RWA and Prejudice: The Moderating Role of Cognitive Control

A plethora of social psychological studies have established a robust association between Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) and prejudice. In the present study, however, we sought to verify whether this link is indeed ‘inevitable’. Specifically, we examined the ‘liberalizing’ potential of cognitive control processes (i.e., the ability to regulate thoughts, emotions, and actions in accordance with one’s prespecified plans and goals), and we advanced the hypothesis that the RWA-prejudice association is curbed among those high in cognitive control. Two experimental studies (total N = 876) provided only weak support for our key hypothesis. In Study 1 (a university student sample), we found that proactive (but not reactive) control moderated the RWA-explicit prejudice association, such that this relationship was reduced to insignificance among those high in proactive control. By contrast, in Study 2 (an online panel sample), no significant RWA x cognitive control interactions emerged for any of the operationalizations of cognitive control. In addition, we did not observe any cognitive control moderation effects on the RWA-implicit prejudice link across both studies. Taken together, our findings cast reasonable doubt on the liberalizing potential of cognitive control, while at the same time they provide further support for the robustness of the RWA-prejudice association.