Influence of right - wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation on inference of communion and competence traits

According to Duckitt's two process theory (2001), right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation are different psychological dispositions, allowing to cope either with unpredictable, dangerous social world or a world seen as a place of a continuous struggle for position. If so, while forming impressions about others, authoritarianism should direct attention to a communion related traits (for a reduction of a unpleasant feelings by trusting others and being a member of a group), whereas dominance should be connected with competence traits (to determine who is a competitor). In this research (91 university students), it was shown that authoritarianism increases the inference of positive communion traits, while SDO decreases the inference of both positive and negative communion traits.. The results are discussed in terms of a psychological needs behind each of the dispositions. peerReviewed publishedVersion