Authoritarianism and social dominance stem from distinct motivational goals and personalities

Evidence

This dual-process cognitive motivational model proposes that RWA and SDO are two basic dimensions of social or ideological attitudes with each expressing motivational goals or values made chronically salient for individuals by their social worldviews and their personalities (Duckitt, 2001). High RWA expresses the motivational goal of establishing or maintaining social cohesion, stability, and security, which is made salient by seeing the social world as dangerous and threatening. The predisposing personality dimension is social conformity, which leads individuals to identify with the existing social order, be more sensitive to threats to it, and so to see the social world as dangerous and threatening. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2474

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines RWA and SDO as separate psychological constructs with distinct motivational underpinnings.
• XREF: This dual-process model of prejudice connects to the broader right-wing authoritarianism vs. social dominance orientation literature, and to the reader’s prior work on the psychology of group conflict and status hierarchies.