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An incident like this is obviously bad news for the Tories, who were quick to apologize for the testy encounter. AngryCon’s salty language and aggressive demeanor seem unlikely to attract new adherents to the Tory cause and video of the exchange was serious “click bait” that quickly made the rounds on social media.

As a student of political psychology, however, it strikes me that AngryCon’s outburst may suggest a more serious problem for the Tories than a less-than-appealing viral video and the birth of a new campaign meme.

The actions of the Tory supporter who swore at a reporter are easy to interpret in terms of the partisan’s need to reconcile disagreeable facts with a strong partisan attitude

Simply put, the appearance of a seemingly committed Tory supporter coming unglued as he tried to reconcile the increasingly suspicious facts of the Duffy scandal with his own partisan inclinations suggests that even Harper’s most devoted supporters are having trouble swallowing the prime minister’s saw-no-evil, heard-no-evil version of events.

Decades of research in social psychology and political science establish that people are loathe to part with personally important and strongly held beliefs and attitudes. One useful metaphor, owing to psychologist Robert Abelson, is that attitudes are like valued possessions.

When threatened with the loss of valued possessions, we naturally do whatever we can to protect them. We lock things away, build fences, put property under guard.

As with precious jewels and works of art, so with personally important, strong attitudes. And in politics, no attitude is held more strongly — or more worthy of protection — than partisanship.