Liberals and conservatives in the United States have become bitterly polarized in

recent years (Abramowitz, 2010; Iyengar, Sood, & Lelkes, 2012). As competing

ideological groups have become more distinct, cohesive, and mutually
antagonistic, behavioral scientists interested in political polarization have focused
increasingly on the deeper psychological differences between those drawn to the
political left and those drawn to the political right. In this vein, research has
suggested that individuals high in need for closure are more likely to report
conservative identities and attitudes, whereas those low in need for closure lean
in a liberal direction (Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003). But the
conditions under which this relationship obtains may be more specific than
initially believed. Filling this gap, we explored the role of political-identity
centrality, or the extent that one’s political preferences are central to the self-
concept. We present evidence that the need for closure is more strongly related
to two political identifications (ideological self-identification, or symbolic ideology,
and party identification) and issue attitudes (or operational ideology) among
individuals who see their political preferences as more central to their identities.
Our results suggest that psychological differences may polarize primarily those
liberals and conservatives who see politics as a means of self-expression.