Exposure to authoritarian values leads to lower happiness but higher meaning in life

 A new study showed that reading speeches by real-world authoritarians (e.g.,Adolf Hitler) led to lower happiness but higher Meaning in Life than a control passage. studies showed that egalitarian messages led to better mood and authoritarian messages led to higher meaning in life.

Why this is relevant:

In a 2011 World Values Survey of 34 countries in the OECD, 44 percent of non-college graduates endorsed the authoritarian idea of “a strong leader who doesn’t have to bother with congress or elections”.

Understanding the appeal of authoritarian values is a challenge for contemporary society and an important goal for psychological science.

Reference:

WomickJ, EckelkampJ, LuzzoS, WardSJ, BakerSG, SalamunA, et al. (2021) Exposure to authoritarian values leads to lower positive affect, higher negative affect, and higher meaning in life.PLoSONE 16(9):e0256759

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