Authoritarians show no deficit in self-esteem or general adjustment

Evidence

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. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2488

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts the common bigot-as-maladjusted reading in the Frankfurt School treatises; closely parallels Altemeyer’s learned-belief account. — connects to: No political movement of uniform personality types could function — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 682; Extremists show no elevated mental illness rates relative to the general population — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 150
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2488