Ruthie Pliskin, a social psychologist at Tel Aviv University and the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, talks about the role of emotions in determining political action, and where left-wingers and right-wingers differ in this respect.
For more information, see Pliskin, R., Bar-Tal, D., Sheppes, G., & Halperin, E. (2014). “Are Leftists More Emotion-Driven Than Rightists? The Interactive Influence of Ideology and Emotions on Support for Policies.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(12), 1681-1697
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Well,
that was really meta. Sorry, measuring the empathy level response to
the plight of a Palestinian boy whose dreams of pro soccer are blocked
by lack of access to surgery, is not related to the political production
of violence by the ideological adoption of, and indoctrination under,
Hamas Covenant 1988. The Hamas Covenant has nothing to do with how Left
or Right Israelis feel. Ruthie misses the point that Gazans have no
choice between Left and Right, only Hamas at the end of a gun barrel.
She
did answer the question though, and states that Israeli Leftists use
emotions much more than Israeli Rightists when formulating personal
political decisions. She differentiated this on a spectrum of “needing
certainty”. Unfortunately, she mixed in a very qualifying term “rigid”
at that point. But I would agree, if the term “certainty” can be related
to “realism” in the context of her work, rather than invoked as a
pejorative.