We are approaching the time when those of us in the United States will begin hearing more from political candidates seeking the U.S. presidency. I am always interested to hear from the candidates within the primary elections, particularily because there is a strange phenomenon that often occurs which illistrates some fascinating aspects of our human psychology.  Why do we sometimes vote for a particular candidate in the primaries, while we might on the other hand recognize that a different candidate has a better chance of winning? In today's episode we will be discussing an article which explores this exact question by Dr. Nazli Turan titled "A desire for deviance: The influence of leader normativeness and inter-group competition on group member support." Thank you for listening.

Abstract
Group members typically prefer leaders who have characteristics or attitudes that are in line with group norms (i.e., are normative). In this paper, we explore the possibility that in highly competitive inter-group contexts, group members prefer leaders who can more effectively differentiate the in-group from out-groups, leading to a preference for leaders with more extreme attitudes that are in line with group norms (i.e., pro-normative). In three experiments conducted in an election context in the United States, we find that both Democrats' and Republicans' preference for an extreme leader increases under conditions of high inter-group competition. Results indicate that participants' heightened need to differentiate their political party from the competing party drives this effect, and that this effect is stronger for those who identify strongly with their political party. Implications for group members' responses to in-group deviance and leadership support are discussed.

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