Fearfulness and threat orientation, not repressed aggression, drive authoritarianism

Evidence

Still, Allport’s ideas (compared to Adorno et al.’s) better captured the complexity revealed by later research. Most centrally, Allport’s view that fearfulness and a threat orientation are the motivational core of the authoritarian syndrome has been substantially confirmed, whereas Adorno et al.’s hypothesis of repressed aggression has not. Allport’s emphasis on fearfulness and insecurity also led him correctly to view a restricted, limited cognitive style as an essential aspect of this syndrome, whereas Adorno et al. did not. Allport also identified the “philosophy of life” of the social world as dangerous and threatening as an important component of the authoritarian syndrome, while Adorno et al. did not. And finally, Allport emphasized that social environmental uncertainties and threats interact with authoritarianism to elicit hostility toward particular groups and to activate support for authoritarian policies, while Adorno et al. largely ignored social environmental influences. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2487

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the long-running debate between Allport’s threat-orientation account and Adorno’s psychodynamic father-based account of the authoritarian personality, relevant to current literature on right-wing authoritarianism and terror management theory. — connects to: Authoritarian prejudice springs from fear while dominance prejudice springs from appetite — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 1016; Rigid cognitive style drives authoritarianism but not prejudice directly — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 471; A larger fear-processing amygdala may make conservatives more susceptible to threats — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 117