Responses must correlate across topics for authoritarianism to exist as a trait.

Evidence

The covariation of responses to the RWA Scale provides a test that the trait “exists.” Since the thirty items cover many different topics, their 435 intercorrelations tend to be small. After all, how much connection can there be between believing in children’s obedience and disliking nudist camps? But small as they might be on average, the correlations will gel if the model is right. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 228

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains how the RWA scale’s internal consistency empirically tests whether the hypothesized trait actually exists.