PERSONAL IDEOLOGY POLARITY - ITS EMOTIONAL FOUNDATION AND ITS MANIFESTATION IN INDIVIDUAL-VALUE SYSTEMS, RELIGIOSITY, POLITICAL ORIENTATION, AND ASSUMPTIONS CONCERNING HUMAN-NATURE

Personal ideology is an individual's philosophy of how life should be lived and of what forces influence human living. In this study S. S. T omkins's (1963b, 1965, 1978, 1987) polarity theory of ideology was use d to examine the manifestation of personal ideology in 4 value-laden d omains of personality. Tomkins's theoretical postulates concerning the emotional foundation of personal ideology also were tested. Analyses revealed that the 2 defining dimensions of polarity theory - humanism and normativism - are related in the predicted meaningful ways to valu e systems, assumptions concerning human nature, religiosity, and polit ical orientation. Evidence also was found for Tomkins's contention tha t specific affect clusters serve as the foundation of personal ideolog y. Participants who scored high in humanism ideology related autobiogr aphical memories containing the emotion cluster of joy, distress, fear , and shame, whereas the memories of participants with normative ideol ogies contained relatively more anger.