Just two personality scales explain most measured prejudice

Evidence

The implications of McFarland and Adelson’s discovery, should it reappear in other populations and with other measures, overpower one. For if you want to explain the many kinds of prejudice exposed in this situation, they are largely matters of personality. And only two kinds of personality are basically involved: the social dominator and the rightwing authoritarian. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 953 (#expands, via linked claim)

The third January student study was prompted by John Duckitt, who wondered if the “nest” of SDO correlations was actually assembled by social desirability effects. Suppose some people are willing to admit bad things about themselves on a survey, but others are relatively reluctant to admit such, or are even unaware of them. If so, then responses to a collection of scales that raise sensitive issues will be glued together to some extent by this “willing-to-look-bad versus try-to-look-good” response style, whether the traits involved really are related. In this light, high SDOs may not be more prejudiced than others, nor more PP-Mad, E-MAD, accepting of rape myths, and so on, but merely less defensive. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1044 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Pettigrew looked at white racial attitudes in the American South and apartheid-era Republic of South Africa (Pettigrew, 1958, 1959). He showed that differences in authoritarian personality could not account for the large regional differences in racial attitudes between North and South in the USA, nor the large national differences in attitudes between the USA, Europe, and South Africa. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1896 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Most prejudice reduces to two personality types — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 953; Regional attitude gaps refute personality explanations for prejudice — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1896; Distinct structural relations produce qualitatively different forms of prejudice — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 305 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Most prejudice reduces to two personality types #expands (0.95) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 953
• Survey correlations between prejudice scales may be inflated by response style, not real relationships #complicates (0.88) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1044
• Regional attitude gaps refute personality explanations for prejudice #complicates (0.85) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1896
• Prejudice is explained by societal characteristics, not only individual traits #complicates (0.85) — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 81
• Prejudice combines cognitive, motivational, and socialized causes #complicates (0.82) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 126
• Social desirability bias does not measurably invalidate prejudice survey measures #complicates (0.80) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2200
• Distinct structural relations produce qualitatively different forms of prejudice #complicates (0.78) — Susan T. Fiske et al., A Model of (Often Mixed) Stereotype…, 305