The politics of neuroticism and unhappiness

2/ …the increasing ideological differences on these measures are far larger and more numerous pic.twitter.com/UTl87O1wtS

— Zach Goldberg (@ZachG932) July 14, 2023

I’ve said this before, but the evidence for the proposition continues to mount: current political debate in America cannot be understood without the concept of neuroticism — as a formal concept from personality psychology — front and center.

And also as I’ve said before — neurotic isn’t the same thing as wrong!

Perhaps more importantly yet, even if a political ideology has a dominant vibe, the variance of temperaments within that ideology remains high, and high relative to the differences across ideologies.  I wonder whether, as the “vibes” of particular ideologies become more public and more salient through social media, whether this does not lead to partial secessions?  (Is Nate Silver one example of this?)

Imagine a future — or how about a present — where “people with a positive attitude” is actually an organizing intellectual and ideological principle?  Yes, that world can be ours, we need only to will it so.