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Social Psychology Sheds Light on the Troubles of Trump Supporters
Followers of President Trump are in a psychologically difficult situation.

Kermit the Frog used to lament, �It�s not easy being green.� Well, it�s not
easy being a fan of President Trump these days, and I�m not referring to
his sinking poll numbers. There are deeper problems, issues that are
elucidated and illuminated by some now-classic insights of social
psychology. To whit:

1. Cognitive Dissonance. First explored and named by Leon Festinger in the
1950s, it�s a simple yet powerful concept. Basically, people find it
mentally painful (dissonant) to hold two contrary notions at the same time,
especially if they refer to one�s self-perception. Most of us think of
ourselves as, if not brilliant, at least acceptably smart. What to do if we
find ourselves doing something stupid? One possibility is to deny that we
did it. Another (easier to pull off) is to deny that it is stupid;
otherwise, we�re stuck with some unpleasant dissonance. And so, many people
go to great lengths to justify an action, tying themselves into some
extraordinary knots to keep up appearances�even if just to themselves.

In their book, Mistakes Were Made, But Not by Me, psychologists Elliot
Aronson and Carol Tavris tell some revealing stories. For example, members
of the doomsday cult Heaven�s Gate believed that the Hale Bopp comet would
be followed by an alien spaceship that would rescue true believers such as
themselves from imminent catastrophe. They pooled their money and bought a
fancy telescope with which to observe the great event but shortly
thereafter attempted to return the telescope, claiming it was defective
because they couldn�t see the spaceship. And after that, they died by
suicide, but not because they were denied getting their money back.

Trump believers may be similarly stuck. They have hitched their conceptual
wagon to their leader�s claim that COVID isn�t serious, that the US is
doing a �great job� defeating it, and that basic public health responses
such as social distancing and masks aren�t very important. All these claims
are no more real than the nonexistent rocket ship Heaven�s Gaters.
Admittedly, they haven�t directly committed suicide, but their actions are
clearly dangerous to self and others, and in some cases, tantamount to
suicide. Anything to avoid cognitive dissonance.

2. The Marshmallow Test. Here is another well-established social psych
concept, although one that has been critiqued in certain respects. But for
our purposes, let�s take it at face value. The basic idea, developed by
Walter Mischel, is that a young child is offered one marshmallow and told
that if they refrain from eating it for, say, 10 minutes, they will then
get two. The experimenter then leaves the room and, upon returning, notes
whether the child has eaten the treat, or showed restraint. Each subject
having been thus scored, they are examined years�ideally, decades�later,
with the basic finding that those who delayed gratification did better on a
variety of socio-economic measures: higher educational attainment, more
social and economic success, and so forth.

The bottom line for our times is that much of the U.S., notably the Trump
devotees, have resoundingly failed the Marshmallow Test. Encouraged by
their leader, and giving full reign to their marshmallow craving, they just
couldn�t bear the delay urged by responsible public health authorities.
They eagerly �opened up,� and now they, and their potentially more
responsible fellow Americans, are paying the price, as COVID cases spike in
those states and communities that lacked suitable restraint.

3. Obedience to Authority. Another renowned social psych insight comes from
the famous study conducted by Stanley Milgram in which a large proportion
of otherwise normal and presumably empathic volunteers, who thought they
were participating in a teaching experiment, were found willing to subject
their �experimental subjects� to what would have been painful and even
possibly lethal electric shocks. Of course, the volunteers were themselves
the real subjects and the �shocks� weren�t genuine. Milgram's research,
conducted in the aftermath of the Second World War and Hitler�s death
camps, sought to illuminate whether the willingness of seemingly �good
Germans� to go along with the Nazi �final solution,� was an aberration or
somehow related to a flaw in the German national character (whatever that
means).
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Milgram�s disconcerting finding�confirmed in various ways by other
researchers�was that obedience to authority is, alas, widespread. It is
unknown what proportion of border agents and ICE personnel are Trump
supporters, but a reasonable guess suggests that it is relatively high; if
so, then it is not surprising that so many have obediently participated in
cruelly separating families, and subjecting even young children to
conditions suggestive of concentration camps (although thankfully, not
literal genocide).

4. The Frustration-Aggression Connection. Dollard et al demonstrated many
years ago that there is a deep connection between frustration and
aggression. Although it is clear that not all frustration leads to
aggression, and not all aggression is generated by frustration, the
correspondence has remained robust. One of the most potent political
appeals of candidate and now President Trump has been to the frustration of
his followers: frustration that �their country� is being taken over by
others who are ethnically, religiously, socially, and in various other ways
different from themselves, that for the first time in American history, the
prospect no longer beckons that the children of the white working-class
have prospects that are less appealing than their own, that they themselves
have not been receiving the deference they believe they deserve, and so
forth.

In summary: frustrations galore. And not surprisingly, Trump�s appeal to
his frustrated base has relied heavily on his own expressed aggression:
lock her up, don�t take care to avoid head injuries when you throw a
suspect into a police van, punch protestors (I�ll pay your legal bills if
you do). In short, aggression as a response to and outlet for frustration.

Sad to say, there is more, such as the �fundamental attribution error,�
whereby behavior by others viewed as undesirable (e.g., Black Lives Matter
protesters) is seen as indicating their nasty, violent, unpatriotic nature,
thereby justifying a response (e.g., violent and abusive treatment by
police, National Guard, and even the regular U.S. military of
overwhelmingly nonviolent people exercising their constitutional rights as
something regrettably forced upon �us,� the good guys).
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Also the curious susceptibility of many people to charismatic �strong man"
leaders, which risks inducing them to follow these leaders even to their
own detriment. Most of Donald Trump�s policies have in fact done great harm
to the well-being of many of his most ardent supporters, whereupon only a
small minority have been inclined or able to separate themselves from their
adherence.

I am not optimistic that those Americans whose psychology has rendered them
most captive to President Trump will disenthrall themselves. Asked why the
great majority of Republican office-holders continue to express�at least
publicly�support for the president, a senior Republican strategist (who
insisted on anonymity) answered that it was �a choice between staying on
this hell-ship or jumping overboard and drowning.�

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/peace-and-war/202007/social-
psychology-sheds-light-the-troubles-trump-supporters

Subject	Author
Expert says Followers of President Trump are in a psychologically deficient, oth	Ryan
Re: Expert says Followers of President Trump are in a psychologically deficient,	A. Filip
Re: Expert says Followers of President Trump are in a psychologically deficient,	Ryan
Re: Expert says Followers of President Trump are in a psychologically deficient,	A. Filip
Re: Expert says Followers of President Trump are in a psychologically deficient,	Ray Archer
Re: Expert says Followers of President Trump are in a psychologically deficient,	Scout
Re: Expert says Followers of President Trump are in a psychologically deficient,	Governor Swill

Never give an inch!

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