Eysenck misread comparative F Scale data to claim Communists match Fascists

Evidence

Eysenck draws from Coulter’s data the truly extraordinary conclusion: “…we have found Communists to make almost as high scores on this scale as Fascists” (Eysenck, 1954, p. 149) and argues that the F Scale is not just a measure of fascistic tendencies but of authoritarianism in general. It would seem to be a more reasonable summary of the data to say that Communists scored slightly above neutrals but much below Fascists and so the F Scale is primarily a measure of authoritarianism of the right though slightly sensitive to the authoritarianism of the left. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 664

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader literature on left-right symmetry claims about authoritarianism vs. the original Berkeley finding that F Scale measures right-wing authoritarianism specifically. — connects to: The study’s classification scheme ruled out loyal-but-authoritarian Communists by design — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 713