Authoritarianism is not a single coherent psychological construct
Evidence
We have not answered in any complete way the question about the associa tion between the authoritarian personality and participation in the Holocaust. What is clear is that, in spite of the seductiveness of the idea, there is no simple causal relation, nor even an empirically demonstrated complex one. The rea son reflects both a weakness and a strength of Adorno et al.’s original con ceptualization of the authoritarian personality. The weakness is that neither the original version nor the reformulations of authoritarianism offer a single coherent psychological construct; rather, each of the different definitions and approaches to authoritarianism represents a multifaceted complex of traits and underlying processes. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide, 525
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Attributing Holocaust perpetration to authoritarian personality may itself be a fundamental attribution error. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 461; Authoritarian thinking features closed-mindedness, rigidity, and intolerance of ambiguity — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 469; Authoritarianism is a learned ideology, not a personality pathology (+15 more)
Broader Connections
- Authoritarianism is a learned ideology, not a personality pathology
#corroborates(0.85) - Authoritarianism and social dominance are ideologies, not psychopathologies
#corroborates(0.85) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1602 - Authoritarianism is an ideological belief system, not a psychodynamic disorder.
#corroborates(0.85) - Authoritarianism scales measure ideology, not underlying personality traits
#corroborates(0.85) - Authoritarian psychodynamics have never been proven causally, only correlationally
#qualifies(0.80) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 652 - Causal dynamics of authoritarianism cannot be established by correlation alone
#qualifies(0.80) - Authoritarian threat orientation is learned belief, not personality maladjustment.
#corroborates(0.80) - Authoritarian-personality findings may reflect cultural associations, not personality dynamics
#corroborates(0.80) - Authoritarian personality theory holds that a psychological structure, not objective circumstances, determines fascist character
#contradicts(0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1780 - General authoritarianism is a cognitive style, not a belief set
#complicates(0.75) - Right-wing authoritarianism is psychological submission, not economic conservatism
#complicates(0.75) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 140 - Authoritarianism is a property of belief-change triggers, not belief content itself
#complicates(0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 680 - Authoritarian traits may cohere from low education and SES, not psychodynamics
#complicates(0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 653 - Authoritarians’ ideological loyalties are arbitrary products of culture, not reason
#qualifies(0.75) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1918 - Authoritarian personality traits alone do not produce prejudice without activating demagogy
#complicates(0.75) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2433