New Study Shows Fans Think Their Favorite Characters Share Their Political Views
How would Harry Potter vote? Well, according to a new study from the University of Southampton, your answer will depend on your own political views.
In a paper titled “Heroes and Villains: Motivated Projection of Political Identities,” which was published in Political Science and Research Methods earlier this month, researchers put together a study to find out how people thought different fictional characters would vote. The results indicate people believe that heroes will have political views that align with their own, while villains will have opposing views. Characters from the wizarding world were used in the study, alongside other major franchises such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars.
Participants in the study were shown images of two characters and asked which they thought was more likely to vote Democratic or Republican (if the participant was from the United States) or Labour or Conservative (if they were from the United Kingdom). Their answers were then cross-referenced with pre-recorded information about their political leanings. It was found that participants were 20% more likely to assign their beliefs to a hero than a villain, and 20% more likely to suggest that a villain would lean the opposite way to them. Those on the left tended to be more consistent in this result, as did those with stronger beliefs.
The lead researcher on this study, Dr. Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte, explained how this was “bad news for polarization” because “if we see ‘villains’ as belonging to the other side, then we also tend to associate more and more negative attributes with that group.”
He continued describing the results:
People believe heroes are more likely to belong to their group but can accept a proportion might not. Respondents were much more consistent when identifying a villain as belonging to the other group. In a context where polarization is high, projection appears to be more about defining who we are not, than who we are.
This research isn’t the first time Harry Potter has been used in the world of academia. A 2014 study showed students who had read Harry Potter expressed more empathy toward stigmatized groups than those who had not. Meanwhile, the Harry Potter Academic Conference has been held for the last 13 years, showcasing papers with a basis in the wizarding world.
What do you think about this new research?
