Conservative Tendencies: Investigation of Effects of Personality Traits

Introduction; It seems that one of the important factors affecting individuals’ political attitudes is personality traits. Previous literature indicate that there is a significant relationship between some of the dimensions of personality traits and political-cultural attitudes. The objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of individuals’ personality traits on conservatism in two political and cultural domains. The population of the present study is students of University of Isfahan. To collect data, the NEO-FFI and Political Attitudes Questionnaire were used. The validity of the later questionnaire was obtained using the formal method and its reliability was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Findings of the present study indicate that there is a negative and significant correlation between flexibility and tendency to cultural and political conservatism. The results also indicate that conscientiousness has a positive and significant effect on individuals’ tendencies towards conservatism in two cultural and political domains. Finally, the results of the research indicate that the three other variables in personality traits, only agitation can have significant effects on the tendency to cultural conservatism and causes the more tendency of individuals toward conservative political attitudes in cultural domains. Discussion and This study highlights the importance of the personality traits on explanation of political and cultural trends