The F-scale’s items registered strong rejection as authoritarianism even on partly true statements

Evidence

In the eyes of the Berkeley group, the F-scale, with its non-ideological, purely psychological' items, offered virtually direct access to personality structure. It was for precisely this reason that the group attached particular importance to some problematical aspects of the scales. With their two alterations and abbreviations of the F-scale, the Berkeley group excluded not only certain items which were so true or rationally plausible that both strongly prejudiced and strongly prejudice-free subjects agreed with them, but also certain items which were so drastically or aggressively formulated that both largely prejudice-free and strongly prejudiced subjects rejected them. But many similar items remained, for example statements in the final version of the F-scale such as A person who has bad manners, habits, and breeding can hardly expect to get along with decent people’, The business man and the manufacturer are much more important to society than the artist and the professor', and Science has its place, but there are many important things that can never possibly be understood by the human mind.’ Strong rejection of such statements was automatically registered as positive, although their large element of truth would have suggested at the most weak rejection or at least rather weak agreement. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1770

Categorization

• QUESTION: The critique that unambiguously-worded scale items force respondents into agreement regardless of nuance — a methodological issue that afflicts survey instruments generally, worth chasing in psychometrics literature.
• XREF: connects to: The F Scale partly measured a tendency to agree regardless of content — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 582; The F Scale partly measured mere yielding, not authoritarian content — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 584

Broader Connections

• The F Scale partly measured a tendency to agree regardless of content #complicates (0.75) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 582