Political attitudes and judgments of other people.

"The hypothesis was set up that in judging other people, subjects tend to associate favorable personal characteristics with political attitudes of which they themselves approve." The data tend to support the hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Altemeyer replies.

Replies to commentary by J. J. Ray (see record 2007-08928-001) regarding the current author's book, Enemies of freedom: Understanding right wing authoritarianism (see record 1988-98419-000). The foremost of Ray's six criticisms is that "insofar as (I have) studied anything at all, (I have) probably studied some form of conservatism." The constructs of "right-wing authoritarianism" and "conservatism" can be defined as one wishes, and one can declare that they are the same thing. I prefer to draw several conceptual distinctions however, perhaps because one brand of "conservatism", especially visible in the United States, resents government authority. Next, Professor Ray quite correctly points out that my explanation of the development of personal authoritarianism ignored genetic possibilities. The twins-studies have caught me completely flat-footed, with my back turned, though I would find evidence for a DNA-based explanation of authoritarianism quite exciting. As for attitudes toward authorities, I suspect they do wobble some during adolescence. However, neither of the two adult studies Professor Ray cites shows "a general attitude toward authority does not exist." If anything, they suggest it does. Professor Ray says the consistency of the RWA Scale only occurs because my item selection procedures have created a distortion of the real world, a world of my own "from which the most disturbing outside information has been rigorously excluded." In fact, the covariation among items mentioning different kinds of authorities goes back to the Berkeley F Scale. Finally, Professor Ray concludes that I am studying some nonpolitical form of conservatism, because the RWA Scale gives "virtually no prediction of right-wing political preference." Data is presented to dispute this allegation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment on "Right-wing authoritarianism."

Canadian scholarship has recently been honoured in that Bob Altemeyer's book, Enemies of Freedom: Understanding Right wing authoritarianism (see record 1988-98419-000) received the 1988 prize for behavioural science research, awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The book has also received a number of favourable reviews. Ray feels that some comments on the limitations of the book are needed to balance the account, and submits that, in fact, the book is a complete failure as far as achieving what it set out to achieve is concerned. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rigidity of attitudes regarding personal habits and its ideological correlates.

"It was predicted that under present social conditions, urban American college students would show substantial individual consistency in the degree to which they manifest rigidity of attitudes regarding personal habits (hypothesis 1). Further, on the basis of previous research findings, it was predicted that rigidity of attitudes regarding personal habits would be significantly associated with acceptance of fascist or antidemocratic ideology (hypothesis 2)." The data are interpreted as supporting both hypotheses. 19 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Enemies of freedom: Understanding right-wing authoritarianism.

Reviews the book, Enemies of freedom: Understanding right-wing authoritarianism by Bob Altemeyer (see record 1988-98419-000). This book is the second of a projected three volume series by Altemeyer on the right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) construct. In this volume, Altemeyer (1988) reports the results of further research conducted since the first volume using his RWA scale. Specifically, three issues are dealt with: (1) how RWA develops in the individual, (2) why RWA is organized the way it is, and (3) how RWA can be controlled in a democratic society. Altemeyer's underlying assumption in this and the preceding volume is that a considerable potential for RWA exists in countries like Canada and the United States and that it is therefore a potentially serious problem requiring vigilance and perhaps ultimately preventive measures. Are his fears in this regard justified? It depends on how seriously one takes the respondents' self-reports. Altemeyer repeatedly shows that individuals (usually college students) who score high on the RWA scale are reportedly willing to punish others and to endorse actions that would curtail the civil rights of others, especially those with left-wing political leanings, who threaten the established order. However, in most instances, the measures are attitudinal ones dealing with respondents' reactions to hypothetical incidents and situations as to what they might do or would endorse having others do. Thus, Altemeyer's fears of the high RWA scorers and the seriousness of their threat to North American and other societies depend on knowing how willing they would be to act on their personal inclinations. Be that as it may, from a number of angles Altemeyer's current book on RWA deserves close and thoughtful reading by social, personality, and developmental psychologists. Those interested in political psychology, a relatively new area attracting social and personality psychologists and political scientists, will find it especially valuable and insightful. As noted earlier in the review, both of Altemeyer's RWA volumes should be required reading for would-be constructors of personality and attitude scales. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental child-rearing attitudes and preadolescents' problem behaviors.

Correlated teacher's ratings of 278 5th and 6th graders on internalization and externalization behaviors with scores on ss' reports of their parents' child-rearing behaviors as assessed by schaefer's child report of parental behavior inventory. While the degrees of both internalization and externalization were inversely related to reported parental acceptance, externalization alone was related to reported parental control in a positive direction. High correlations between internalization and externalization were also found. Results are discussed in terms of the ss' characteristics, past findings, and conceptualization of internalization and externalization as categories of a more general dimension of maladjustment. (28 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting student attitudes about racial diversity and gender equity.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 4(3) of Journal of Diversity in Higher Education (see record 2011-16523-001). There are two errors in Table 2 under the RWA heading and the Cog-gender heading. The necessary changes are provided in the erratum.] [Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Journal of Diversity in Higher Education on August 1 2011 (see record 2011-16523-001). There are two errors in Table 2. Under the RWA heading, the SDO row should have indicated a positive correlation of .266**, not -.266**. Under the Cog-gender heading, the SDO row should have indicated a negative correlation of -.438**, not .438**.] Factors related to attitudes about racial diversity and gender equity were examined in an ethnically diverse sample of 432 college students (167 European Americans, 83 African Americans, 81 Asian Americans, and 82 Hispanic Americans). In addition to variables of self-interest (i.e., ethnicity, gender, and political views), social ideology (i.e., social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism) and personality traits (openness to experience) were uniquely predictive of attitudes about racial diversity and gender equity. Hierarchical regressions revealed that social dominance orientation most strongly predicted racial attitudes, while right-wing authoritarianism most strongly predicted gender attitudes. Implications for diversity education efforts related to prejudice reduction are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptualizing political orientation in Canadian political candidates: A tale of two (correlated) dimensions.

Political orientation is often operationalized as a unidimensional left–right continuum. However, some research suggests that this conceptualization might be overly simplistic. The present study examined the structure of political orientation in a sample of 190 politicians who were candidates in the 2006 Canadian federal election. Participants completed measures of attitudes toward specific political issues (social conservatism issues, economic competition issues), ideological beliefs (right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation), and abstract values (conservation, self-enhancement) as indicators of political orientation. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the structure of political orientation was explained best by 2 moderately correlated dimensions: social left–right and economic left–right. Differences in the political orientation indicators between political parties are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of maternal child-rearing attitudes by schizophrenic males, their normal male siblings, and normal males whose siblings are normal.

This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that a group of normal male siblings of schizophrenics (N-Sc) will agree with a group of male schizophrenic siblings (Sc-N) in their perception of their mothers' child-rearing attitudes and will perceive these attitudes as being more deviant (undesirable) than a group of normal males whose siblings are all normal (N-N). Perception was measured on a child-study questionnaire which Ss were instructed to answer as they thought their mothers would have when Ss were growing up. The results were that the normal siblings of schizophrenics perceive their mothers' attitudes as being more martyred and subtly dominating than do normal siblings of normals (p = .05). There were no other significant differences, although the trend was toward perception of maternal attitudes as least deviant by the N-N group, most deviant by the N-Sc group, and in-between by the Sc-N group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Color-blind racial attitudes and white racial identity attitudes in psychology trainees.

Is it really important to talk about race in therapy? Does discussion of societal racism have any place in the consulting room? The American Psychological Association's (2003) recent multicultural guidelines highlight the limitations of a racially "color-blind" perspective for clinical practice. This study explored the relationships between color-blind racial attitudes and White racial identity. In a sample of 177 White counseling and clinical psychology trainees, we found that higher levels of attitudes that minimized or distorted the existence of contemporary racism (i.e., color-blind attitudes) were positively related to attitudes associated with less integrated forms of racial identity. Conversely, the results indicated that greater awareness of racism was related to more integrated White racial identity statuses. Implications for assessment, treatment, training, and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intergenerational comparisons of child-rearing attitudes and practices in Hong Kong.

The present research comprises two studies, one focusing on maternal child-rearing attitudes and practices and the other on paternal roles and attitudes in Hong Kong. Intergenerational comparisons are made possible by having 17 pairs of grandmothers and mothers and 20 pairs of grandfathers and fathers from the same families serve as informants. An interview schedule was used in the first study, and a questionnaire and two attitude scales were used in the second study. Results show that the fathers depart more from the traditional orientation concerning child training and filial piety and tend to be more involved in child care than the grandfathers. On the other hand, intergenerational comparisons of maternal care are mostly nonsignificant (at the .05 level). Despite important changes that have taken place, continuity with the past remains strong, such as in the control of sex and aggression. A high degree of intergenerational commonality remains in attitudes and conceptions concerning human nature, the importance of social–environmental influences in character formation, and the desired characteristics expected of children when they grow up. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Right-Wing Authoritarianism.

Reviews the book, Right-Wing Authoritarianism by Bob Altemeyer (1981). This book deals with a particularly timely and troublesome social phenomenon. Rightwing authoritarianism as a political movement appears to be on the rise again in Western democracies. The author is to be commended on not only tackling a difficult and socially relevant topic, but also in being willing to delve into an area of research that has produced a plethora of ambiguous results. The major goal of the author is to provide a conceptual and operational breakthrough by first offering a critique of why previous efforts have been doomed to failure and then providing a constructive alternative program for the study of authoritarianism. In general this goal is successfully achieved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychological meaning of acquiescence set: Further evidence.

"This paper provides further evidence on the hypothesis that 'negative' items—those stating authoritarian beliefs or attitudes—are more valid than 'positive' items for measuring authoritarianism." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarian attitudes and dreams.

"This study attempted to verify the findings of a previous investigation that highly authoritarian and nonauthoritarian individuals differ in their ability to tolerate emotional ambivalence towards parents and other powerful authorities." The findings lend support to the theory of the authoritarian personality as formulated by previous investigators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Employee attitudes and employee performance.

An examination is made of the empirical literature bearing upon the relationships between employee attitudes and employee performance. A discussion of methodological questions includes considerations of sampling, of criterion measures, and of general problems of analysis and design. Theoretical considerations include the employee's outside environment, and both union and company structures. Two conclusions are inferred from the literature reviewed: 1. Job satisfaction does not imply strong motivation for outstanding performance; and 2. "… productivity may be only peripherally related to many of the goals toward which the industrial worker is striving." 62 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perfectionism dimensions, perfectionistic attitudes, dependent attitudes, and depression in psychiatric patients and university students.

P. L. Hewitt and G. L. Flett's (1991b) model of perfectionism dimensions (i.e., self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism) was compared with A. T. Beck's model (G. P. Brown & A.T. Beck, 2002) of dysfunctional attitudes (i.e., perfectionistic attitudes [PA] and dependent attitudes [DA]) in predicting depression in 70 psychiatric patients and 280 university students. Socially prescribed perfectionism uniquely predicted both PA and DA. Dysfunctional attitudes failed to consistently predict additional variance in depression beyond perfectionism dimensions (and vice versa). Evidence for Hewitt and Flett's specific vulnerability hypothesis and Beck's specific cognitive vulnerability hypothesis was equivocal. Beck's conceptualization of perfectionism as a unitary cognitive style obscures important information by overlooking the distinction between the self-related and socially based features of perfectionism. Hewitt and Flett's conceptualization of perfectionism as 3 distinct personality traits allows for precise conclusions by recognizing the differential contribution of the self-related and socially based features of perfectionism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarian attitudes and personality maladjustment.

The MMPI was administered to 712 college freshmen and 114 seniors. The seniors also took the California F scale. A year later 312 of the freshmen retook the MMPI. The MMPI Pr scores piled up at the low end of the distribution. The Pr reliability was .81. Mean Pr decreased with advance in college. Mean Pr scores differed significantly for different college majors. Pr correlated significantly with the F scale; positively with Hs, D, Pd, Pt, Sc, and Ma; and negatively with K and Hy. Certain psychopathological factors are considered to be present in the authoritarian syndrome. 21 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Party Over Policy: The Dominating Impact of Group Influence on Political Beliefs.

Four studies demonstrated both the power of group influence in persuasion and people's blindness to it. Even under conditions of effortful processing, attitudes toward a social policy depended almost exclusively upon the stated position of one's political party. This effect overwhelmed the impact of both the policy's objective content and participants' ideological beliefs (Studies 1-3), and it was driven by a shift in the assumed factual qualities of the policy and in its perceived moral connotations (Study 4). Nevertheless, participants denied having been influenced by their political group, although they believed that other individuals, especially their ideological adversaries, would be so influenced. The underappreciated role of social identity in persuasion is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public attitudes toward mental health professions.

"The study reported here involves the application of opinion sampling methods to public attitudes toward mental health professions." The following titles were employed: doctor, physician, nurse, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, psychologist, clinical psychologist, research psychologist, mental hospital attendant, social worker. The Semantic Differential was used. The sample of respondents was obtained from the Opinion Panel of the Institute of Communications Research; 207 of 239 panel members returned questionnaires on time. "A very high, positive, public attitude was found for the professions as a whole." Virtually no distinction is made between the concepts doctor and physician. "No distinction is made… among the concepts Psychiatrist, Psychoanalyst, Clinical Psychologist, and Research Psychologist on the Semantic Differential… . There are large and significant differences between the concept Doctor and Physician and the cluster of concepts whose titles start with the morpheme 'Psych-.' " The mental hospital attendant is held in relatively high esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Faculty attitudes toward Congressional investigations.

Responses to seven open-ended questions concerning Congressional investigations of faculty members or colleges given by 57 (63%) of the liberal arts faculty at the U. of Maine are tabulated. In general, the respondents gave negative responses to question of the need for, or effects of, such investigations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)