Authoritarian threat orientation is learned belief, not personality maladjustment.

Evidence

These findings support Allport’s original view that fearfulness, insecurity, and a threat orientation are core characteristics of authoritarianism, rather than Adorno’s psychoanalytically based hypotheses about repressed and displaced aggression. However, Altemeyer’s social-learning perspective also suggests that the insecurity, fear, and anxiety of the authoritarian might not reflect personal maladjustment and inadequacy, as Allport had hypothesized, but rather a learned set of beliefs about others and society. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2452 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The major issue on which Allport appears to have been wrong is attributing the fearfulness, insecurity, and threat orientation characterizing the authoritarian syndrome to an underlying “ego weakness,” or personal maladjustment, anxiety, and inadequacy. Subsequent research has shown authoritarians to be no lower on self-esteem and general adjustment than nonauthoritarians. Instead, as Altemeyer has shown, the fearfulness and threat orientation associated with the authoritarian syndrome seem to be learned beliefs about others and the social world. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2488 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Overall, subsequent research supports Allport’s view that threat, fear, and insecurity seem to be at the core of authoritarianism, but contradicts his view that this fearfulness and threat orientation stem from a “weak ego” or dispositional maladjustment and insecurity. Instead, the findings seem consistent with Altemeyer’s proposal that the insecurity, fear, and threat orientation of authoritarian persons are socially learned and specific to their perceptions of others and the social world. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2456 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Authoritarian personality theory holds that a psychological structure, not objective circumstances, determines fascist character — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1780; Authoritarianism is not a single coherent psychological construct — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 525; Right-wing authoritarianism describes psychological submission, not economic politics. (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Authoritarians are not personally maladjusted; their fear is learned belief #corroborates (1.00) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2452
• Authoritarians show normal self-esteem; their threat orientation is learned, not pathological #corroborates (1.00) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2488
• Authoritarian threat perception is socially learned rather than rooted in weak ego #corroborates (0.95) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2456