AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY

just some information about Authoritarian personality

http://www.gossamer-wings.com/soc/Notes/race/tsld007.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarian_Personality


http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Authoritarian_personality

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_Wing_Authoritarianism

Right Wing Authoritarianism

Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) is a psychological personality variable or "ideological attitude'.

It is defined as the convergence of three attitudinal clusters in an individual:

1. Authoritarian submission—a high degree of submission to the authorities who are perceived to be established and legitimate in the society in which one lives. (it is good to have a strong authoritarian leader)

2. Authoritarian aggression—a general aggressiveness, directed against various persons, that is perceived to be sanctioned by established authorities. (they believe that it is ok to be cruel to those who do not follow the rules)

3. Conventionalism—a high degree of adherence to the social conventions that are perceived to be endorsed by society and its established authorities. (traditional ways are best)

High scorers on the RWA scale tend to have a rigid, often fundamentally religious view of morality tending towards as homophobic, racist and patriarchal beliefs. High RWA scorers tend to support authority figures, such as the government, taking action to censor certain social groups (often those who are viewed as physically or morally threatening).


Significant Correlations
Altemeyer discovered a wide range of correlations over the years, which can be organized into four general categories.

1: Faulty reasoning -- RWA’s are more likely to:

Make many incorrect inferences from evidence.
Hold contradictory ideas leading them to ‘speak out of both sides of their mouths.’
Uncritically accept that many problems are ‘our most serious problem.’
Uncritically accept insufficient evidence that supports their beliefs.
Uncritically trust people who tell them what they want to hear.
Use many double standards in their thinking and judgements.

2: Hostility Toward Outgroups -- RWA’s are more likely to:

Weaken constitutional guarantees of liberty, such as the Bill of Rights.
Punish severely ‘common’ criminals in a role-playing situation.
Admit they get personal pleasure from punishing such people.
Be prejudiced against many racial, ethnic, nationalistic, and linguistic minorities.
Be hostile toward homosexuals.
Volunteer to help the government persecute almost anyone.
Be mean-spirited toward those who have made mistakes and suffered.

3: Profound Character Flaws -- RWA’s are more likely to:

Be dogmatic.
Be zealots.
Be hypocrites.
Be bullies when they have power over others.
Help cause and inflame intergroup conflict.
Seek dominance over others by being competitive and destructive in situations requiring cooperation.

4: Blindness To One’s Own Failings -- RWA’s are more likely to:

Believe they have no personal failings.
Avoid learning about their personal failings.
Be highly self-righteous.
Use religion to erase guilt over their acts and to maintain their self-righteousness.
RWA is also correlated with political conservatism—not so much at the level of ordinary voters, but with increasing strength as one moves from voters to activists to office holders, and then from lower to higher-level officeholders.

Altemeyer's own statement about this may be worth noting (From p. 239 of "Enemies of Freedom"):

"right-wing authoritarians show little preference in general for any political party".

So the type of conservatism studied by Altemeyer is a rather peculiar subset of it -- one with virtually no everyday political relevance. Like the Adorno F scale which was its ultimate inspiration, the RWA scale would seem to tap a particularly old-fashioned type of conservatism

please read about RW Authoritarian Personality traits

this is exactly what we are dealing with.

Significant Correlations
Altemeyer discovered a wide range of correlations over the years, which can be organized into four general categories.

1: Faulty reasoning -- RWA’s are more likely to:

Make many incorrect inferences from evidence.
Hold contradictory ideas leading them to ‘speak out of both sides of their mouths.’
Uncritically accept that many problems are ‘our most serious problem.’
Uncritically accept insufficient evidence that supports their beliefs.
Uncritically trust people who tell them what they want to hear.
Use many double standards in their thinking and judgements.
2: Hostility Toward Outgroups -- RWA’s are more likely to:

Weaken constitutional guarantees of liberty, such as the Bill of Rights.
Punish severely ‘common’ criminals in a role-playing situation.
Admit they get personal pleasure from punishing such people.
Be prejudiced against many racial, ethnic, nationalistic, and linguistic minorities.
Be hostile toward homosexuals.
Volunteer to help the government persecute almost anyone.
Be mean-spirited toward those who have made mistakes and suffered.
3: Profound Character Flaws -- RWA’s are more likely to:

Be dogmatic.
Be zealots.
Be hypocrites.
Be bullies when they have power over others.
Help cause and inflame intergroup conflict.
Seek dominance over others by being competitive and destructive in situations requiring cooperation.
4: Blindness To One’s Own Failings -- RWA’s are more likely to:

Believe they have no personal failings.
Avoid learning about their personal failings.
Be highly self-righteous.
Use religion to erase guilt over their acts and to maintain their self-righteousness.
RWA is also correlated with political conservatism—not so much at the level of ordinary voters, but with increasing strength as one moves from voters to activists to office holders, and then from lower to higher-level officeholders.

Altemeyer's own statement about this may be worth noting (From p. 239 of "Enemies of Freedom"):

"right-wing authoritarians show little preference in general for any political party".

So the type of conservatism studied by Altemeyer is a rather peculiar subset of it -- one with virtually no everyday political relevance. Like the Adorno F scale which was its ultimate inspiration, the RWA scale would seem to tap a particularly old-fashioned type of conservatism

again for everyone to read, let's call them for what they are

Right Wing Authoritarians.

:kick:

...and to maintain their self-righteousness."

Very concise and accurate description. Religion is secondary to them, but provides the rationale to keep doing what they do (hate, cheat, etc.). That's why they always flaunt it so publicly.

"All the soccer moms and dads with those brats from the TV ads, I know that they sleep at night/
Their conscience is intact, they've convinced themselves of that, giving money to Jesus f*ing H. Christ."
- Trail Of Dead

First we define the problem.

Then we can refer to the definition.

I still see a disconnect between the definition of these types and anything that can be done about it. I can change today. But I want someone else to change. And that is not as simple.

I think this is a start. First we define. Then we can slowly begin to change.

Silly electrons posted two times. Bad!

Sit, electrons. Sit! Stay! Get down!


(replace electron with republican, at will.)

This was Monday July 10. John Dean said: I look at the numbers in the United States, and "I see about 23% percent of the population who are pure right-wing authoritarian followers. They‘re not going to change. They‘re going to march over the cliff."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13816491/ transcript


It's like a cult, those 23% are brainwashed.

The word cruel in this resume sticks out in my mind, our admin. has exhibited cruelty from day one. Smirks, walking around like you have a poker stuck up something. Ridiculing the opposition rather than discuss, even in a heated manner is better than ridiculing.

Bullies - use and abuse of religion to control with fear and the professed righteousness of themselves.

These observations should give clue to our Dems trying to defeat this bunch of hypocrites.

Our politicians should find the shrinks that can describe how to counter these types instead of using advisers and campaign managers that don't get it. Being nice and logical alone seems to get trashed by these authoritarian types.

we need psychologists to educate people on this. how can we change this mentality, but at least we call it for what it is, it is personality disorder.

Authoritarian personality traits have been present in people since the beggining of the human race; can't stop it. Best we can do is understand their thinking and their intentions and spread the word. Knowledge is our best weapon; I don't feel so angry anymore now when I hear idiots like Coulter and Limbaugh because I know WHY they speak as they do.

called Social Dominance Orientation

read this also


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_dominance_orientation

just a sip

"Winning is more important than how you play the game") and were also quite Machiavellian (manipulative and amoral) agreeing with items such as "There really is no such thing as 'right and wrong'. It all boils down to what you can get away with."

Under watch and restrain them,Treat them like unruly children and do not let them get away with ANYTHING that expresses any form of the game the social domination they crave to do.And if you don't want to spend all day correcting and chastising punishing and babysitting authoritarians..what is the alternative? Disobedience..To authoritarians,protecting each other from authoritarians,not being a perpetrator an enabler or a bystander!!

Human beings are not natural killers; very, very few ever learn to enjoy murder or torture. Human beings, however, are sufficiently docile that many can eventually be taught to kill, to support killing, or to consent to killing on the command of an alpha male, entirely dissociating themselves from responsibility for the act. Our original sin is not murderousness — it is obedience.

And this brings us to the final reason for the prevalence of the myth of man the killer; that it encourages obedience and legitimizes social control of the individual. The man who fears Hobbes's "warre", who sees every one of his neighbors as a potential murderer, will surrender nearly anything to be protected from them. He will call for a strong hand from above; he will become a willing instrument in the oppression of his fellows. He may even allow himself to be turned into a killer in fact. Society will be atomized into millions of fearful fragments, each reacting to the fear of fantasied individual violence by sponsoring the political conditions for real collective violence on a large scale.

Even when the fear of violence is less acute, the myth of man the killer well serves power elites of all kinds.
http://catb.org/~esr/writings/killer-myth.html

http://web.archive.org/web/19991008231638/http://www-cgsc.army.mil/milrev/English/MayJun99/Pierson.htm

"2. Authoritarian aggression—a general aggressiveness, directed against various persons, that is perceived to be sanctioned by established authorities. (they believe that it is ok to be cruel to those who do not follow the rules)"

They do this all the time. And usually, they claim to be Christians, but refuse to see or admit that this is totally contrary to the teachings of Jesus.

please read, you will find this very informative,and know what we are dealing with.

After reading this stuff about "authoritarian personalities", I wonder how much crossover there is w/the description of an "SJ" on the Myers-Briggs personality type.

John Dean and his new book which delves into this subject. I went out and bought it today. Can't wait to settle down with it...

It really explains the intractable 25% or so that *still* support and approve of bush.

Great links here, btw. Very Valuable!
Thanks for posting!

The only cures for this type of problem person I know of is ,maybe to somehow force them into a situation of dependence where they are forced to rely on those people they fear and disdain ,force them to think and do not settle for half ass answers,and by social pressure demand they empathize or social rejection and ridicule. Authoritarians cannot stand ridicule of their""authority"..,and or force them to associate with the very people they don't like and fear especially in positions of being as their higher ups.
This is a treatment which they will resist with every fiber of their non-being...

The other alternative seems to be to wipe them off the face of the Earth forever and show no mercy twords them anymore because authoritarians by their disease have no mercy because they are not capable of tolerating any sort of existence in a diverse civil mutually equal relationship at all where they are not calling all the shots..They are bullies and unwilling to let other people be free to be who they are.

Other than those two ideas I have no clue authoritarian personalities are the biggest threat to human existence there ever has been.And I hate them. They are personalities of poison that ruin every relationship they are in.

I'm glad John Dean finally caught up, or maybe he's a lurker!!