Cognitive rigidity falls off only at the far-left extreme

Evidence

Smithers and Lobley’s (1978) study comes closest of these to supporting Rokeach’s central premise of a curvilinear relationship between left-right social attitudes and D Scale scores. The subjects were 539 Bradford University (England) students. But, as Stone (1980) pointed out, no test of the significance of the curvilinear relationship was presented. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 4254 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Rigidity in thought is a firmness that converts phenomena into resistant concepts — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1027; Low belief stability proves low cognitive centrality, not merely idiosyncratic thinking; Rigidity of thought is not exclusive to the political right (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The claimed curvilinear link between left-right attitudes and dogmatism lacked significance tests #complicates (0.75) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 4254