Melanie Tannenbaum has written several interesting blog posts about ambiguity intolerance and its connection to the early popular support Donald Trump is currently enjoying. Roughly speaking, people who are not comfortable without a plan of action or a path forward are said to have more ambiguity intolerance.
What may be surprising, however, is the research showing that people high in ambiguity intolerance feel so profoundly uncomfortable with the idea of uncertainty, they will often prefer a slightly negative yet certain outcome to a potentially-more-positive, uncertain one. In other words, people may find Donald Trump to be disagreeable, abrasive, or downright unlikeable. But because of his reputation for "telling it like it is" and "being honest to a fault," they also feel certain that they can believe Trump when he says he's telling the truth.
Tannenbaum points out that despite a record of Trump making contradictory comments in the past, people tend to believe his convictions on what he says because nobody would say those "non-normative" things if they really didn't believe it.
(Score: 2) by RedBear on Wednesday August 19 2015, @05:52PM
Thanks for that. I thought about mentioning it but ultimately forgot. I'll remember next time. Nothing like shouting "hey, free stuff" to get people interested. I know I probably wouldn't have read it myself if it weren't a free download.
That being said, if you have plenty of pocket change then buying a bound copy of that book to give to everyone you know would be an excellent way to invest in the survival of your country's democracy. Which country you happen to live in is irrelevant.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @09:09PM
Oh, but it is relevant. Many of the European countries of the present would read it and barely recognize the authoritarian reactions in their societies (UK being an exception). This is why extreme right/nationalist parties rarely get more than 15-20% percent of the votes.