The present work posits that social motives, particularly status seeking in the form of moral grandstanding, are likely at least partially to blame for elevated levels of affective polarization and ideological extremism in the U.S. In Study 1, results from both undergraduates (N = 981; Mean age = 19.4; SD = 2.1; 69.7% women) and a cross-section of U.S. adults matched to 2010 census norms (N = 1,063; Mean age = 48.20, SD = 16.38; 49.8% women) indicated that prestige-motived grandstanding was consistently and robustly related to more extreme ideological views on a variety of issues. In Study 2, results from a weighted, nationally-representative cross-section of U.S. adults (N = 2,519; Mean age = 47.5, SD = 17.8; 51.4% women) found that prestige motivated grandstanding was reliably related to both ideological extremism and affective polarization.

本工作假定，社会动机，尤其状态追求在道德哗众取宠的形式，有可能至少部分地归咎于美国在研究1中的情感偏振和思想极端水平升高，从两个大学生（结果Ñ  = 981;平均年龄 = 19.4；SD  = 2.1；女性占69.7％），符合2010年人口普查规范的美国成年人截面（N  = 1,063；平均年龄 = 48.20，SD  = 16.38；女性为49.8％）表明，以声望为动机在各种问题上与更极端的意识形态观点始终如一且牢固地相关。在研究2中，来自美国成年人的加权，具有国家代表性的横截面的结果（N  = 2,519；平均年龄 = 47.5，SD  = 17.8；51.4％的女性）发现，声望很高的杰出表现与意识形态极端主义和情感两极分化确实相关。