Synergistic and additive effects of social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism on attitudes toward socially stigmatized groups

Research has consistently linked social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) to numerous forms of prejudice, but little research has examined how these personality and ideological variables interact in their associations with various attitudinal outcomes. The present study explored the interactions of SDO and RWA in predicting a wide range of social attitudes (i.e., modern racism, modern sexism, traditional gender role beliefs) and feeling thermometers toward racial/ethnic minorities, women, and other socially stigmatized groups in a cross-sectional survey of 1244 U.S. college students (M-age = 21.54; SD = 5.17). Moderation analyses found significant independent associations of SDO, RWA, or both with all attitudinal or ideological outcome variables. We found a hypothesized synergistic interaction of SDO x RWA in predicting attitudes toward women scores, but the results did not support other hypothesized SDO x RWA interactions. Findings provide further support of the Dual Process Model and suggest that SDO and RWA may employ largely independent pathways in predicting attitudes toward marginalized groups.