Authoritarian Personality - Early Research

Early Research

These researchers most noteworthy measurement for authoritarianism is the “F-scale”, designed to tap a set of beliefs thought to be associated with authoritarianism without the need for specific out-groups indicated. Kirscht and Dillehay (1967) outlined several problems with the Berkeley studies, including response bias. Response bias results from the F scale being uniformly worded in a confirming direction. Hence, if one tends to respond in agreement with items, regardless of their content, one is rated as an authoritarian by such a test. Several studies have shown that more variance of the F scale can be explained by response bias than the content of the items (Kirscht & Dillehay, 1967).

Actual assessment of 16 Nazi criminals at Nuremberg trials (reported in Zillmer, et al., 1995) conducted by clinicians using the Rorschach inkblots, and in one study, the F scale for authoritarianism, found that these ex-Nazis score high on three dimensions (anti-intraception, superstition and stereotyping, and projectivity), but not all nine dimensions as the theory predicted.

One of the first applications of the authoritarian scales in academia was by Stern and colleagues, in the early 1950s, at the University of Chicago (as reported in Wiggins, 1980). The hypothesized prediction was that “authoritarian“ students would have difficulty in the sciences and humanities, and use of an attitudinal scale was a successful predictor.