Older, less internally consistent scales correlated as well with outcomes as newer ones.

Evidence

As expected, the older the scale, the worse the internal consistency in 1993. The mean interitem correlation was . for the original version, . for the 1986 vintage, and . for the latest. But the oldest scale had the best correlation with these students’ scores on my Ethnocentrism Scale (.50). The 1986 version had the best fit with continued holding of the home religion (.47). And the 1993 RWA Scale had the best correlation only with the Attitudes toward Homosexuals Scale (.64). — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 669