Authoritarians accept forced messages they agree with as sincere

Evidence

Combining these three experiments (N = 1001), the various Fundamental Attribution Errors average out (weighted means) as follows: Pro-Homosexual Essay 36% 57% Anti-Homosexual Essay 66% 103% … To put it simply, Highs made more attribution errors than Lows, especially when they tended to agree with the message. Indeed, Lows were somewhat restrained when they read an agreeable essay they knew had been forced onto the writer (a 36% FAE). Authoritarians, by contrast, completely accepted the essayist’s sincerity (103%!), even though they had been told that the writer was simply trying to demonstrate on an exam the ability to argue well. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1407 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Authoritarian states learned to use the internet for their own ends — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 297; Authoritarians fully accept communicator sincerity when the message suits them — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1407; Authoritarians over-attribute sincere belief to assigned viewpoints, especially viewpoints they agree with — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1401 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Authoritarians fully accept communicator sincerity when the message suits them #expands (0.95) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1407