Right-wing and left-wing authoritarianism scores correlate positively, not negatively

Evidence

Then I got quite a surprise. The correlation between RWA and LWA scores should, of course, be negative and big. One scale indicates willingness to bow down before the established authorities, the other a desire to kick them in the pants. But I found RWA scores correlated plus . (p < .05) with these students’ mock LWA Scale scores? — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2891

Then I got quite a surprise. The correlation between RWA and LWA scores should, of course, be negative and big. One scale indicates willingness to bow down before the established authorities, the other a desire to kick them in the pants. But I found RWA scores correlated plus . (p < .05) with these students’ mock LWA Scale scores? — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2891

Categorization

• XREF: Bears directly on the vault’s Christian-nationalism and authoritarianism claims - suggests authoritarianism is a general disposition not anchored to political side. — connects to: Authoritarianism can manifest on the political left as well as right — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 446; Left-wing progressives can score as authoritarian as right-wing extremists — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 446
• DEEPTHINKING: Undermines the common left-right mapping of authoritarianism onto ideology alone; the treatment of authority as the lever matters more than its direction.
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2891