My thoughts drift back to the 1960s and early 1970s, when it was quite common to use this term, often uncritically and unthinkingly.

Incidentally, the term doesn't mean a person who happens to be "authoritarian", but was postulated by Theodor Adorno and others as a definite and recognizable "personality type". In fairness to those who aren't familiar with the background, I wish to say that the concept was part of an attempt to understand and explain the causes of Fascism.

Key characteristics of the "authoritarian personality" are held to include:

1. Servility and obedience to those in power (authority) subject to the important proviso that those in authority broadly hold the same kinds of beliefs and values as the authoritarian ... (So ultra-conservatives wouldn't necessarily feel obliged to respect or obey liberals even when the latter are in authority. Consider Germany in the Weimar period, for example).

2. Conformism (to in-group) values and modes of thought and behaviour.

3. Intolerance of those outside the in-group.

4. Insecurity.

5. Rigid stereotyped thinking. (Obvious examples include the assumption that a statement is either right or wrong, with no scope for any intermediate position, thinking in polar opposites and the like).


Longer and fuller lists are available. See for example this link:

http://uregina.ca/~gingrich/ap.htm

In the late 1960s I myself viewed the concept with some amused detachment, though that may have had more to do with the way the concept was first explained to me.

Something that has led me to think again about the concept is the reaction of some quiz authors to correction notices, and of course the nature of come of the corrections themslves - but that's by the way only ...

There's a well known and much quoted remark by Adorno: "Intolerance of ambiguity is the mark of an authoritarian personality".

I'm not at all sure that these traits characterize a "type of personality" in any strict sense, but it seems to me that Adorno and co-researchers did succeed in identifying a cluster of (at the least) attitudes that tend to go hand in hand.

I'd be interested to hear the views of others.

I've thought offhandedly about this subject all day. I personally know more than a few individuals who might fall mildly into this [to me, anyway ] unfortunate catagory. I qualify that last statement as my own opinion since I know first hand that this black and white mindset is thought to be a desirable thing in many circles - both conservative and liberal. And since the precedent has already been set to apply this discussion toward politics - I guess I'll head that direction, also.

I'd have to go out on a limb and say it's unfair to attribute this miserable 'God in a box' way of thinking merely to ultra conservative thinkers [ And no, the phrase 'conservative thinkers' is not meant to be an oxy - moron, I want many of you to realize! ]
Being one of the above discussed breed, I am convinced that this sort of behavior and reason is more based upon, say, genetics or faulty neuron connection, rather than up bringing. As a matter of fact, just last week I heard a news brief here in the States which illustrates this concept quite nicely.

[see- http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/science/21gene.htm ]

What if our personalities, politics and preference in old westerns on tv might turn out to be largely genetic?

On both sides of the isle we are confronted with those politicians who can see both sides of a question and try to consider the answer carefully - to those who tend to respond to the same questions with whatever knee jerk rhetoric currently en vogue among their party leaders, to the point of no longer being in control of their own thoughts.

Think of all the 'Christian' nutcases who have been arrested for murdering abortion doctors or blowing up clinics. Consider various 'left wing' members of the notorious ELF [ Earth Liberation Front] who continue to torch new houses and destroy private property with out a second thought. It would seem that this unbalanced behavior, in all it's varying degrees, can be found across the board, no matter what one's political affiliations.

I can only speak for myself in discussions like these. I come from a hard -working, earthy family of over achievers - conservative in many of our viewpoints. And yet - I think UNIONS are probably a good thing...hmm. In the case of incest, I would not expect a young girl to carry the child of her brother or father. Hmm. So where did those 'grey area' ideas come from? They don't make me popular among what might be considered my peer group. But they are my own ideas. We were taught to think for ourselves at an early age, as were many of my friends. To me, the notion of an 'authoritarian personality' seems almost a cartoon charicature of reality - until a hitler or a mussolini emerges from the faulty gene pool. Then the lampoon turns serious in a hurry.

I've often wondered if the "authoritarian personality" is actually a "personality type" at all. I like your description of it as a "mindset".

I think that this thread - if it develops - is likely to prove more productive if can steer clear of politics as far as possible.

My main interest in the mindset is at the moment focuses more on the kind of person who goes off the rails if a quiz question asks something perfectly reasonable, such as whether the word "so" in "'Do you think he's being honest with us?' 'Yes, I think so'" functions in effect as a pronoun and not as a an adverb in this context. (After all, if asked to paraphrase "so", would one paraphrase it as "thus" or "that"?)

The "authoritarian" mindset craves certainty, simplicity, straightforward yes or no answers; it clings like a depserado to what it was taught at school. It is deeply hostile to the notion of knowledge as a living, developing thing. So if it was - quite wrongly - taught at school that the Renaissance started just after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and it then hears that at that date the Renaissance had already been well underway in much of Italy for over a century it flies into a rage instead of trying to find out more.

Yes, of course there are also alarming political dimensions, too. However, what I find most disturbing about the "authoritarian personality" (or rather, mindset) is the gross emotional immaturity underlying it.

It would seem that defining an 'authoritarian personality' as a mindset implies free choice, based on upbringing and decisions made due to accessing certain information. Personality type could imply genetic make up - an involuntary thing, like having blue eyes or freckles.

Regardless of how such a person comes into being, any confrontation with a mind stuck in concrete can be at the least frustrating - even dangerous if the person in question is mentally unbalanced. Whether the confrontation occurs in the school yard or from a seat in parliment, the result is the same: a mind which is adept at rationalization, and many times willing to place the blame with anybody but themselves.

One of the difficulties with the concept of the "authoritarian personality" is that in practice it doubles up as a concept in both individual and social psychology. This may be expecting a too much of the concept. Some have suggested that whole communities are "authoritarian" or at least have an authoritarian mindset. Oh dear ...

It's also interesting to consider that theoretically, anyway, - those who choose mathematics as their life discipline also meet a lot of the criteria for this group...
Rules that never change. Concepts and beliefs that are straightforward and simple. A craving for certainty. An almost holy veneration for what they learned in school concerning the subject. And (many times) disdain for those of us who don't always 'think in a straight line'. (Just thinking out loud, here. Don't take a swat at me!)

Success is seductive, irrespective of nature or nurture. Oh, what an axiom fitting into left or right of the political spectrum and one of four personality boxes.

Thanks for the thread, it's thought provoking.

Quote:

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It's also interesting to consider that theoretically, anyway, - those who choose mathematics as their life discipline also meet a lot of the criteria for this group...
Rules that never change. Concepts and beliefs that are straightforward and simple. A craving for certainty....

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Add a little eccentricity and perhaps some poor people skills and you're talking about the very fuzzy line between 'normality' and Asperger's Syndrome/ high-functioning autism. Mathematics, like engineering or IT is a typical area of interest and talent for people who fit with the autism spectrum. Not a group of people who I would normally think of as authoritarian though...

I really did mean that last as tongue in cheek, wajo. I probably should have added a couple of archeologists and musicians I know, too!

As for the question of heredity versus environment, the original theory ascribed the development of an "authoritarian personality" overwhelmingly to an unduly stern, even harsh and upbringing that stressed the importance of not questioning "paterfamilias" or even arguing rationally with his ideas.

One obvious difficulty with this seemingly simple notion is that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries many kids were given a very stern upbringing without becoming servile conformists later in life.

Before this topic gets lost altogether, I thought I'd give the link to the now notorious "F-scale" -where F stands for fascism. I regard this scale as a pretty devastating comment on sociology around 1950.

http://www.anesi.com/fscale.htm

Anyway, please don't take the thing too seriously - and amuse yourselves on the F-scale.

4.333333. You are disciplined but tolerant; a true American.

Fun test but there are so many variables these days that many of the questions are pointless.

Question [19] Some people are born with an urge to jump from high places confused me a bit as I actually feel that urge when near the edge of a building or cliff. I realise that if you strongly agree you are showing scorn for others but I can`t help but to strongly agree as I have that urge.

2.36 I'm a liberal airhead (LOL !!)

2.333333 another liberal airhead here.

3.166666 A true American. Within Normal limits.

This surprised me, even... I got 3.033. I barely missed being a liberal airhead, and am instead a disciplined but tolerant "true" american. Fortunately for me, I was able to interpret some of those questions in a way that other people would probably not agree with, and therefore answer them honestly in a way other people would not believe. Otherwise I'd be a liberal airhead all the way.

3.666666666666 -

'tolerant but a true American'.

Sounds like this one was dreamed up by Archie and his pals down at Kelsey's Bar...

Well, no surprise to anyone, I'm a liberal airhead. I agree, many of the questions are meaningless. The Ancient Greek and Roman sexlife one especially threw me - I mean, yeah, maybe, but so what?
Roos, I also had trouble with the high places one - I was thinking paratroopers, which I don't think is what they had in mind.

2.933 - "Liberal airhead" LOL

The question that mentions Greek and Roman sex assumes that an authoritarian personality is preoccupied with the "shocking sexual activities" of other people and - enviously (?) - thinks it's going on all over the place - rather like sections of the popular press in Britain, anyway.

However, 55-60 years on a lot of things that were thought to be oh-so-shocking then (like "living in sin") aren't regarded as unusual now.

As for the question about people being born an urge to throw themselves off high places, I think the point was simply the belief that people are irrational.

Liberal airhead also (though what being an airhead has to do with that I'm not sure).
3/4 of the questions to me looked like only a fascist would agree with them at all!

eg Every person should have complete faith in some supernatural power whose decisions he obeys without question.

An insult to our honor should always be punished.

You're either far-right/fundamentalist or not, I can't see too many who aren't going along with many, but I am an old hippy...

That's one of the reasons why I described the test as a devastating comment on standards in sociology at the time.

Another liberal airhead with a score of 2.6.

Well, I've been called a fascist and an anarchist, but never a liberal. I'm obviously going soft in my old age.

Oh dear, I'm a "whining rotter" (1.8666666666666667). Let's hope that's because I'm not American.

Oh give me a break! Why can`t someone get a higher score than me?
I don`t really want to be known as "black shirt Roos".