Many studies have examined the psychological foundations of human political views, as various personality traits influence ideological attitudes, opinions, and values. Of particular interest is whether there is a link between psychopathic predispositions and a tendency toward authoritarian political positions, which has also been studied. Furthermore, there are studies indicating one interesting way in which a person’s authoritarian tendencies can be reduced.
A rather illustrative study by Zlatko Šmra concerns the question of whether psychopathy, as well as indicators of positive and negative affect, predicts a person’s inclination toward totalitarian political ideology. In this study, psychopathy was divided into 4 factors: interpersonal (tendency to deceive and manipulate people), affective (lack of empathy, guilt, and remorse), lifestyle (impulsivity, parasitism, and irresponsibility), and antisocial (poor behavioral control and an excessive tendency to commit criminal offenses). For simplicity, we will define the first two factors as primary psychopathy and the others as secondary. In turn, positive and negative affect reflect how much a person is inclined to exhibit enthusiasm and activity, or rather, some unpleasant states of mood, such as anger and nervousness. Finally, totalitarian political ideology implies a person’s high need for state social regulation, their acceptance of life under a dictatorship, the denial of individual freedom, as well as support for repressive methods and procedures. It should be noted that in this case, we are referring to both radical left and radical right ideologies.
In a sample of 386 students aged 18 to 29, it was shown that traits of primary psychopathy significantly predict an individual’s predisposition toward totalitarian political ideology, whereas the link with secondary psychopathy is virtually zero. However, psychopathy scores in general, and secondary psychopathy in particular, predict the presence of negative affect, which in turn also increases a person’s predisposition toward totalitarian political ideology to a certain extent. These results provide a valuable contribution to the understanding of how individuals adopt totalitarian views.
But understanding the problem is not where it ends. In one study, it was shown that the administration of psilocybin sustainably reduces people’s predisposition toward authoritarian views on the libertarian-authoritarian scale (the effect was observed even a year after administration). This substance, which belongs to the psychedelics, exerts a strong prosocial and empathic effect on humans, due to which it is proposed for the therapy of psychopathy as well.
The primary effect of psychedelics on the human brain is the activation of serotonin 2A receptors. However, studies show, that the prosocial effect in the case of their use is likely due to serotonin 1A receptors. This means that selective anti-aggressive agents that act specifically on this type of receptor and produce minimal or no side effects or influence on other behaviors could potentially be effective in the therapy of psychopathy (strengthening the violence inhibitor) and reducing human authoritarianism. As a result, we gain the possibility of effective and safe treatment of psychopathy, as well as its consequences, such as authoritarian tendencies.
