Yielding, authoritarianism, and authoritarian ideology regarding groups.

This investigation was prompted by Asch's (1952) discussion of the personal and social significance of yielding to group pressure. For the person, yielding requires the inhibition of overt and perhaps implicit responses to objective situational requirements. For the group, malignant processes may arise and develop, unchecked by those members in whom goals of personal security predominate over group goals. In the present study, the view was taken that both meanings of yielding are assigned positive value in two separate ideologies concerning the group-individual relation. One of these is termed "conformity" and the other is "rugged individualism." In the study, group pressure was simulated by announcing bogus group judgments to small groups of Ss whose apparent task was to match one of three lines of variable length with a standard line. Questionnaires were used to measure variables, which were: the ideology of conformity (IC), the ideology of rugged individualism (RI), ethnocentrism (E), and authoritarianism (F). The questionnaires were administered to 91 college students, both day school and evening. It was found that the correlation with the F scale was .48 (P     

Authoritarian dynamics and unethical decision making: High social dominance orientation leaders and high right-wing authoritarianism followers.

When dilemmas require trade-offs between profits and ethics, do leaders high in social dominance orientation (SDO) and followers high in right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) make decisions that are more unethical than those made by others? This issue was explored in 4 studies with female participants performing managerial role-playing tasks. First, dyads comprising a person who was either low or high in SDO and a person who was either low or high in RWA negotiated for a leadership position. People high in SDO were more likely to obtain leader positions than to obtain follower positions. No other effects were significant. Second, leaders high in SDO partnered with an agreeable (confederate) follower made decisions that were more unethical than those of leaders low in SDO. Third, followers high in RWA were more acquiescent to and supportive of an unethical (confederate) leader than were followers low in RWA. Fourth, high SDO leader-high RWA follower dyads made decisions that were more unethical than those made in role-reversed dyads because leaders had more influence. Implications of these results for conceptualizing SDO, RWA, and authoritarian dynamics are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Political and child-rearing attitudes in Sweden.

"3 groups of questionnaire items were constructed to measure authoritarian political attitudes, authoritarian child-rearing attitudes, and authoritarian aspects of upbringing. 144 adults from a random sample in a Swedish town were interviewed. It was found that individuals who made strict demands as parents expected in turn that strict demands be made on them as citizens. Significant positive correlations were also found between authoritarianism of upbringing and authoritarianism of both political and child-rearing attitudes. These findings verified predictions which had been derived from 3 hypotheses concerning the nature of the relationship between roles of authority and roles of submission." (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)     

Preventing problems with boys' noncompliance: Effects of a parent training intervention for divorcing mothers.

This study provided a randomized, experimental test of the efficacy of a parent training intervention on coercive discipline, positive parenting practices, and child noncompliance in a sample of 238 divorcing mothers and their sons in Grades 1–3. Intervention effects were evaluated 5 times from baseline to 30 months. The intervention produced enduring benefits to coercive discipline, positive parenting, and boys' noncompliance. These benefits followed a classic prevention effect: Mothers and sons in the experimental group maintained stable outcome trajectories, whereas those in the control group deteriorated. The intervention's impact on boys' noncompliance was mediated independently by its impact on coercive discipline and positive parenting. Change in positive parenting was more strongly associated with change in noncompliance than was change in coercive discipline, although each explained unique variance in change in noncompliance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarianism, punitiveness, and perceived social status.

Ss were 101 introductory psychology students, 48 of whom were high scorers and 53 of whom were low scorers on an authoritarianism scale. A series of 24 separate stimulus cards of a semiprojective nature similar to the Rosenzweig pictures studied some of the interrelationships among authoritarianism, punitiveness, and status. The data indicate that low authoritarians respond to frustrators independently of their status. "… punitiveness is a function of both the personality of the individual and the particular stimulus environment that elicits the behavior." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Authoritarianism" and authority.

The author discusses and contrasts the psychological concept of "authoritarian personality" with the popular concept of similar name and stresses the clear need for a distinction between both concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of hostility to authoritarianism.

A manifest hostility scale, consisting of items drawn from the MMPI, and the Elizur Rorschach Content Test were given to groups differing in degree of authoritarianism. Statistical analysis of the relationship between the manifest hostility scale and authoritarianism indicated that groups high on the dimension of authoritarianism have greater overt hostility than groups lower on this dimension. Results relevant to the relationship between the Rorschach Content Test and authoritarianism indicated a less certain tendency for groups low on the dimension of authoritarianism to have greater covert hostility than groups higher on this dimension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A factorial study of dogmatism and related concepts.

Using scales of 10 personality variables, 3 hypotheses were tested: (1) dogmatism is factorially discriminable from authoritarianism, ethnocentrism, and rigidity; (2) dogmatism, paranoia, and self-rejection are factorially similar; and (3) dogmatism, paranoia, and self-rejection would emerge, together with anxiety, on a single factor. Ss were 207 New York college students. The data permit the conclusion that these 3 hypotheses are confirmed. (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)