"It’s all smoke and mirrors, but I voted anyway”: understanding voter decisions behind ‘Brexit’

Semmens-Wheeler, R. and Hill, K. M. (2018) "It’s all smoke and mirrors, but I voted anyway”: understanding voter decisions behind ‘Brexit’. Paper presented to: Centre for Brexit Studies Annual Conference 2018, Birmingham, 16-17 March 2018.

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Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Abstract:	This research is putting together the puzzle pieces behind the UK’s decision to leave the EU. While some research is beginning to emerge around so-called ‘Brexit’, limited work focuses on a number of psychological factors related to these recent events. Our large-scale, UK-wide survey focuses on attitudes towards voting preference, how participants might vote now and a range of attitudinal and personality factors. We found no difference between leave and remain and non-voters on locus of control, decision-making styles or empathy. However, leave voters reported higher levels of social dominance orientation, racial prejudice, and collective self-esteem. Age also a factor in voting choices, and older participants tended to report higher levels of social dominance orientation and racial prejudice. We will also report on initial qualitative findings, gathered from heavily leave-voting areas of the UK. Together, these findings contribute to the growing picture forming around UK’s decision to leave the EU, while providing an insight into the important psychological processes behind collective decision making.
Subjects:	J Political Science > JA Political science (General) > JA74 Political psychology
Creators:	Semmens-Wheeler, Rebecca and Hill, Kimberley M
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes:	University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology Faculties > Faculty of Health & Society > Psychology
Date:	16 March 2018
Date Type:	Publication
Event Title:	Centre for Brexit Studies Annual Conference 2018
Event Dates:	16-17 March 2018
Event Location:	Birmingham
Event Type:	Conference
Language:	English
Status:	Published / Disseminated
Related URLs:	Conference
URI:	http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/10117

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