Most people become temporarily more authoritarian when threat rises, then revert as threat fades

Evidence

In contrast to the dispositional authoritarians, then, mildly authoritarian and nonauthoritarian people may put on and take off aggression according to the climate of threat. During high-threat times they buy powerful dogs; they become more cynical, more anti-intraceptive, and perhaps more superstitious; they embrace more conventional values, and so forth; but as threat diminishes, they return to their customary outlooks and behavior. They are, in short, “situational authoritarians” in response to threat. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 842

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the concept of “situational authoritarians” — people who opportunistically adopt authoritarian stances during high-threat periods, distinct from dispositional authoritarians.
• XREF: connects to: Anti-foreign fears persist in contained form instead of being eliminated — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 170; Emotional intensity rises then falls as deterrents increase. — Michael T. Schmitt, Daniel A. Miller, Nyla R. Branscombe, and Jack W. Brehm, The Difficulty of Making Reparations…, 26