An Examination of Aggressive Beliefs and Attitudes in Relation to Political Affiliation and Candidate Endorsement in the United States

Social cognition provides insight into why Americans are largely divided with strong partisan rifts. The purpose of this set of studies was to examine social cognitive forms of aggression in relation to political party affiliation and political candidate endorsement. In Study 1 (N = 1,657), all forms of aggressive social cognitions (hostile attribution, potency, retribution, victimization by powerful others, derogation of target, and social...