The F-scale measured how deeply ethnocentric attitudes were rooted in personality structure.

Evidence

The significance of the F-scale therefore lay above all in the fact that, within the framework of questionnaire methods that could be applied on a mass scale, it provided important information on how strongly ethnocentric attitudes were rooted in personality structure and on how much importance should be given to political and economic attitudes. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1769

Categorization

• DEFINE: States the F-scale’s intended function: linking personality structure to ethnocentric and political-economic attitudes.
• XREF: connects to: The F scale measured ideology while assuming it indexed underlying personality; The F scale measured attitudes, not personality, and conflated the two — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2442; F Scale scores strongly tracked anti-Semitism and ethnocentrism but less so political conservatism (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• The F scale measured personality through questionnaires, not explicit ideology like the other scales. #corroborates (0.95) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 439
• The F scale measured ideology while assuming it indexed underlying personality #complicates (0.90)
• The F scale measured attitudes, not personality, and conflated the two #contradicts (0.85) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2442
• Measuring authoritarianism as attitudes allows disguising personality tests as opinion surveys. #complicates (0.85) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3863
• F Scale scores strongly tracked anti-Semitism and ethnocentrism but less so political conservatism #qualifies (0.78)