On the Association of Interpersonal Trust With Right-Wing Extremist and Authoritarian Attitudes

Authors

  • Ayline Heller
    Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
  • Felix S. Wicke
    Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
  • Christoph Kasinger
    Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
  • Manfred E. Beutel
    Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
  • Oliver Decker
    Else-Frenkel-Brunswik-Institute, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Psychology, Sigmund-Freud-University, Berlin, Germany
  • Julia Schuler
    Else-Frenkel-Brunswik-Institute, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany; Centre for the Study of Right-Wing Extremism and Democracy, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
  • Elmar Brähler
    Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany; Integrated Research and Treatment Center Adiposity Diseases, Behavioral Medicine Unit, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Leipzig University Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany

Abstract

Right-wing extremism and authoritarianism have been identified as major, if not the major threats to democracy in recent years. The rise of right-wing extremist and populist parties in many democratic countries throughout the world has renewed the interest in identifying the roots and determinants of these anti-democratic attitudes. Even though factors on many levels of analysis (macro-, meso- and micro-level) have been taken into consideration as possible sources of the development of these kinds of positions, the relationship of interpersonal trust with both right-wing extremism and authoritarianism has yet to be systematically examined. The aim of the current study was to shed light on the connection between these constructs by analyzing data from a German representative study conducted in 2018 (N = 2,416). Multiple linear regression found interpersonal trust to reliably predict all facets of right-wing extremism and authoritarianism included in the study, even when controlling for standard socioeconomic factors (e.g. age, gender, education, income). The lack of interpersonal trust may thus be seen as a major contributing factor to right-wing extremist and authoritarian attitudes. As such, it should be included in future studies about this topic and the nature of the revealed connection should be further examined.