Negative events experienced by self and predicted to have been experienced by others as related to political orientation

Subjects reported on the frequency with which they had experienced each of 18 negative events, the frequency they believed that other persons, similar to themselves, had experienced these events, and also provided data on their political orientation. Males and females do not differ significantly from one another in frequency of self-reported negative events or in estimates of how often other persons experience these events. Both males and females believe that persons, similar to themselves, have experienced these events more often than they have experienced them. The frequencies with which Ss report having experienced negative events and their estimates of how often they happened to others are significantly positively correlated for both sexes. Neither the frequencies of self-reported nor the estimated frequencies of others experiencing negative events are significantly related to political orientation for males or females. However, the difference between individual Ssʹ self-reported negative events and their estimates of how often other persons had experienced them correlated with self-described political orientation, −0.75 for males and −0.77 for females. The negative sign indicates that persons who are more liberal, along a liberal-conservative continuum, are substantially more prone to believe that other persons have experienced negative events more often than themselves.