Why Radicals Can’t Recognize When They’re Wrong [Archive.org URL]

New research published in Current Biology confirms this feeling: people with radical beliefs actually think differently than those without. Specifically, radicals have less metacognitive sensitivity than moderates.

Metacognition refers to the ability to be aware of and analyze one’s own thinking. Metacognitive sensitivity is similar, but more specific: it refers to the ability to distinguish between one’s correct and incorrect judgements.

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First, the researchers developed a model of “radicalism.” They distributed a series of validated questionnaires on political orientation, attitudes toward specific political issues, intolerance to opposing views, belief rigidity, and other domains. From these, they developed two factors that explained people’s responses: dogmatism and authoritarianism, which, taken together, were considered to define a radical.

In this study, dogmatism referred to one’s rigidity of belief and intolerance to opposing viewpoints, while authoritarianism referred to one’s adherence to in-group authorities and norms and aggression towards those who did not adhere to those authorities and norms. It’s important to note that people from both ends of the political spectrum could qualify as radicals based on these criteria, although people with rightwing politics tended to be more authoritarian, which replicates previous findings on the subject.

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Max Rollwage — the lead researcher on the study — said of the study, “It is not yet clear whether reduced metacognition is the cause or consequence (or both) of radicalization, nevertheless it is easy to imagine that deficits in metacognition will contribute to the consolidation of radical beliefs.”