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In a seminal work, Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, and Sanford (1950) coined the term authoritarian personality and stated that it was characterised by strong adherence to externally imposed conventional norms, as well as submission or obedience to the authorities that promote those norms. According to Adorno and colleagues, these behaviours are attempts to deal with various personal insecurities. Specifically, authoritar- ian individuals displace their own anxieties onto weak minority groups in their culture (e.g., ethnic and/or religious minorities) or onto people who deviate from social norms (e.g., homosexuals). Displacement is often accompanied by associated beliefs that are highly evaluative and rigid. Other characteristics of the authoritarian personality include a cynical view of mankind, cognitive and emotional inflexibility. A belief in the need for power and toughness, the tendency to act harshly towards nonconformists, opposition to subjective or imaginative tendencies, and an exaggerated concern with promiscuity. Adler (1965) re-examined the personality char- acteristics described by Adorno and colleagues and noted that the central trait of the authoritarian personality is the ‘‘will to power over others’’, which results in aggressive overcompensation for feelings of inferiority and insignificance. Contemporary research continues to rely on many of the conceptualisations and measures originated by Adorno and colleagues (Martin, 2001; Stone, Lederer, & Christie, 1993).
Altemeyer (1988, 1996, 1998) replicated Adorno et al.’s (1950) study and examined whether the components of authoritarianism correlated with right- wing political views. Although not all of the components of authoritarianism correlated significantly...
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...as generally less cognitively flexible than inconsistent-handers (Sontam & Christman, 2012). This characterisation is based on several specific findings that converge on a similar idea. Like authoritarians, consistent right-handers, exhibited less attitude change in response to a persuasive message than did inconsistent left- or right-handers (Christman, Henning, Geers, Propper, & Niebauer, 2008), and they were also more rigid in their perception of ambiguous figures (Christman, Sontam, & Jasper, 2009) and poorer at counterfactual thinking (Jasper, Barry, & Christman, 2008); in these three studies there were few, if any, consistent left-handers in the samples and they were excluded from statistical analyses. Finally consistency, regardless of left or right direction, was positively correlated with tendency to fixate (or ruminate) on current worries (Niebauer, 2004).
In this essay, I will define authoritarianism and discuss the differences and similarities between Adorno et al.’s and Altemeyer’s approaches towards authoritarianism. Authoritarianism refers to the obedience and strict adherence to rules and figures of authority, as well as this, an authoritarian personality can be characterised by hostility towards groups or individuals who differ from what they perceive as normal (The Open University, 2015, p23).
Before we ask ourselves why ideology has become such an important concept in the modern age, let’s first see how different authors in different times have defined ideology. I combined the most thoughtful and influential definitions that circulate within the social sciences in the postwar decades. All these definitions have revealed the extent to which ideology remains a very flexible conceptual tool. To some of the authors, ideology is dogmatic, while the others say it carries connotations of political experience. Others think its basis is of concrete interests of a social class while others say it is a characteristic of an absence of economic interests. In the book titled “The Authoritarian Personality”, ideology has been defined as an organization of attitudes, opinions and values. It is a way of thinking about people and their society with respect to the different areas of social life: economics, politics, minority groups, religion and so forth (Adorno, 1950). Loewenstein also defined ideology as a consistent integrated patterns of belief and thoughts that explains man’s
(b) Using an assessment being dogmatic, racial prejudice, evidence integration impairment and positive response bias, and political orientation were all measured for mediation effect.
Parrillo, then provides the last two theories of psychological prejudice: frustration and authoritarian personality as a closing statement. Bestowing upon sociologist Theodor W. Adorno and a few of his colleagues from University of California, Berkeley, they reflect a multitude of characterizations as to why these two factors has the greatest contribution to how a person’s chain of thought reflects based on where they were raised and also the experiences that they had encountered during their early childhood. While other influential sociologists and researchers like Edward Shils, he challenged the question that there is more to it than just the problems from early childhood experiences. We must also reconsider the social conflicts that have been happening without having to ignore what is actually affecting
In today’s culture psychologist, sociologist, and scientist investigate several types of personalities. Personality is the pattern of behavior, though process, emotions, and reactions to the people that surround us on daily basis. Several test have been developed for testing personalities. Some test can be simple and short while others lengthy and complicated. Scholars demonstrated knowledge about personalities looking back many thousands of years. The Greeks published a well documented history in profiling people according to personality traits. Two interesting character personalities are conformist type personality and manipulative type personality.
After completing the Political Compass test, I would describe my political ideology as slightly to the libertarian left on the scale. However, I am not so far left as to describe myself as totally liberal, more so my numbers fall just short of the center of the grid, with the numbers being Economic Left/Right: -1.25 and Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -0.82. If someone were to compare my numbers to those on the examples, they would most closely match those of François Hollande, the French President. The chief traits of my ideology are the belief in a limited amount of government control, based solely on the constitution, a government which is maintained mainly for defense of the country, yet it would also be necessary be involved in other areas where protection of the people is required, such as regulation of food quality and health care. Despite my conviction that the current government is too large, I am adamantly against anarchy. A country without any governing body would be in a constant chaotic state. Furthermore, lower taxes, less government spending, strong family values, albeit not necessarily those of a “traditional” family, and a monetary system which is backed by gold or silver are also included in my ideals. While I do not necessarily consider myself “socialist” or “liberal”, many of my views – particularly those about freedom to marry, and conservation of the plane...
Leadership has many definitions: some people think leadership means guiding or motivates others to complete a task. However, Guenzi and Ruta (2013) define leadership as the ability to impact others within an organisation. As from Hoye , Aaron CT, et al. (2015) definition of leadership simply means developing goals through others. The term “leadership” is therefore all mentioned above: in brief, it is the ability to take someone’s hand and lead them. The leadership styles, theories and competencies’ of Barack Obama will be examined and discusses throughout this essay.
The Authoritarian Spector is a compelling book by the social psychologist Bob Altemeyer, that discusses the different aspects of the authoritarian personality, all based on both his research and the research of others. Altemeyer makes the claim that different behaviors, “trusting Nixon during Watergate, hating homosexuals, opposing abortion” (Altemeyer 45) are all linked through authoritarianism, all the while reminding the reader that there are exceptions to these behaviors. The authoritarian personality falls along a spectrum rather than a cut and paste personality. The author of this book does not delve deeply into why these behaviors are linked to the authoritarianism, unless the reason is itself because they are authoritarian. He does; however, provide an extensive number of personality traits that one can identify, and possess a correlation, strong or otherwise, with the authoritarian personality.
Introduction Individuals often yield to conformity when they are forced to discard their individual freedom in order to benefit the larger group. Despite the fact that it is important to obey the authority, obeying the authority can sometimes be hazardous, especially when morals and autonomous thought are suppressed to an extent that the other person is harmed. Obedience usually involves doing what a rule or a person tells you to, but negative consequences can result from displaying obedience to authority; for example, the people who obeyed the orders of Adolph Hitler ended up killing innocent people during the Holocaust. In the same way, Stanley Milgram noted in his article ‘Perils of Obedience’ of how individuals obeyed authority and neglected their conscience, reflecting how this can be destructive in real life experiences. On the contrary, Diana Baumrind pointed out in her article ‘Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience’ that the experiments were not valid, hence useless.
Societies that esteem social conformity view defiance as a by-product of insolence rather than an act of courage. Isolation of individuals that do not abide by the set restrictions is another common characteristic of systems that encourage mob mentalities. As a result, in order to be accepted by peers, individuals often have to function based on societal expectations. Some consider pursuing their own opinions and ideas against the social norms. This often garners backlash and hostilities from other members of society, ranging from physical and verbal abuse to denial of individual’s competence and sanity to complete alienation from society. Although some people are able to champion their freedom of expression and right to opinions over the need
Higgins, Tory. “Self-Discrepancy Theory: What Patterns of Self-Beliefs Cause People to Suffer?”(1989). Advances in Experimental Social psychology, Vol.22 (1989):93-136. Academic Press Inc.
To each their own…..right? Is this really the case when it comes to personality? We all have our own unique personalities that make us who we are and influence our daily lives, which might cause us to pose the question, “How much control do we have over these traits?” Furthermore, one might ask, “Is there a way we can control these characteristics or are they given to us from birth?” In order to recognize my own distinct personality traits which have contributed to the person I am today, let us take a look at my “psycho-auotbiography.”
Researches have concluded that “Authoritarian parenting styles generally lead to children who are obedient and proficient, but they rank lower in happiness, social competence and self-esteem” (Cherry)....
Cognition is the mental process of gaining knowledge through thinking, judging and solving problems. Cognition functions to provide human beings with the ability to use language, make perceptions, use the imagination and make decisions. These thought processes play a significant role in personality development. Both biological and environmental factors have been linked to cognition. Biological factors include our genetic makeup and hereditary factors. Genetic makeup determines the physical characteristics of eye color, hair color. Hereditary factors are those traits that are transferred from parents and blood relations. These inherited traits determine temperament of human beings. Both the biological traits of genetics and inheritance play a major role in how human beings perceive themselves and how others interact with them. This cognitive perception of self and others is believed to help determine one’s personality. Environmental factors include how a human being is raised and how outside influences such as school, church, relationships and society shape their cognitive processes. An example of the relationship between cognition and personality would be of a child born of two different races. Physical characteristics are likely to be different with mixed races causing the child to perceive themselves as abnormal, thus leading to antisocial or introverted personality traits.
This paper will explore the strict parenting whether it has positive effects or negative effects on children. Before I begin my discussion, I want to ask you a question. How do you define an authoritarian parent? In response to this question, you can think about someone who has a complete control over his or her children. According to Kendra Cherry, the author of “What Is Authoritarian Parenting?”, she explains that, “Authoritarian Parenting is a style characterized by high demands and low responsiveness.” In this sentence, authoritarian parenting, also known as helicopter parenting, is parents who force their children to follow their needs without any explanations, so their children must be under their regulations even though children do not