.17*** 20.25*** 20.44*** 0.09 0.15** 0.05 20.07 p < 0.10, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 Structural Analysis of Media Preferences In order to determine the overarching genre factors/components for the four media domains included in the EPM (book/magazine, film, television, and music), we constructed the hierarchical structure for media preferences in the same manner as Rentfrow and colleagues (2011) using the factor analysis procedures outlined by Goldberg (2006) For the EPM, a single unrotated component was first specified using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) Then, two orthogonally rotated components (using Varimax rotation) were specified and extracted This extraction process was repeated, with an additional component specified each time, until a component was specified for which no genre had its highest factor loading The factor scores for each successive extraction were calculated and saved Finally, the total set of factor scores (one, then two, then three, etc.) were correlated, and the correlations between the factor scores at one level with those at the level below it were used as path coefficients to construct a hierarchical representation (Goldberg, 2006) This hierarchical “tree” represented the top-down structure of media genre preferences Based on the findings of Rentfrow and colleagues (2011), we specified five components as the cutoff point (eigenvalues between 3.54 and 21.87) Only genre items with factor loadings of 0.40 or greater were included (Table 3) The hierarchical structure for media genre preferences determined in this study (Figure 2) fundamentally replicated that found in the 2011 study by Rentfrow and colleagues, although there were some potentially relevant minor differences Therefore, in regards to labeling the media components, Personality, Media, and Political Orientation Table Factor Loadings of all EPM Items on the Five Media Preference Components EPM Item Domain Nonfiction Educational Arts and humanities Reference News/Current events Biographies Academic Science and nature Medical Psychology Health Philosophy Health News/Current events History Science Society and culture Art Home and garden Travel Documentary Public access Photography Mind and spirit Business Architecture Business and economy Mystery Cooking Daytime talk shows Romance Romance Reality TV Made-for-TV movies Family Music television Soap operas Medical shows Movie coverage Game shows Cop shows Dramas Real-life mysteries Lawyer shows Children Home improvement Variety shows Pop Entertainment Mystery Country Comedies Religious Book TV TV Book Book Book Book Book Book Book TV Book Book TV Book TV TV Book Book Book Film TV Book Book Book Book TV Book Book TV Film Book TV TV Film TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV TV Music Book TV Music TV Music Cereb./Nonf Comm./Pop Dark/Alt Aesth./Mus Thr./Act 0.65 0.65 0.63 0.62 0.61 0.61 0.60 0.59 0.58 0.57 0.57 0.57 0.56 0.56 0.55 0.55 0.53 0.52 0.51 0.51 0.50 0.50 0.49 0.48 0.45 0.44 0.44 0.39 0.34 0.08 20.01 0.02 0.00 0.31 0.12 0.13 0.07 0.46 0.27 0.12 0.17 0.26 0.35 0.25 0.22 0.41 0.26 20.09 0.10 0.29 0.09 0.04 0.06 0.02 0.17 0.07 0.13 0.09 0.20 20.12 20.02 0.38 0.20 0.45 20.01 0.33 0.24 20.06 20.09 0.28 0.05 0.36 0.28 0.05 0.22 0.15 0.29 0.17 0.13 0.18 0.31 0.32 0.74 0.68 0.68 0.61 0.60 0.59 0.59 0.55 0.53 0.52 0.52 0.50 0.50 0.48 0.48 0.48 0.48 0.47 0.46 0.45 0.45 0.43 0.43 0.42 0.05 0.10 0.12 0.09 0.02 20.07 0.11 0.31 0.05 0.16 20.02 0.18 20.07 20.02 0.03 0.32 0.14 0.15 20.13 0.05 0.14 20.06 0.14 0.05 20.03 0.06 20.05 0.24 0.07 20.08 20.04 0.02 20.04 0.00 20.03 0.11 20.02 0.05 0.12 0.17 0.01 0.19 0.18 0.08 0.09 20.03 0.11 0.08 0.29 0.26 20.27 0.22 20.40 0.06 0.18 0.38 0.35 0.01 0.11 0.25 0.21 0.12 0.21 0.12 0.31 0.12 20.01 0.23 0.17 0.27 0.44 0.22 0.25 0.18 0.38 0.32 0.28 0.14 0.38 0.21 20.17 0.18 0.08 0.28 0.21 20.05 0.02 0.14 0.10 0.22 20.08 0.10 20.01 20.19 20.16 20.16 20.04 0.30 0.13 0.23 0.17 0.01 20.17 0.04 20.04 0.30 0.07 0.08 20.02 0.09 0.29 0.05 0.06 0.14 0.03 20.19 0.07 20.01 0.07 0.30 0.21 0.25 0.04 20.06 20.02 0.23 0.08 0.11 0.05 20.11 0.44 0.12 0.43 0.14 0.04 0.04 20.09 20.09 0.02 20.02 0.10 0.14 0.03 0.02 0.18 0.18 0.30 20.01 0.09 0.12 0.08 0.18 0.26 20.07 0.21 0.27 0.24 0.23 0.21 10 Xu and Peterson TABLE Continued EPM Item Domain Soul/R&B Religion Comedy Late-night talk shows Drama Horror Horror Horror Science fiction Sci-fi and fantasy Sci-fi and fantasy Punk Cult Alternative Erotic Heavy metal Animation Rock Animation Independent Suspense Sketch comedy Thrillers and espionage Erotica Rap/Hip-hop Fiction and literature Dance/Electronica World Jazz Opera Africana Classical Poetry Folk Foreign Funk Blues Gospel Bluegrass Musicals Show tunes New age Classics Oldies Sports Recreation and sports Western War Western Action Action adventure Action Spy shows Music Book Film TV Film TV Film Book Film TV Book Music Film Music Film Music Film Music TV Film Film TV Book Book Music Book Music Music Music Music Book Music Book Music Film Music Music Music Music Film Music Music Film Music Book TV Film Film TV Film TV Book TV Cereb./Nonf Comm./Pop Dark/Alt Aesth./Mus Thr./Act 20.04 0.28 20.04 0.11 0.29 0.07 0.03 0.11 0.11 0.15 0.13 20.02 0.19 0.10 20.02 0.04 20.01 0.04 0.00 0.29 0.19 0.10 0.27 20.02 20.23 0.31 20.02 0.27 0.20 0.27 0.28 0.31 0.39 0.19 0.29 0.06 0.27 0.05 0.23 0.13 0.07 0.19 0.29 0.17 20.01 0.04 0.08 0.11 0.18 20.05 0.05 0.12 0.30 0.41 0.38 0.38 0.32 0.31 0.18 0.09 0.14 20.11 20.08 20.02 20.05 20.10 20.04 0.16 20.09 0.16 0.02 0.14 20.02 0.21 0.17 0.28 0.18 0.29 0.13 0.08 0.06 20.03 0.11 0.15 0.01 0.14 20.02 20.03 0.07 0.05 0.35 0.03 0.44 0.42 0.10 0.24 0.25 0.13 0.16 0.07 20.05 0.17 0.14 0.24 0.08 0.29 0.04 20.25 0.18 0.27 0.19 0.64 0.64 0.63 0.62 0.62 0.62 0.61 0.61 0.55 0.46 0.45 0.45 0.44 0.43 0.42 0.41 0.41 0.38 0.37 0.33 0.31 0.30 0.10 0.02 20.09 0.05 0.02 0.14 0.08 0.29 0.33 20.03 20.37 0.01 20.02 20.09 0.15 0.11 20.05 0.02 0.02 0.11 0.26 20.02 0.38 0.37 0.43 0.30 0.38 0.25 0.02 0.12 20.01 20.20 20.23 20.15 0.10 0.14 0.18 0.16 0.28 0.09 0.12 0.00 0.32 20.03 0.31 0.31 20.20 0.23 20.10 0.18 0.18 0.10 0.29 0.57 0.57 0.54 0.52 0.52 0.52 0.51 0.50 0.50 0.49 0.47 0.45 0.45 0.43 0.43 0.38 0.31 0.03 20.03 0.17 20.02 0.20 20.13 20.16 20.02 0.04 0.08 0.18 0.31 0.30 0.01 20.06 20.07 20.04 0.22 0.21 0.26 0.07 0.03 20.12 0.18 0.23 0.22 0.13 0.26 20.04 0.23 0.24 0.36 0.11 0.14 20.16 20.07 20.09 0.19 20.01 0.11 0.02 20.09 20.10 20.01 0.05 0.11 0.19 0.15 20.05 20.03 20.08 0.15 0.07 0.70 0.68 0.64 0.63 0.61 0.57 0.52 0.51 0.44 Personality, Media, and Political Orientation 11 TABLE Continued EPM Item Domain Computers Adventure Book Book Cereb./Nonf 0.26 0.30 Comm./Pop 20.01 0.07 Dark/Alt 0.22 0.38 Aesth./Mus 0.12 0.02 Thr./Act 0.41 0.41 Note Factor loadings  0.40 are in boldface; Cereb./Nonf Cerebral/Nonfiction, Comm./Pop Communal/Popular, Dark/Alt Dark/Alternative, Aesth./Mus Aesthetic/Musical, Thr./Act Thrilling/Action Figure Varimax-rotated principal components derived from 108 EPM items (FUPC, first unrotated principal component) For simplicity purpose, only path coefficients of 0.50 or stronger are depicted in the hierarchical structure we referenced the naming pattern from the previous work, while simultaneously incorporating our own labels in order to better fit the characteristics of the media genres that loaded on the components in the present sample In the present study, then, the two-component solution roughly broke down into “Highbrow” and “Lowbrow” dimensions The “Highbrow” component included medical (book/magazine), opera (music), society and culture (TV) genres, while the “Lowbrow” dimension included action (film), adventure (book/magazine), punk (music) genres In the three-component solution, the “Lowbrow” component remained essentially the same The “Highbrow” component subdivided further into a “Cerebral/Nonfiction” (philosophy, art, science) and a “Communal/Popular” (romance, family, soap operas) component The “Cerebral/Nonfiction” component remained unchanged in the fourcomponent solution, and the “Communal/Popular” component remained the same throughout the four- and five-component solutions The “Lowbrow” component, however, split into the “Dark/Alternative” (science fiction, horror, alternative) and “Thrilling/Action” (action, adventure, spy shows) subcomponents in the four-component solution These remained unchanged in the five-component solution Finally, in the five-component solution, the “Cerebral/Nonfiction” factor further split into an “Aesthetic/Musical” (e.g., poetry, jazz, opera) component, in addition to the previously mentioned “Cerebral/Nonfiction” component 12 Xu and Peterson Table Correlations Between Preferences for Media Genres and Demographics, Trait Personality, and Political Orientation Age Gender Education Openness to Experience Conscientiousness Neuroticism Agreeableness Extraversion Liberal Political Orientation † Cerebral/ Nonfiction Communal/ Popular Dark/ Alternative Aesthetic/ Musical Thrilling/ Action 0.23*** 0.06 0.10* 0.46*** 0.16*** 20.11* 0.17*** 0.08 20.02 20.02 0.34*** 20.11* 20.13** 0.12** 20.01 0.17*** 0.15** 20.13** 20.36*** 20.16*** 20.06 0.26*** 20.19*** 0.12** 20.13** 0.05 0.28*** 20.01 0.05 0.08† 0.22*** 20.16*** 20.02 20.01 0.07 0.15** 20.01 20.52*** 20.00 20.06 0.13** 20.25*** 20.11* 0.19*** 20.25*** p < 0.10, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 Relationships Between Media Preferences, Trait Personality, and Political Orientation After constructing the hierarchical structure of media genre preferences, we conducted correlation analyses to determine how media preferences were related to demographics, trait personality, and political orientation (Table 4) Demographically, age was correlated positively with preference for Cerebral/Nonfiction media genres (r 0.23, p < 0.001) and negatively with Dark/Alternative genres (r 20.36, p < 0.001) Females preferred the Communal/Popular component (r 0.34, p < 0.001), but not the Dark/Alternative (r 20.16, p < 0.001) or Thrilling/Action components (r 20.52, p < 0.001) Finally, more educated people preferred the Cerebral/Nonfiction (r 0.10, p 0.04), but not the Communal/Popular media genres (r 20.11, p 0.02) With regards to the two personality traits most commonly associated with political orientation, the correlational analyses revealed that higher Openness to Experience was related positively to preference for the Cerebral/Nonfiction (r 0.46, p < 0.001), Dark/Alternative (r 0.26, p < 0.001), and Aesthetic/Musical (r 0.22, p < 0.001) components and negatively to the Communal/Popular media component (r 20.13, p 0.006) Conscientiousness, for its part, was correlated positively with the Cerebral/Nonfiction (r 0.16, p < 0.001), Communal/Popular (r 0.12, p 0.009), and Thrilling/ Action (r 0.13, p 0.005) components, but negatively with the Dark/Alternative (r 20.19, p < 0.001) and Aesthetic/Musical (r 20.16, p < 0.001) components In terms of political orientation, liberalism was correlated positively with preference for the Dark/Alternative (r 0.28, p < 0.001) and Aesthetic/Musical (r 0.15, p 0.002) components, but negatively with the Communal/Popular (r 20.13, p 0.007) and Thrilling/Action (r 20.25, p < 0.001) components Does Media Preference Mediate the Relationship Between Personality and Political Orientation? Lastly, we tested our specific research model using bootstrapped multiple mediation analyses (Preacher & Hayes, 2008) Specifically, we proposed the two traits, Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness, as the independent variables, the five media components as the mediators, and political orientation as the dependent variable.2 This analysis tested the theoretical model, in which Openness We have also tested an additional model, in which we have included the demographics variables (age, gender, and education) as covariates We found the same pattern of results for both models In our article, we reported the results for our primary model without the covariates, as it is more relevant to our main research question Personality, Media, and Political Orientation 13 Figure The relationships between traits Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness, preference for different media genres, and political orientation The coefficients reported are unstandardized †p < 0.10, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 to Experience and Conscientiousness differently predicts preferences for the five media components and differences in media preference then predicted differences in political orientation Thus, we examined whether preference for different media genres mediated the association between personality and political orientation It is important for us to note that these analyses test for whether our data supports our theoretical model, but given that the bootstrapped mediation analysis is fundamentally based on regressions, we cannot provide firm claims about causality (Preacher & Hayes, 2008) In other words, the “directionality” that we propose between the variables in our model are theoretical in nature A total of 5,000 bootstrap resamples were used in the analyses The mediation analysis (see Figure 3) confirmed that, although the total effect of the independent variables was significant (Openness to Experience: c 0.29, SE 0.07, t(455) 3.94, p < 0.001; Conscientiousness: c 20.27, SE 0.06, t(455) 24.22, p < 0.001), the direct effects of Openness to Experience (c0 0.08, SE 0.09, t(450) 0.93, p 0.35) and Conscientiousness (c0 20.08, SE 0.07, t(450) 21.14, p 0.25) on political orientation was mediated by the indirect effect through preference for different media genres With regards to specific media genres, preference for the Dark/Alternative (ab 0.12, SE 0.03, 95% CI [0.07, 0.19]) and Aesthetic/Musical (ab 0.05, SE 0.02, 95% CI [0.01, 0.09]) genres, and dislike towards the Communal/Popular (ab 0.03, SE 0.01, 95% CI [0.01, 0.06]) media genres emerged as significant mediators in explaining the association between Openness to Experience and political orientation Preferences for the Communal/Popular (ab 20.02, SE 0.01, 95% CI [20.05, 20.004]) and Thrilling/Action (ab 20.05, SE 0.02, 95% CI [20.09, 20.02]), as well as dislike towards the Dark/Alternative (ab 20.08, SE 0.02, 95% CI [20.13, 20.05]) and Aesthetic/Musical (ab 20.04, SE 0.02, 95% CI [20.07, 20.01]) genres, mediated the link between Conscientiousness and political orientation 14 Xu and Peterson Discussion The present study explored potential mechanisms by which trait personality might shape political orientation Specifically, we tested a theoretical model, which proposes that differences in media preference might mediate the associations that Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness have with political orientation The first part of the study replicated past findings (e.g., Carney et al., 2008, etc.), showing that liberalism was predicted by higher trait Openness to Experience and lower trait Conscientiousness Next, we constructed the hierarchical structure of media preferences across four different media domains: book/magazine, film, television, and music Consistent with past work (e.g., Rentfrow et al., 2011), our analyses revealed five main media preference components: Cerebral/Nonfiction, Communal/Popular, Dark/Alternative, Aesthetic/Musical, and Thrilling/Action Most importantly, extending beyond past work, the present study found that preferences for these different media components indeed mediated the associations between personality traits and political orientation Specifically, Openness to Experience was associated with greater preference for Dark/Alternative and Aesthetic/Musical media and lesser preference for Communal/Popular media, which then predicted higher liberalism By contrast, Conscientiousness was related to increased preferences for Communal/ Popular and Thrilling/Action genres and decreased preferences for Dark/Alternative and Aesthetic/ Musical genres, which then predicted greater conservatism Media genres in the Dark/Alternative component are appropriately characterized as edgy, unconventional, and intense, while the Aesthetic/Musical component consists of genres that are more cultured, complex, and artistic The Communal/Popular component contains genres that are conventional, popular, and cheerful in nature, while the Thrilling/Action media genres are more active, exciting, and adventurous Because individuals higher in Openness to Experience greatly value creativity and new perspectives, they would be more likely to select media that satisfy these values, which are embodied by the Dark/Alternative and Aesthetic/Musical genres Increased consumption of these forms of media may expose them to more novel and diverse ideas and viewpoints, which open individuals are more likely to consider and accept The acceptance and potential adoption of these novel perspectives may then contribute to fostering more politically liberal beliefs Furthermore, open individuals are less attracted towards more popular and conventional media genres, which may then result in decreased exposure towards more traditional (and perhaps conservative) viewpoints and which may then further maintain their liberal political orientation In contrast, individuals higher in Conscientiousness are more likely to select media that is more conventional, popular, and active, while disliking media that is too intense or unconventional Given that Conscientiousness is characterized by a predisposition towards organization, structure, and preference for routines and convention, it is fitting that more conscientious people would prefer media genres matching these characteristics Increased exposure to such genres may foster more conservative beliefs (or at least, lesser liberal beliefs), as their contents are more likely to contain familiar and expected information and perspectives, the maintenance of which is more consistent with conservative values Additionally, by reducing their consumption of more intense or unconventional media, conscientious individuals may also decrease their encounter of novel and potentially expectancy-violating information, which may then further help to maintain their conservative views These results offer interesting initial insights into the mechanisms through which personality may shape political orientation via the selection and consumption of specific media genres However, in addition to their theoretical contributions, these results also hold potentially important social and practical implications One key issue that the current findings may be relevant for is censorship in the media The censoring, or restriction, of people’s access towards specific types of media products may, for example, inadvertently create a potential conservative or liberal bias in society This issue may be especially important to the education system, as the censorship or removal of certain types of media or curriculum (e.g., specific types of music and art programs) may foster potential political biases Personality, Media, and Political Orientation 15 from an early age on Such limited access and exposure to forms of media-related products could have further downstream implications in forming students’ political beliefs later on in life Limitations and Future Directions While the current study offers interesting additional insight into the underlying mechanisms by which trait personality shapes political orientation, it has some limitations that must be considered First, the mediation analyses used in the present study to test our model are still fundamentally correlational in nature and thus cannot conclusively demonstrate the causal direction of the relationships indicated We theorized that temperament and trait personality should develop earlier in life, prior to the exposure to and consumption of media products, and that the consumption of media should precede the formation of concrete political views Based on this theoretical model, then, it would be reasonable to posit that preference for media might mediate the relationship between personality and political orientation However, it is important to note that the directionalities of the associations tested in this model are theoretical and that future work will need to adopt experimental or longitudinal designs to truly establish the causal directions between the variables Additionally, it is also possible that different pathways of causality could exist between the study variables It could be that political orientation mediates the association between personality and media preference, such that people with different political beliefs selectively seek out different media genres that are more aligned with their views (e.g., Stroud, 2008) It is also possible that the relationship between personality, political orientation, and media preference operate in a more complex feedbackloop manner, such that trait personality influences differences in media preference, which then predicts political orientation, and differences in political orientation then further amplify different media preferences Furthermore, it is entirely plausible that external factors not examined in the present study may have important influences on our variables For example, both personality and media exposure may also be shaped by people’s social environment, such as parental, or social network and peer influences Thus, future research is needed to more carefully examine these other potential pathways and contributing variables Another limitation of the current study is that, although it shows that media preferences mediates the association between personality and political orientation, it cannot address the question of the exact process through which media preferences operate as the mediator That is, how does the preference for (and consumption of) different genres of media impact political orientation? As we have speculated above, it is possible that people with different personality traits (i.e., higher Openness or Conscientiousness) would seek out media genres that they perceive to be more congruent with their personality, while avoiding genres that are less similar to themselves It is also possible that the content and information presented in different genres of media would be more consistent with more liberal or conservative ideals, and consumption of those media genres would therefore foster an increased liberalism or conservatism However, future research is needed to examine the specific processes through which people select different media genres and the ways in which these different genres influence political orientation Lastly, there are limitations to the present sample The current study investigated political differences within an American sample Thus, it is instructive to compare our sample demographics with that of American voters overall The exit polls for the 2012 U.S election (Clement, Cohen, & Craighill, 2012) found a 47:53 ratio of male/female voters, which is comparable to our sample (46:54) These polls also indicated that 19% of voters were aged 18 to 29, 27% were 30 to 44, 38% were 45 to 64, and 16% were 65 or older In this regard, our sample appeared to be more skewed towards the younger age spectrum: 185 (40%) of our participants were aged 18 to 29, 161 (35%) were 30 to 44, 101 (22%) were 45 to 64, and 11 (2%) were 65 or older Finally, with regards to education, the polls found that 3% of the voters completed some high school, 21% completed high school, 29% completed 16 Xu and Peterson some college, 29% completed college, and 18% completed postgraduate education (Clement et al., 2012) Our sample was comparable in this regard, with a slight bias towards higher education Eight (2%) participants completed some high school, 68 (15%) completed high school, 162 (35%) completed some college, 124 (27%) completed college, and 95 (21%) completed postgraduate-level education Given the online source of our participants, these differences may not come as a surprise Younger, more educated individuals may be more likely to be aware of and participate in online platforms such as Mturk Thus, it is important to interpret the present findings within the range of the demographic represented: namely, younger, more educated Americans Furthermore, given that we have restricted our participant pool to residents from the United States, our results cannot necessarily be generalized to other cultures Future work will need to replicate the present findings using broader, more culturally diverse samples The present study should be viewed as an initial step into the investigation of the factors that shape political differences Conclusion The present study showed that preference for media that is more edgy, dark, and aesthetic, as well as dislike for communal and popular media, mediated the relationship between Openness to Experience and liberalism In contrast, preference for communal and active media, in addition to dislike towards dark and aesthetic media genres, mediated the association between Conscientiousness and conservatism Thus, these results provide one possible mechanism by which personality may shape political orientation and also demonstrate the important impacts that media consumption has on people’s lives ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank Elizabeth Page-Gould for her comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this manuscript Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Xiaowen Xu, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St George Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G3, Canada E-mail: xiaowey.xu@mail.utoronto.ca REFERENCES Adkins, T., & Castle, J J (2014) Moving pictures? 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Thus, in the present study, we propose and test a theoretical model in which people’s preferences for different genres of media mediate the link between trait personality and political orientation