Hostile toward people of inferior status but obedient to people with higher statuses. [In spite of that] there is a Here we explore what an authoritarian personality means, how you can recognize it, and what you can do if somebody in your life falls into this category. Their mean was the lowest of all known She reports confirmation of most of the original findings." Both studies found high scores (>5) in F-Scale. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The Authoritarian Personality . [...] However, Following a marxist tradition, it requires that theories in social The Authoritarian Personality is a 1950 sociology book by Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson, and Nevitt Sanford, researchers working at the University of California, Berkeley, during and shortly after World War II. authoritarian trait with the cluster that includes low IQ, little education, and Very rigid in their opinions and beliefs. Frenkel-Brunswik examined personality variables and family background with a series of interview studies. several particular ties to the same underlying factors. The "F" was short for "pre-fascist personality." questionnaire data". The Authoritarian Personality remains widely cited in the social sciences and continues to inspire research interest today. [Critique Point] Interviewers (but not coders) were aware of the participants 339–375, The Authoritarian Personality: Then and Now, "Political conservatism as motivated social cognition", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Authoritarian_Personality&oldid=990615614, Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from June 2011, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2011, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from June 2011, Articles lacking reliable references from June 2011, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Political & Economical Conservatism Scale, Interviewer Knowledge of Questionnaire Responses, Coding Multiple Variables from the Same Content, Reporting Inter-rater Reliability for Too General Coding Categories, This page was last edited on 25 November 2020, at 14:35. 0 6 Discuss the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience. Bass found a .20 correlation between F-scale and an item-by-item reversed version. of the research resembles a survey type of research with structured The Authoritarian Personality is a 1950 sociology book by Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson, and Nevitt Sanford, researchers working at the University of California, Berkeley, during and shortly after World War II. [2][3], Though strongly criticized for bias and methodology,[4][5] the book was highly influential in American social sciences, particularly in the first decade after its publication: "No volume published since the war in the field of social psychology has had a greater impact on the direction of the actual empirical work being carried on in the universities today. problem-solver. This The scale was revised by dropping items with low item-total correlations and/or low predictive value of A-S and E scores. has not been proved by the data they cite". Jay, Martin (1973). (Coulter, 1953). [10], Generally, Adorno et al. "[1] The personality type Adorno et al. This is a listing of the content categories featured in the items. 39–43. The political personality type identified with the RWA scale indicates the existence of three psychological tendencies and attitudinal clusters characteristic of the authoritarian personality: (i) Submission to legitimate authorities; (ii) Aggression towards minority groupswhom authorities identified as targets for sanctioned political violence; and (iii) Adherence to cultural val… Adorno, T. W. (1950). (1954). "Scientific Experiences of a European Scholar in America" In. third-person perspective in the social sciences. [16]:48, The items were phrased in a superficially moderate language, which nonetheless F-Scale is a measure of fascism." My achievements will always be better than yours. Brown, R. (1965). 3, pp. Conservatives without conscience. responses and were instructed to study them before interview. correlated in a wide array of samples and predictions of relationships with with A-S and E was not strong, but in none of the groups was it negative. (1988). "[...] The Authoritarian Personality, by Theodor Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel J. Levinson, and R. Nevitt Sanford (1950), was perhaps the first major work in political psychology to combine theoretical claims with methods similar to those neither ethnocentrism nor Anti-Semitism ever showed a tendency to go with Another major hypothesis of the book is that the authoritarian syndrome is predisposed to right-wing ideology and therefore receptive to fascist governments. In Stone, W. F., Lederer, G., and Christie, R. Thus the sample taken London: Heinemann. [13], A central idea of The Authoritarian Personality is that authoritarianism is the result of a Freudian developmental model. authoritarian personality: a cluster of personality traits reflecting a desire for security and order, for example, rigidity, highly conventional outlook, unquestioning obedience, scapegoating, desire for structured lines of authority. Publication No. Adorno et al. The central truth about an authoritarian is that he or she is coming from a place of hatred. [16]:50. Ethnocentrism, anti-Semitism and potentiality for fascism were inter-related to each other, as well as to conservatism, although not as prominently. Like Milgram (1974), he too was Jewish, and his work was also triggered by a desire to understand what lead to the atrocities committed during the Holocaust and… The Authoritarian Personality "invented a set of criteria by which to define personality traits, ranked these traits and their intensity in any given person on what it called the 'F scale' (F for fascist). deficiencies, some account must be taken for the convergence in the two sets of Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). "In considerable degree, [...], the projective data confirm the covariation of [need quotation to verify], In 1980, sociologist J.J. Ray[24] argued that the project of The Authoritarian Personality was seriously flawed[need quotation to verify] on several points: for not asking questions regarding libertarian politics (which according to Ray are typically more anti-authoritarian than right- or left-wing politics[need quotation to verify]); for failing to demonstrate that authoritarian/right-wing beliefs are correlated with psychopathology; and, most importantly, for failing to demonstrate that authoritarian beliefs are associated with authoritarian behavior. Christie and Cook (1958)[30] cite 230 titles relating to The Authoritarian Adorno provided a political and sociological perspective to the book. The Authoritarian Personality is not only one of the most significant works of social psychology ever written, it also marks a milestone in the development of Adorno’s thought, showing him grappling with the problem of fascism and the reasons for Europe’s turn to reaction. (expected correlation if the phrasing played no role would be −1.00) When they stabilize into a questionnaires. was not representative of white, non-Jewish, middle-class, Americans. [16]:62. The E and F scales are found to be significantly [18][need quotation to verify] Adorno, in a 1947 letter to Horkheimer, said that his main contribution was the F-scale, which in the end was the "core of the whole thing. In his book The Authoritarian Personality, Adorno and his coauthors (1950) described authoritarians as rigid thinkers who obeyed authority, saw the world as black and white, and enforced strict adherence to social rules and hierarchies. 2. "We can easily imagine plausible reasons for the association of each In fact, Adorno's nine traits of the "F scale" are rather general and have been thought to identify fascist as well as anti-Semitic individual attributes. that the F-Scale actually measures general authoritarianism, rather than variable it is intended to measure. [Critique point]: The individuals were sampled from formal organizations. "Political conservatism as motivated social cognition", authors John T. Jost, Jack Glaser, Arie W. Kruglanski and Frank J. Sulloway, journal title "Psychological Bulletin", 2003, Vol. intensively studied areas. Stone, W. F., Lederer, G., and Christie, R. (1993). theory. The initially planned title for the book was The Fascist Character and the Measurement of Fascist Trends, but as early as 1947 Adorno feared that the assistants at Berkeley would try to sanitize it to a more innocuous title like Character and Prejudice. methods and the operation of response sets. groups. For example, the earlier "authoritarian personality/revolutionary personality" axis was changed to an "authoritarian personality/democratic personality" axis in America. those concerning the genesis of authoritarianism in childhood. work is correct: attitudes of Anti-Semitism, ethnocentrism, and authoritarianism In 1993, over a decade later, the latter point was also criticized by Billings, et al. Psychologist Bob Altemeyer argued against that conclusion, saying that Fascist Italy was not characterized by antisemitism, and that Jews occupied high positions in Mussolini's government until pressure from Hitler disenfranchised these Jews. If PsychBoost is helping in your studies, consider https://www.patreon.com/psychboost - I'm making A-level psych perks for patreons! [22][page needed][need quotation to verify], In 1973, Gaensslen et al. [17] In a large number of psychometric instruments, they showed that the tendency to respond affirmatively (Yeasayers) or negatively (Naysayers) is a relevant psychological factor despite the content of specific questionnaires.[16]:68. (1950) developed a questionnaire called the California F scale, to measure levels of authoritarian personality. from people that do not belong to organizations at all. London: Collier-Macmillan, p. 479. implicit antidemocratic trends with prejudice which was demonstrated by the [8 marks] Marks for this question: AO1 = 3 and AO3 = 5 . Description and evaluation of the authoritarian personality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, p. 373. identified can be defined by nine traits that were believed to cluster together as the result of childhood experiences. do generally go together. native-born, middle-class Americans and the authors guessed that their findings It is often a deeply ingrained set of beliefs that take a great deal of time to break down and address. "Libertarians and the Authoritarian Personality". The Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. Social critic Christopher Lasch[28] argued that by equating mental health with left-wing politics and associating right-wing politics with an invented "authoritarian" pathology, the book's goal was to eliminate antisemitism by "subjecting the American people to what amounted to collective psychotherapy—by treating them as inmates of an insane asylum". Adorno et al. Based on the scores on the questionnaires, a smaller number of However, the Coulter study also found the Communists scored higher in F-Scale than Three personality traits in particular characterize the syndrome: deference to authorities, aggression toward out groups, and rigid adherence to cultural conventions. These traits The book was part of a "Studies in Prejudice" series sponsored by the American Jewish Committee's Department of Scientific Research. [25][better source needed], The book concludes that right-wing, authoritarian governments produce hostility towards racial, religious or ethnic minorities. preparation. Introduction: Strength and weakness. The Authoritarian Personality is not only one of the most significant works of social psychology ever written, it also marks a milestone in the development of Adorno’s thought, showing him grappling with the problem of fascism and the reasons for Europe’s turn to reaction. Couch and Keniston (1960) addressed the problem of the items being all phrased in an affirmative direction towards anti-Semitism. The Authoritarian Personality was subjected to close scrutiny and criticism almost immediately after it was published (see Christie and Jahoda 1954).Methodologically, problems with the F-scale measure of authoritarianism cast doubt on much of the empirical research. The authoritarian personality theory has helped researchers to understand better how traditional German citizens were easily swayed by the propaganda of the … conveyed the saliency of Jews to the respondent and a negative sentiment towards sample and the aforementioned population (see section Overall Criticism). The Authoritarian Personality has often provoked polarized responses: "The Berkeley study of authoritarian personality does not leave many people indifferent". correlations between A-S, E and F vary in different samples, subsequent studies Political Psychology 22(1), 1-26. [16]:67 See section on Overall Criticism. [Critique Point]: Coding and Interpretation is informed by psychoanalytic They did much of the preliminary work on ethnocentrism and statistical measurement. Before the emergence of Chinese indigenous psychology, the authoritarian personality was used as a framework for understanding Chinese authoritarian orientation. Because fascistic groupings get support essentially from the right-conservative camp (although that does not suggest tha… Christie reports serve a human emancipation agenda in all circumstances of oppression and Don Stewart and Thomas Hoult (1959). together with many others, criticizes this choice as "unwise". Intelligence is not as strongly correlated to E per showed. Brown (2004, p. 48), Participants were recruited through formal organizations. leftist liberal views." though that people belonging to at least one organization differ significantly Psychologists have examined dispositional (internal) factors that also contribute to obedience. [...][However][...] "Repression of impulses Authoritarian Personality Adorno et al (1950) believed that prejudice was caused by a flaw in the personality, an ego-weakness, that meant the person was “maladjusted”. (1950). The Level Marks Description 4 7–8 Knowledge of the authoritarian personality is accurate with some detail. Furthermore, it assigns a practical purpose in social science. MARK SCHEME – A-LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY – 7182/1 – JUNE 2017 . [Critique Point] Due to the coders having access to the protocols, the The Frankfurt School: Its History, Theories, and Political Significance, translated by M. Robertson. New York: Harper & Brothers., p. 192. S. Feldman, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001. [a], "The majority of the subjects could be characterized as white, non-Jewish, Such groups included: German cosmetic factory workers (Cohn and Carsch, 1954); would hold for this population" [16]:48. English fascists and communists, compared to 'politically neutral' soldiers Ray, J.J. (1980). [15][page needed][need quotation to verify] Authoritarianism was measured by the F-scale. This choice was New York: Viking Press. result is "evidence that antagonism to the culturally unlike is a generalized Lasch, Christopher (1991). Ethnocentrism and Anti-Semitism scales was .80 (relatively high). One particular characteristic is the authoritarian personality, which has been associated with higher levels of obedience. Norms are not put together at random or incidentally. [page needed], The study employs both quantitative and qualitative components. this set of relationships. From this background in their personal history arose the assumption that the emergence of certain phenomena such as anti-Semitism and ethnocentrism stands in close connection with this particular personality structure. psychological subtleties preserving the original rationale of the items [23] found that, contrary to predictions by Adorno et al.,[need quotation to verify] rigidity/dogmatism is not intrinsically maladaptive; e.g., rigidity can be associated with discipline and productivity. Thematic Apperception Test. The final title was the result of a compromise. Interviews were coded with the techniques of The fact that Rubenstein himself affirms that "the results confirm the validity of the RWA" represents a particularly interesting outcome: Orthodox and Reform Jews in Israel are classified closer to the fascist and anti-Semitic traits, as thought in 1950 by Adorno et al., compared to Secular Jews in Israel. [16]:48, All items were phrased in affirmation of the Anti-Semitic sentiment. scientist who is a self-reflective interpreter, rather than a technical The Authoritarian Personality by the Frankfurt School figure Theodor Adorno was a milestone in the medicalization of dissent, aside from considerably more aggressive efforts in the Soviet Union where Communists like him had unlimited power. [27], Some observers have criticized what they saw as a strongly politicized agenda to The Authoritarian Personality. 2 Criticisms. Psychology Definition of AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY: a distinct personality pattern that is characterized by (a) a preoccupation with power and status, (b) strict adherence to simplified conventional values, It has long been believed that the theories constructed by Western psychologists (mainly psychologists in North America) are universal. Thus, values and behaviors earlier associated with revolutionary Marxism were now associated with support for democracy. For the form of government, see, Explanation in terms of socio-economic status (SES) rather than repression. [14] Frenkel-Brunswik has directly studied prejudice in childhood and adolescence. This hypothesis was consistent with prevailing psychological theories of the time, and Frenkel-Brunswik reported some preliminary support, but empirical data have generally not confirmed this prediction. 129, No. The correlation between Enemies of freedom: Understanding right-wing authoritarianism. Look it up now! content analysis.