The Role of Personality and Self-Motivation in Political (Dis)Engagement

Perceived loss of control of ones’ political environment breeds cynicism and lowered self-motivation for future political action, all of which are marked indicators of learned helplessness. This leads to disengagement of a country’s people in political activity, thus leaving the government unaccountable and unregulated, while allowing corruption and selfserving policies to plague the nation’s well-being. Therefore, this study aimed to better understand the associations among political apathy, learned helplessness, age, and personality traits. It was hypothesized that learned helplessness, age, and personality traits would be significant predictors of political apathy. Participants were 200 Malaysian individuals (91 males, 109 females, M = 32.93, SD = 13.91) who completed questionnaires including the MiniInternational Personality Item Pool, Self-Motivation Scale, and Voter Involvement Scale. Learned helplessness and Neuroticism were positively correlated with political apathy, whereas Extraversion and Intellect showed negative correlations with political apathy. Age, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness showed no significant relationships with political apathy. Extraversion was the most significant predictor of political apathy, followed by intellect. Thus, the insights yielded from this study may allow for its accumulated knowledge to be informedly applied to reach an artificial resurgence in political engagement. Peranan Kepribadian dan Motivasi Sendiri dalam Penglibatan Politik


Introduction
Conflicts within the human race can be aptly boiled down to two factors: intolerable differences between people (Wynn, 2016) and scarcity of resources/opportunities (Lujala, 2010). To address these conflicts in a practical manner, humans have developed a clever platform of negotiation and compromise. This platform is called politics, and it has played an influential role in the development of our world today. The United States' Declaration of Independence utilized the formal structure of politics of its time to gain the country's current independence (Jefferson, Franklin, & Sherman, 2004). Mahatma Gandhi uses the political right to public assembly to assert his views, thus leading to India's independence (Moxham, 2001). Like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. took to the streets, and his actions paved the way to major reformations in civil and political rights for the minority communities of his time (Morris, 1986).
However, the people of the contemporary world are seemingly disengaging from politics, with disinterest and apathy increasing at significant rates. Lower rates of political participation for Generations X and Y and increased political apathy have been shown in the form of voting abstention, governmental disinterest, and avoidance of news media (Bennett, 2000). A decline in voter turnout for young adults has been reported in countries such as the United Kingdom (Phelps, 2011), Canada (Johnston, Matthews, & Bittner, 2007;Lindsay, 2018), and the United States (Lopez, Kirby, & Sagoff, 2005). The Brexit referendum resulted in the United Kingdom voting to leave the EU, and it was later revealed this was largely determined by a significant lack of voter turnout to represent votes against leaving the EU (Murdoch, 2016). These trends are not exclusive to Western nations, as Asia is experiencing similar issues. For example, Taiwan's voter turnout dropped from 80% to 66% in the span of 12 years (Achen & Wang, 2019). Interestingly, Malaysia shows the opposite trend, as voter turnout increased by 6.32% from 76% to 82.32% in the span of 15 years (Chinnasamy & Azmi, 2018;Gomez, 2013). This forms a thought-provoking topic for research regarding why Malaysians' voting behavior differs from that of other countries. Considerations the global indicators mentioned above it can be said that the people today are experiencing some degree of political apathy. Political apathy (PA) is the motivational inhibition toward a full range of political activity. The term was introduced by Rosenberg in 1954, and is still used by researchers today to explain political disengagement. For example, a study conducted using youth samples across eight different EU countries sought to identify PA or alienation was a better predictor of political engagement, and found it to be PA (Dahl et al., 2018). Apathy was shown to influence political participation when considering different socioeconomic factors (Ahmad, 2015), and a relationship was found between apathy and political engagement when linked with cynicism and external political efficacy (Yamamoto, Kushin, & Dalisay, 2017).
Politics and political engagement are vital for a nation's health. Politics are the means by which a nation's people regulate their government and hold it accountable. To disengage from politics leaves our governing bodies unregulated, allowing personal intentions to run strife and corruption to proliferate (Tan, 2012). Thorough understanding of PA as a construct is necessary if we are to engage in applied interventions. Therefore, the current study took an explorative approach into understanding the functional relationships between PA and learned helplessness (LH), age, and personality traits.
Sociological approaches to PA see administrative registration barriers, demographics, sociopsychological factors, and election context as recurrently cited determinants of PA (Harder & Krosnick, 2008). Administrative barriers may induce strict and rigid systems that would increase the effort needed and inconvenience of engaging in politics, such as annual registrations, literacy tests, early cutoff registration dates (Katosh & Traugott, 1982), and physical inaccessibility to registration offices (Caldeira, Patterson, & Markko, 1985). Demographics include education and income levels. Appropriate education levels grant individuals the needed intellectual capacity to comprehend political processes, thus preventing disengagement (Tenn, 2005). Wealthier individuals are predicted to be more motivated to engage in politics, due to vested social and economic interests (Rosenstone & Hansen, 1993). Sociopsychological factors include voter trust and perceived political efficacy. Voters who are distrustful or cynical toward politicians would often rather not participate in politics, compared to trustful voters (Cox, 2003). Perceived incompetence regarding personal ability to engage in politics effectively deters individuals from voting (Acock, Clarke, & Stewart, 1985). Election context describes the competitiveness of an election (Shachar & Nalebuff, 1999), and the more competitive an election, the more weight there is to individual votes, thus increasing motivation to vote. This is compared to a one-sided election, in which individual votes would not matter in the grand scheme of the election.
Contemporary approaches to PA have considered identity-based PA and developmental life cycles. Identity-based PA posits there is a need for congruency between politicians and voters in terms of internal value systems for voters to be politically motivated, as their value systems are affirmed by a potential authority figure (Caprara, Vecchione, & Schwartz, 2012). Developmental life cycles describe the characteristic life events at different stages of life influencing incendivity and motivation toward political engagement (Fox, 2015), such as youths disengaging from politics because their lives are focused on education and relationships, or adults engaging in politics because entering the working-world means governmental economic policies play significant roles in their lives. July 2020 ½Vol. 24 ½ No. 1 One factor that may impact political disengagement is LH. LH, a term coined by Seligman in 1972, is the experience of objectively noncontingent events interfering with instrumental learning, therefore producing maladaptive outcomes. The initial model of LH suggested that one's perception of future noncontingency is liable to lead to maladaptive deficits (Roth, 1980). This model was later revised to include attribution styles (e.g., internality, stability, globality) as explanatory elements for the development of LH. Internal attributions are causal outcomes attributed to an individual, stable attributions are outcomes viewed as consistent (Weiner, 1985), and global attributions are causal outcomes viewed as recurrent, despite differing contexts (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978;Fincham & Cain, 1986). Individuals who make internal, stable, and global attributions are more prone to having future expectations of non-contingency, which would eventually lead to LH deficits (Mikulincer & Nizan, 1988). Deficits associated with LH border the domains of cognition, affect, and behavior inducing frustration, forfeiture, and general depressed mood (McKean, 1994). Helplessness regarding one's political circumstances might induce maladaptive outcomes in the form of PA.
PA may possibly be linked with characterized dispositional traits, known as personality. Personality traits are formed from environmental adaptations and biological dispositions, creating organized systems of patterned behavior, thoughts, and emotions (Allik & McCrae, 2002). The current study used the Big Five Model of Personality, containing five major dimensions of personality (John & Srivastava, 1999): Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability (Neuroticism), and Intellect (Openness to Experience). Extraversion represents energetic, positive emotionality, assertiveness, sociability, increased activity, and talkativeness. Agreeableness represents communal orientation, tenderness, cooperativeness, pro-sociality, good-natured attitudes, trustfulness, altruism, and modesty. Conscientiousness represents impulse control, goal-directed behavior, suspended gratification, ruleorientation, planning, organizing, task prioritization, orderliness, responsibility, and reliability. Neuroticism represents the lower level relaxation, high anxiety, negative emotionality and tenseness. Openness to Experience (Intellect) represents imagination, complexity, intellectualism, open-mindedness, and originality. LH and PA. Attribution theory states that we naturally make inferences regarding causes surrounding life circumstances, and it is these inferences that influence manifestation of individual behaviors, thoughts, and emotions (Liu, Kleiman, Nestor, & Cheek, 2015). Applying this narrative to the current study, it could be suggested that the means and methods we attribute to our political environment mediate our expectations of the control we have over it (Sahar, 2014). Internal attributions may involve believing political outcomes are the result of personal political incompetence related to ability and knowledge (Bennett, 1997;Lindsay, 2018;Strate, Parrish, Elder, & Ford, 1989). External attributions involve individuals attributing political outcomes to an external political system that is indifferent, unresponsive, and rigged (Finifter, 1970;Foley, 2015;Lindsay, 2018). Stable attributions involve the belief that political outcomes will remain consistent, despite various actions toward change (Yazici & Güven, 2017). Summarizing the theoretical flow, specific attributions of non-contingency would mediate expectancies of control, loss expectancies of control would lead to development of LH deficits, and LH deficits within a political context would manifest as PA.
Age and PA. It is a common stereotype that youths lack wisdom and are disinterested in politics (Smets, 2016). There is a torrent of studies to support this narrative; specifically, early-aged individuals being the least engaged in politics and middle-aged individuals peaking in political engagement, followed by decline of political engagement in late-aged individuals (Achen & Wang, 2019;Fox, 2015;Lindsay, 2018;Mulgan & Wilkinson, 1995;Sears, Huddy, & Jervis, 2003;Smets, 2008Smets, , 2016Turner, Shields, & Sharpe, 2001). Smets (2016) argued that significant events in different life stages, called life cycles, play significant roles in influencing varying degrees of political engagement throughout life. For example, younger individuals, due to their lower state of cognitive development, may lack the capacity needed to grasp political concepts/processes (Glenn, 2005), or may have more important life events to consider, such as advancing education, developing careers, or finding romantic partners (Fox, 2015;Strate, Parrish, Elder, & Ford, 1989). Additionally, politics may be too abstract and unappealing for younger individuals to find them engaging (Bennett, 1997). The life cycle for middle-age individuals peaks in political engagement, due to increases in free time, economic stakes, and political experience (Harder & Krosnick, 2008;Strate, Parrish, Elder, & Ford, 1989). The life cycle of late-age individuals declines in political engagement due to decreases in mobility, health, wealth, and time (Strate, Parrish, Elder, & Ford, 1989).
Personality and PA. The current study speculated that personality (and its dimensions) would predict PA, as a means of compiling a personality profile of an individual who experiences PA. Individuals with high levels of Extraversion display sociability and assertiveness; therefore, they may orientate themselves toward grouprelated political activity, such as campaigning, lectures, and voting to make a political stand (Gerber, Huber, Doherty, Dowling, Raso, & Ha, 2011;Mondak & Halperin, 2008;Mondak, Hibbing, Canache, Seligson, & Anderson, 2010). Interestingly, individuals with high levels of Agreeableness show mixed results in terms of political engagement and, depending on the conflictual nature of the political activity, political engagement would be influenced differently. High-conflict political activity, such as street protests, would show decreased engagement for an agreeable individual, while peaceful demonstrations would show increased engagement (Gerber et al., 2011;Mondak & Halperin, 2008). Due to their orientation toward social norms, individuals with high levels of Conscientiousness would display an increase in political engagement, as it would be perceived as a civic duty (Gerber et al., 2011;Mondak et al., 2010;Omoto, Snyder, & Hackett, 2010). Neuroticism, in relation to political engagement, has shown mixed results, with past literature often citing a lack of theoretical explanation as to how Neuroticism might be related to PA (Gerber et al., 2011;Omoto, et al., 2010;Vecchione & Caprara, 2009). However, it is possible that the aspect of negative emotionality associated with Neuroticism could play a role in influencing PA. Negative emotionality can influence individuals to make negative attributions toward political outcomes, by clouding their perceptions and judgments. High levels of Intellect often lead to a need to seek out new ideas, sensations, people, and information, and thus might lead an individual to be drawn toward political events and exhibit political engagement as a means to fulfill these needs (Gerber et al., 2011;Hambrick, Pink, Meinz, Pettibone, & Oswald, 2008).
The following hypotheses were tested in this study: (1) LH, age, and personality traits will have significant associations with PA, and (2) LH will be the most significant predictor of PA.
Variables and Measures. LH was operationalized via the construct of self-motivation, and was measured using the Self-Motivation Scale (Dishman & Ickes, 1981). This scale utilizes several theoretical paradigms relevant in the research field of LH, including achievement motivation (De Castella, Byrne, & Covington, 2013), locus of control (Prihadi et al., 2018), and attribution theory (Harvey, Madison, Martinko, Crook, & Crook 2014). The scale includes 40 items measured on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = very much unlike me, 5 = very much like me); reversing final score is necessary. Higher score represents higher levels of LH, and vice-versa. The scale's internal consistency has been shown to be 0.91. For viewing purposes, refer to Appendix 1.
Personality was assessed using the Mini-International Personality Item Pool (Donnellan, Oswald, Baird, & Lucas, 2006), which measures personality, following the Big Five model (Intellect, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism). This scale includes 20 items with four items for each dimension, measured on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = very inaccurate, 5 = very accurate); reverse coding is necessary for certain items. High scores would indicate high levels of the respective dimension, and vice-versa. Internal consistency for each dimension is as follows: Intellect (0.70), Conscientiousness (0.75), Extraversion (0.82), Agreeableness (0.75), and Neuroticism (0.70; Donnellan, Oswald, Baird, & Lucas, 2006). Permission for use was granted. For viewing purposes, refer to Appendix 2.
PA was measured using the Voter Involvement Scale (Winchester, Hall, & Binney, 2014) that evaluates voters' political involvement. This scale includes five items measured on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = very much unlike me, 7 = very much like me); reversing final score is necessary. High scores represent high levels of PA, and vice-versa. The scale's internal consistency is .88. Permission for use was granted. For viewing purposes, refer to Appendix 3.
Procedure. The research proposal was approved by the appropriate ethics committee. A survey link was distributed across social media platforms using convenience and snowball sampling. Participants accessing the survey link were asked to provide informed consent before answering the set of questionnaires. The survey took approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. No compensation was given for participation.
Analysis. Pearson correlations and hierarchical multiple regression were used to analyze data in this study.

Results
The current study sought to better understand the nature of the construct of PA by testing its relationship with the predictive variables LH, age, and personality traits.
The first hypothesis proposed that LH, age, and personality would be significantly associated with PA. LH and PA resulted in a weak significant positive correlation, r = 0.15, p = 0.04. Increased LH resulted in increased PA. Extraversion and PA had a weak significant negative correlation, r = −0.28, p < 0.001. Increased Extraversion resulted in decreased PA. Neuroticism and PA resulted in a weak significant positive correlation, r = 0.18, p = 0.01. Increased Neuroticism lead to increased PA. Intellect and PA were significantly negatively correlated, r = −0.14, p = 0.04. Increased Intellect resulted in decreased PA. The variables of age, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness had no significant correlations with PA. Thus, the first hypothesis was partially supported, as LH, Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Intellect were significantly correlated to PA, while age, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were not (see Table 1).
To identify whether LH and age significantly impact PA, after taking personality into account, hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to test three models. In Model 1, personality was entered to predict PA. Personality largely predicted PA (with the exception of Conscientiousness), R=0.38, R 2 =0.15, F(5,194) = 6.55, p < 0.001. In Model 2, LH was included as an additional predictor, R 2 change = 0.01, F change (1,193) = 2.44, p < 0.001, R = 0.39, R 2 = 0.16. LH explained an additional 1% variability in the model, to 16% predicting PA. In Model 3, age was included to explore if the beta coefficients of other variables would be affected, R 2 change = 0.003, F change (1,192) = 0.605, p < 0.001, R = 0.40, R 2 = 0.16. Age explained an additional 0.3% variability in the model, to 16% predicting PA. Model 1, with only personality traits as predictors, indicated the most predictive power for PA, compared to Models 2 and 3 (see Table 2).
Extraversion had a beta value of −0.28, t = -3.99, p < 0.001; thus, as Extraversion increases by 1SD, PA decreases by −0.28 SD. Agreeableness had a beta value of 0.16, t = 2.16, p < 0.05; thus, as Agreeableness increases by 1SD, PA increases by 0.16SD. Neuroticism had a beta value of 0.15, t = 2.18, p < 0.05; thus, as Neuroticism increases by 1SD, PA increases by 0.15SD. Intellect had a beta value of −0.17, t = −0.24, p < 0.05; thus, as Intellect increases by 1SD, PA decreases by −0.17SD. LH, age, and Conscientiousness did not significantly predict PA. Therefore, the second hypothesis was rejected, as LH was not the most significant predictor of PA. Instead, the personality trait Extraversion was the most significant predictor of PA.

Discussion
Political engagement is an essential element for keeping the state and government accounted for and regulated. Conversely, political disengagement allows unregulated governments to run personal agendas and eventually corruption causes strife within a nation. A thorough understanding of the PA construct is necessary in order to make informed interventions to increase individuals' political motivation. Therefore, the current study sought to better understand the nature of PA by testing its functional relationships with the predictive variables of LH, age, and personality.
The first hypothesis posited that LH, age, and personality would have significant associations with PA. This hypothesis was partially supported, as some variables were significant and some were not. LH, using its theoretical model, was suspected to play a psychological role in the development of PA, and was therefore tested against PA. Previous literature suggested that individuals who make dysfunctional attributions toward political outcomes would have similar expectations for the future, thus developing PA. Results indicated that LH was indeed a significant predictor of PA. This suggests that PA may follow similar attributional processing to the LH model in its politically related outcomes. Thus, making noncontingent attributions to specific outcomes causes the development of future expectation of noncontingency and maladaptive behaviors, thoughts, and emotions (Sahar, 2014). Moving forward, it would be interesting to note the predictive power each attributional style, in relation to each other, has toward PA.
PA was presumed to have significant developmental trends; therefore, age was correlated with PA. Literature has suggested that different life stages have their own life events that may motivate or demotivate individuals toward political engagement. Results indicated that age was not a significant predictor of PA, suggesting age is not related to PA. Interestingly, this also suggests the stereotype regarding youths being disengaged from politics as a result of lacking wisdom and being disinterested is not necessarily true. It is possible that this may be a result unique to the political landscape of Malaysia. The Malaysian government is commonly known for its authoritarian approach, maintaining strict control over mainstream media by censorship (George, 2005;Lim, 2013) and student activism by suppression (Tyson, Jeram, Sivapraaasam, & Azlan, 2017;Weiss, 2005). In 1996, the Malaysian government approved the Multimedia Super Corridor Act (MSC), which is an official pledge by the government against Internet censorship, as a means to entice foreign investors and capitalize on the economic boom of the Internet. The government's heavy regulation and control in mainstream media's expression of politics led to an informational vacuum for alternative political media that was effectively replaced by the Internet, coupled with the MSC, which served as a catalyst for the emergence of political blogs (Lim, 2013). Political blogs in Malaysia digest news surrounding Malaysian politics into simplified information that reduces the cognitive load needed for youths to comprehend it, and seamlessly distributes news on social media networks that are highly accessible for youths and represents a place where youths spend a significant amount of time (Lim, 2013). This could possibly explain why age and PA were not significant in this study. This also shows that political context may play a significant role in influencing PA.
In an effort to create a personality profile of an individual who experiences PA, personality variables were tested against PA for predictive significance. Results were mixed, as Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Intellect were significant, while Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were not. High Extraversion was associated with lowered PA, suggesting that high levels of sociability and assertiveness might play a role into how individuals become engaged in group-oriented political activities. Additionally, high Neuroticism was associated with increased PA. Although previous literature has not provided a theoretical explanation as to how Neuroticism and PA might be related, the current study provided its rationale that Neuroticism's aspect of negative emotionality negatively influences the way individuals make attributions regarding political outcomes, which should be clarified in future studies. High Intellect was associated with lowered PA, suggesting that individuals with a high need for new information/ideas might be more politically engaged (or less politically apathetic) in order to satiate this need for information. Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were not associated with PA. A possible explanation could be that Agreeableness and Conscientiousness are simply not relevant in the context of political engagement as a whole, or it may be an issue related to cultural context, where it is a Malaysian value to not find Agreeableness and Conscientiousness valuable in relation to politics.
The second hypothesis posited that LH would be the strongest predictor of PA. This was an additional hypothesis to assess predictability of the variables, relative to each other and PA, as well as to see which variable played the most significant role in predicting PA. This hypothesis was rejected, as LH was not the strongest predictor of PA. Extraversion being the most significant predictor of PA in this study may not be universally relevant as of yet; however, it may be an indicative aspect of the Malaysian people that high sociability and assertiveness breeds high levels of political engagement. Additionally, all personality variables, with the exception of Conscientiousness, were significant, while non-personality variables, such as LH and age were not. This may be indicative of personality constructs having a moderating role toward non-personality constructs, yet future clarification will be necessary.

Conclusion
The strength of this study was represented in its timely occurrence toward data collection, as it was conducted soon after Malaysia's 14 th General Elections. The study could potentially capture the psyche of a sample influenced by the election context. However, the study's design limited data collection to the post-election context, thus failing to consider data collection in a preelection context. This oversight prevented an opportunity to analyze how an election context could potentially influence data in significant ways. Future studies could expand further into the nuances of the current study's predictive variables as to how they may specifically relate to PA. LH was found to be significantly associated with PA; thus, it would be interesting to see the relationship of attributional styles to PA using standard multiple regression-which attributional styles are significant to PA and which play a more significant role at predicting PA.  (1)  Note. E = Extraversion; A = Agreeableness; C = Conscientiousness; N = Neuroticism; I = Intellect/Imagination; (R) = Reverse Scored Item. Original 50-item IPIP-FFM available at http://ipip.ori.org/newQform50b5.htm