‘If Men Were Angels, No Government Would Be Necessary’: The Intuitive Theory of Social Motivation and Preference for Authoritarian Leaders

We postulate that at least two distinct cognitive systems affect political judgements. The first system, moral cognition, delivers intuitions about what societal outcomes would be ideal. second which we dub the intuitive theory of social motivation, makes predictions how other citizens will behave in practice, and hence feeds into opinions on their conduct should regulated. Both are situation sensitive. illustrate this thesis through a study redistribution governance. present four experiments 750 U.K. adults prescribed ideal levels for hypothetical societies under different circumstances, predicted level those actually able to achieve. Participants judged achieve was lower than gulf particularly large facing war or scarcity, because subset people respond selfishly these threats. Strong, authoritarian leaders were seen as more desirable circumstances. Specifically, threats become less amenable rational persuasion inherent sense, control harsh punishment, is strong can deliver. complement our experimental results with an analysis World Values Survey data from 52 countries, showing governance preferences positively associated perceived threat war, negatively per capita GDP, proxy abundance resources.