Projective character-structure methods cannot measure attitudes toward specific political topics

Evidence

In the Berkeley section of the anti-Semitism project, an approach using character structure had been developed. Character structure could be revealed by indirect and projective methods. But this method was not possible when it was a matter of revealing attitudes to particular political topics. It was not possible to expose opinions about specific topics without actually talking about the topics themselves. What had to be achieved, therefore, was that the persons being examined should openly express their opinions on concrete topics of this sort. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 459

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes ‘character structure’ as the Berkeley project’s construct and explains why it fails for topic-specific opinion research.
• XREF: connects to: Projective tests reveal aggression displaced onto rejected story figures; Judges’ attitudes cannot be reliably inferred from opinion rhetoric — Richard A. Posner, What Has Pragmatism to Offer Law?, 120; Fromm aimed to map social-psychological character types onto political party groupings — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 697 (+2 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Projective tests reveal aggression displaced onto rejected story figures; Judges’ attitudes cannot be reliably inferred from opinion rhetoric — Richard A. Posner, What Has Pragmatism to Offer Law?, 120; Fromm aimed to map social-psychological character types onto political party groupings — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 697 (+2 more)