Authoritarianism can only be diagnosed from what circumstances change a person’s beliefs.

Evidence

The proposed definition is dynamic rather than static. One could not diagnose authoritarianism from an inventory of beliefs but only from knowledge of the circumstances that will change belief. This means that the measurement problem is certain to be more difficult than when authoritarianism is defined in static terms and so one can understand a reluctance to accept such a definition. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 680

Categorization

• DEFINE: Contrasts a dynamic definition (circumstances that change belief) with static belief inventories.
• XREF: Connects to dispositional vs. situational attribution debates and to how personality measures often fail to predict situational behavior.