This unique book lays out the motivational basis for tolerance, the most important underlying factor that shapes people's social attitudes and determines our ability to get along with others.
Closed- or open-mindedness distinguishes people open to information and new ideas, prepared to change their views, from people who are rigidly attached to their convictions and resistant to the unknown. Demonstrating how the mechanism underlying closed-mindedness is rooted in uncertainty and fear, with the fundamental consequence of closed-mindedness being intolerance, the author shows how basic features of human psychology drive large-scale socio-political developments that determine the fate of peoples and nations. Kossowska argues that recent political events across Europe, including the popularity and rise of extreme right-wing groups, are no longer adequately explained by traditional distinctions like people versus the elite, religion versus no religion, left versus right. Exploring how this can provide knowledge to increase the capability of people, groups, or societies to improve their lives in an era of uncertainty created by economic and political turmoil, the book also focuses on discussing ways to make people more open, thus tolerant.
Written from a psychological perspective, this is an ideal resource for students and academics in psychology and social and political science, as well as anybody interested in understanding psychological mechanisms of intolerance.
About the Author: Malgorzata Kossowska is a full professor in psychology and Head of the Social Psychology Unit and Center for Social Cognitive Studies in the Institute of Psychology at Jagiellonian University. She is chair of the National Science Center Council, member of the Polish Academy of Science, and Member of the Executive Committee of European Association of Social Psychology. Her areas of interest include the cognitive and motivational underpinnings of complex social phenomena.
Ewa Szumowska, PhD, is a researcher at the Social Psychology Unit in the Institute of Psychology at Jagiellonian University in Krakow and a member of the Center for Social Cognitive Studies Krakow, Association for Psychological Science and the European Association of Social Psychology. She studies motivation, information processing, multiple goal pursuit, and extremism.
Paulina Szwed is a researcher working at the Social Psychology Unit in the Institute of Psychology at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, a member of the Center for Social Cognitive Studies Krakow and the International Society of Political Psychology. Her scientific interests are organized around motivated cognitive effort, especially in the context of cognitive dissonance reduction and dealing with uncertainty.
