Empirical Correlates of Cosmopolitan Orientation: Etiology and Functions in a Worldwide Representative Sample

Psychology has begun contributing to social theory by providing empirical measures of actually existing cosmopolitanism that complements more purely theoretical conceptions of the construct common in philosophy and sociology. Drawing from two waves of research on representative adult samples from 19...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political psychology 2020-08, Vol.41 (4), p.661-678
Main Authors: Liu, James H., Zhang, Robert Jiqi, Leung, Angela K.‐Y., Gil de Zúñiga, Homero, Gastardo‐Conaco, Cecilia, Vasiutynskyi, Vadym, Kus‐Harbord, Larissa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agreeableness
Civil society
Cosmopolitanism
cultural diversity
Dominance
Environmental protection
Etiology
Family physicians
Globalization
Immigrants
Liberalism
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Noncitizens
Openness
Personality
Personality tests
political liberalism
Prejudice
Prosocial behavior
Psychology
Social status
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Summary:Psychology has begun contributing to social theory by providing empirical measures of actually existing cosmopolitanism that complements more purely theoretical conceptions of the construct common in philosophy and sociology. Drawing from two waves of research on representative adult samples from 19 countries (N = 8740), metric invariance was found for the three factors of cosmopolitan orientation (COS): cultural openness (CO), global prosociality (GP), and respect for cultural diversity (RCD). In terms of etiology, among Wave 1 measures, the personality factor of agreeableness was the best predictor of the cosmopolitan factors of GP and RCD at Wave 2, whereas openness of personality best predicted CO. Wave 1 measures of education, political liberalism, and self‐reported social status independently also explained a small amount of variance in COS. Functionally, COS was shown to predict less prejudice against immigrants, and more support for global civil society, even after controlling for social dominance orientation. All three COS factors independently predicted better attitudes towards immigrants. GP was the best predictor of trust in the United Nations, whereas RCD was the best predictor of support for environmental protection. The three‐factor model of COS appears well‐calibrated for assessing actually existing cosmopolitanism across cultures.
ISSN:0162-895X
1467-9221
DOI:10.1111/pops.12644