No More Learning

The foregoing record is atypical of the interview material but would be typical of the stories that high-scoring women tell about mother figures in the Thematic Apperception Test. In the stories told by prejudiced women about mother figures the pressure which such women exert upon their daughters is usually revealed alongside the fantasies of revenge. In the more direct descriptions of their mothers in the interviews there is, in most cases, nothing but expressions of admiration.
The intensity of hostility, once such an attitude breaks through in the interview, points toward the fact that strong defenses against it are necessary and indicates once again the source and meaning of the attitude of "glorifi- cation. " In spite of the fact that the subject quoted above openly faces her hostility toward her mother, she still often feels obliged to submit to the mother although she really cannot accept this kind of dependency. Typi- cally, the quarrel with the mother centers about material benefits and prob- lems of exploitation.
Feelings of victimization were also found in 4 low-scoring women. How- ever, in the low-scoring cases such feelings differ somewhat in kind from those of subjects who score high. For example, F63, whose intense expres- sions of despair have been quoted above, experiences the divorce of her parents as desertion by her father. There, the feeling of resentment has a different quality in that it seems a reaction to loss of love rather than a dis- satisfaction with not "getting" enough. In other cases the feelings of resent- ment toward the parents in low-scoring subjects are similar to those of the high scorers, except for the fact that they are more readily accepted and therefore do not appear in the same context with glorification of the parents.
In men, feelings of "victimization" as such are still less differentiating than in women. Four low scorers and 6 high scorers, out of the 20 men inter- viewees in each group, show this attitude. There is again, however, a dif- ferent quality in the two groups in this respect. In the high scorers, reference is usually made to the parent as a disciplinarian. One man complains of having had to work too much, another of not having been slapped enough.
? THE? AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
M )l: "Usually got my way. In fact, all I ever had to do was cry about anything and he'd do whatever it was that upset me (sic! ). . . . I think if I'd been slapped around a little more as a child, I might not need to be slapped around now that I'm grown up. . . . Not only that, but my selfishness is something I can almost blame him for. His attitude and that of the whole family led me to believe that I was . . . the whole universe . . . I know now. I'm not selfish now. But I had to learn that for my- self. . . . My playing cops and robbers: that was because I felt stepped on. . . . "
On the other hand, the feelings of victimization found in low-scoring men give the impression of being more directly based on reality, and tend to refer to not receiving love or some substitute for it. The following is an illustration of this:
M_r;: "For example, he would take a delicacy like candy, pretend to offer us some and then eat it himself and laugh uproariously. . . . Makes him seem sort of a monster, though he's not really. "
5. SUBMISSION VS. PRINCIPLED INDEPENDENCE
Related to glorification of parents is an attitude to be characterized as submission to parental authority and values out of respect based on fear. Its opposite has been designated as principled independence. The importance of this aspect (incorporated here as Category p) has been stressed several times before in this volume, on the grounds that submission to parental authority may be closely related to submission to authority in general. And submission to authority, in its turn, has the broadest implications for social and personal behavior both toward those with power and those without it. It is therefore interesting to note that this category shows marked differences between prejudiced and unprejudiced interviewees. The percentage of high- scoring men who manifest this attitude (as well as the index of significance on this category for men) is greater than that of the high-scoring women. This gives some support to the hypothesis that high-s<;oring men are faced with a more serious submission problem than high-scoring women. Their longing for submission as well as their "toughness," described on previous occasions as a reaction to precisely this submission, will be traced below in greater detail to factors in the family constellation.
Examples of submission to parental authority in high-scoring men are the following:
M4z: (Discipline? ) "Well, there wasn't much to exercise. We just did what they said. Children didn't run wild in those days like they do nowadays. "
M43: "Sun-up to sun-down. (How did you take that? ) We did what the elders told us to. (Ever question it? ) Well, I never questioned. "
M47: "Well, to tell the truth, I don't think she was strict enough with us. . . . I'd get out and run around, come home later than supposed to. She never licked me. Just bawled me out, which was worse. Only licked me once, for stealing my brother's watch when I was 10. (What were you disciplined for? ) Schoolwork, and doing what I was told to do. She was pretty strict about that being home on time. (How
? P ARENTS AND CHILDHOOD SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 35 I
did you respond? ) It just hur't. I never sassed her back or said a mean thing to her. . . . "
Mn: (How did you react when you were spanked? ) "I just didn't do it any- more. "
Ms8: "But, you know, I never held that against my father-I had it coming. He laid the law down, and if I broke it, there was punishment, but never in uncontrolled anger. "
From the foregoing protocols it is evident that many of the high-scoring men not only submit to discipline and punishment because there is no other choice left, but often find themselves in complete agreement with the ad- ministration of harsh punishment. They identify themselves with the punisher and even seem to enjoy punishment. Not only do they appear to have had this attitude as children, but during their adult life the idea of punishment and the fear of it stays with them, often preventing them from transgressing a narrow path of seeming virtue. This holds only for the genuinely conserva- tive type of prejudiced person, not for the delinquent or psychopathic vari- ant (see Chapter XXI).
Examples of submission to parental authority from the protocols of high- scormg women are:
F66: "He never spanked me; mother always did that. You always did what he said, but it was right; there was no question about it. "
F78: Her parents definitely approve of the engagement. Subject wouldn't even go with anyone if they didn't like him.
These short examples may suffice to illustrate that submission to author- ity is not only less frequent in high-scoring women than in men, but also that it has a less intense quality.
The opposite of submission to authority we designated as principled inde- pendence. It is found more often in our low scorers. Eight of the 15 low- scoring women interviewees . Jilnd none of the 2 5 high-scoring ones show this trait. Correspondingly, 10 of the 20 low-scoring men interviewees and only 2 of the like number of high scorers display this attitude in their interviews. In particular, the protocols of low-scoring subjects rated as showing prin- cipled independence contain references to "being independent," to "argu- ing with parents on certain issues," etc. As with submission toward parents, principled independence is more outspoken in the records of men.
M44: (You talked with your mother a lot? ) "Yeah (laughs), though we often dis- agreed. But she was very good to talk with. . . . Now I've almost quit writing about religious things to my mother . . . to avoid disturbing her. . . . She was willing to accept my ideas about things even if she didn't like them. She'd go her way and I'd go mine. I think she was very wise in that. . . . "
This record further illustrates the fact that independence in relation to parents is easily combined with tender feelings of love for them, feeling5 of which the low-scoring subjects are, generally, more capable (see above).
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352
Another example of independence-here concerning religious issues-
which does not disturb the basic good relationship to parents, is the following:
M5s: (Reactions to Sunday School? ) Older sister (one and a half years older) is more rebellious and influenced subject rather strongly, although "I really don't think I needed much influence. (Conflict with parents? ) Surprisingly, it didn't; they'd get awfully angry sometimes . . . mainly over Sunday School. Didn't ever dis- cuss the theology. When I was younger, father read the Bible, which I enjoyed a lot (age eight to eleven, about). I liked the stories, though not as religion. When went to Sunday School, then began to rebel against religion. "
Unprejudiced subjects seem less in need of complete approval by their parents. The record of M55 also points up the fact that the occasional ex- pression of mild aggression is not detrimental to, but has a positive effect on, the basic good relationships with parents or interpersonal relationships in general. Indications in the interviews, and especially findings from the Thematic Apperception Test (see Chapter XIV), suggest that the inability of the typical high-scoring subject to express aggression toward, or inde- pendence from, parents is due to the overpitched intensity of these feelings, so that the fear of punishment is too great to allow their being openly expressed.
Still a further illustration of independence in the sphere of religion-a frequent occurrence in the low-scoring subjects-is the following:
Mz6: "My mother takes her religion very seriously. But I never wanted to go to church. By the time I was 6 years old I had developed ways of getting around it. There were some hills behind the town-you know the country around there in southern--? On Sunday morning I'd be gone at dawn and wouldn't come home until evening. Just to be out of church. (vVhy? ) I guess it was mostly boredom. I didn't want to sit there and listen to all that nonsense-salvation, Jesus Christ most of all. My mother always used to pray over me. "
This record also manifests the benevolently condescending attitude of low scorers, especially the men, toward their parents in general and toward the mother in particular. It stands in clear opposition to submission; and characteristically the mother, instead of being angry, is seen as praying over her disobedient son. In some cases the strivings for independence in the unprejudiced subjects seem to be connected with the feelings of guilt and anxiety lest the intensity and warmth of the relationship with the parents might be lost in disagreement.
Though we do not find, in the high-scoring subjects, much of real rebel- lion based on "principled independence," there is sometimes an indication of capricious. rebellion against the parents (Category 3b), through which resentment is expressed without any real independence being gained. Six of the high-scoring and only 1 of the low-scoring women interviewees show this trait. In men the difference is less pronounced, the rating appearing in <:> high scorers and 4 low scorers.
? P ARENTS AND CHILDHOOD SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 353
In high-scoring women capricious rebellion takes the form primarily of temper tantrums, which they tend to indulge in when punished or restricted by the parents. Afterwards they usually submit even more fully than before without having made any progress toward independence.
Especially high-scoring men, when dissatisfied with their parents, some- times leave home; truancy or becoming delinquent in some other form is more frequent than fighting it out. One of the high-scoring men tells that he took to thievery because his father did not understand him.
6. DEPENDENCE FOR THINGS VS. pEPENDENCE FOR LOVE
The attitude of submission to and the absence of real rebellion against the parents, found primarily in high-scoring subjects, appears to be connected with a kind of materialistic dependence on them which is not recognized as such. It may thus be termed ego-alien dependence for things and support. This dependence is essentially an exploitive-manipulative, externalized rela- tionship. It is in contrast with what we have called love-seeking succorance- nurturance-affiliation toward the parents (Category 4a).
The assumption was that typical prejudiced subjects want to be taken care of like children; that they want to exploit their parents as they want to exploit other people; and that, not being self-reliant, they need support and comfort, first from the parents and then from parent-substitutes. This dependence, however, is neither focused nor conscious; it is rather a need for the help of others in getting things; the persons from whom things can be gotten may equally well be parents, or the "leader," or anyone else who seems capable of offering tangible support. The kind of dependence on the parents expected to be characteristic of unprejudiced subjects, on the other hand, is the kind of dependence which people with an ability to love direct toward those for whom an object cathexis has been established. The first type of person is more dependent-for benefits and "things"-but at the same time he is less dependent on. specific persons because of the ready exchangeability of objects.
The difference between these two types of dependence proved highly significant in the direction expected. As many as I 3 of the 2 5 high-scoring women interviewees were considered to have displayed in their interviews evidence of marked ego-alien dependence for things, as contrasted with 2 of the I5 low scorers. Even more strikingly, I3 of the 20 high-scoring men and only I of the 20 low scorers show the presumedly "High" type of dependence. Conversely, I4 of the low-scoring men interviewees but only
I of the corresponding high scorers show evidence of love-oriented de- pendence in the interview. The affection-seeking kind of dependence in men is oriented mainly toward the mother.
The fact that in women this difference is somewhat less pronounced than in men is probably due to the fact that in spite of the existing differences
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THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
between prejudiced and unprejudiced women the orientation toward depen- dence tends to be stronger in women than in men.
Examples of the ego-alien dependence for things in high-scoring women and men follow:
F68: "I always say my mother is still taking care of me. You should see my closets -stacked with fruits, jams, pickles-and every couple of weeks there is chicken, eggs, cream, everything you can think of. She just loves to do things for people. "
F71 writes about her father: "Right now I'm his favorite . . . he'll do anything for me-takes me to school and calls for me. "
The utilitarian approach of our qigh-scoring subjects is shown in the record of F79: "Yes, as I said on my questionnaire, I was closer to my mother at 6, 9, and 12, but now I have switched to my father-that is, since I was about 20. He holds the money bags. If I want to do anything, I have to go to him. "
Records of high-scoring men show the same kind of dependence for things:
M4z: "Well, kids always think more of their mother than their father. They look more to their mother for things. "
Or M43: (How do you mean? ) "Good to the children-clothed, fed, took care of when sick. "
M47 says about his mother: "Well, I guess her being so good and friendly to everybody, especially me. (For example? ) Well, always trying to do everything for me.
Very seldom go uptown without bringing something back for me. "
Msz shows the dependent, parasitic attitude: "I never say any virtue in work. " Subject lived on his father's insurance policy after his father's death and before that on his father. Was never really self-supporting and when "I tried to (support myself) I landed here (prison). "
M p evaluates his father only in terms of what he got from him: "I haven't had everything I might have wanted from him. I would have liked to have a nicer home, better position, but all in all, I was very happy to be one of his boys. . . . Father was very proud of me. "
Along similar lines is the record of M57: (What were you disciplined for? ) "Well, when I wanted to go to a dance and take the car, used to make me mad if I couldn't get it. . . . (Did you have an allowance? ) $r5 or $20 a week, up. Always had plenty of money to spend. " Subject spontaneously mentioned that his father would com- monly give him $so or so to go to a rodeo, and that in adolescence started giving him money for prostitutes. He adds that his father would often leave money out on the table for him for various purposes, even before subject had asked for it.
The wish for guidance is expressed in the record of Ms8: "Father wanted me to go to college, but his death interrupted this. If I'd had someone to guide me. . . . " Subject's father wanted him to be an architect, and talked about it all the time.
M z3 shows appreciation of the father because he gives everything to his children: (What things did you admire especially in your father? ) "Mostly, his attention to us kids was very admirable. He's very honest, so much so that he won't condone charge accounts. He's known throughout the country as a man whose word is as good as his bond. His greatest contribution was denying himself pleasure to take care of us kids. "
A blatant opportunism is revealed in the foregoing appraisal of parents on the part of prejudiced subjects, by the undisguised references to the food,
i l
j
? P ARENTS AND CHILDHOOD SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 3S5
money, and other goods they received. Most crudely, however, It IS ex- pressed by the subject who tells us she "switched to father. He holds the money bags now. "
An example of the affection-seeking attitude, from the record of a low- scoring subject follows:
F62: "We have all been very close. vVe were like one person. We liked the same things. W e were always doing things for each other. "
This record shows the intimacy and loving dependence of the family members on each other. Low-scoring men show a similar affection-oriented attitude. M44 describes his home background: "Pleasantness isn't a very good word. Simplicity and real affection. "
In the records of low-scoring men, there are quite often affectionate remarks about the mother: "On the whole we were quite fond of her," says M55 about his mother. As will be pointed out in Chapter XXI, some of the delinquent low-scoring men even commit crimes because of a mother fixa- tion. In one such case the motive was to rescue the mother who was in debt; in others the desire to receive love from a mother substitute had been frustrated.
The relatively pronounced emphasis on getting love, in low-scoring sub- jects, as compared with a more distinct orientation toward getting power and material benefits, in the high-scoring subjects, is a basic differentiation, the far-reaching consequences of which will be discussed later.
In spite of this difference, evident all through the interview material, it is noteworthy that orientation toward love and affection is less elaborately and pronouncedly expressed by our subjects than are opportunistic senti- ments of the sort just quoted. The cultural trends seem, to a certain degree, to discourage affection, or at least its overt expression.
The orientation toward "getting things" may be seen in relation to an atti- tude of "exchange. " When this general attitude predominates, human rela- tionships come to be regarded as one form of "making a deal. " In the attitude toward parents this is sometimes manifested in a vague feeling of obligation, of having to return in terms of material goods what one has received from the parents. The idea of having to "give" seems generally very painful to most of the high-scoring subjects, but at the same time theirs seems to be the conception, "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours," if not "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. "
Such have been the considerations behind the introduction into the evalu- ation of the interviews of the aspect of sense of obligation and duty to parents (Category 4b). It is further defined as desire to "make it up to them. " Ac- cording to our expectation this attitude should be characteristic of the high scorers. However, the category did not prove discriminating in women, responses of this kind being generally few. In men, there were 5 high scorers
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as compared with I low scorer in whom this response was found. Thus M47 feels he has to make recompense to his mother because he got a lot of things, including money, from her:
M47: (Main satisfactions with her? ) "Well, that's hard to say. I guess I haven't made her very happy, but . . . when I'm out there and going straight, I'll always take care of my mother. . . . I feel I've never treated her like I really should. "
The orientation of low-scoring men toward gaining affection primarily from i:he mother was mentioned above. High-scoring men, in contrast, seem more oriented toward the father. This orientation and the idea of making up to the father is illustrated in the following record:
M5z: "My father is very unemotional. He never says what he is thinking, anyway. (Did you miss him a lot when he was away? ) I missed him very much when I was at the boarding house. . . . I've saved all my letters to him. . . . He very dramatically returned all my letters, like to an old love. I loved my father very much. (Q) Yeah, I wished even before he died that I could get on my feet before he did die. When I was sick, I used to . . . daydream about his coming to see me. . . . (Q) I wanted to be more what he wanted me to be. . . . "
The idea that one has to "make it up" to the parents is illustrated directly by M6: "The depression had more influence on my life than on other people my age. My parents really had a bad time. I hope to make it up to them. My father was on relief at the same time I had to see the doctors. "
Some of the other records indicate that the prejudiced person considers that the surest way to find favor with his parents is to do something for them, in the sense of offering them material pleasures or support.
Starting from this discussion of family relationships, subsequent presenta- tion will show the very pronounced consistency, in the typical high-scoring subject, with respect to a materialistic, utilitarian view of interpersonal and social relationships. On the surface this may seem a kind of realism; actually it is pseudorealism, since it ultimately leads to an impoverishment and to hostilities in human relationships. The low scorer is of course by no means free of such trends although they are on the whole less pronounced in him.
7. INGROUP ORIENTATION TO THE FAMILY
As to the conception of the family as a whole, high-scoring subjects were expected to tend toward an ingroup orientation, as exemplified by emphasis on family heredity and background, a setting off of a homogeneous totali- tarian family against the rest of the world and a stressing of aristocratic superiority of the family. This is constrasted with thinking in terms of individuals within the family, expected in the low-scoring subjects. Seven high-scoring and only I low-scoring woman, and 6 as against 2 of the men interviewees display the presumedly "High" conception of the family.
Thus F68 is proud of the prestige the family of her father enjoyed: "We lived up in the mountains, County. His folks were pioneers-gold settlers and quite wealthy. Everyone knows the 's of County up that way. My
? P ARENTS AND CHILDHOOD SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 357
father was the spoiled darling of the family. My mother was a German girl, proud, hard working, thrifty. "
In a similar vein, F79 describes her family: "I am Pat _ _ (giving her family name). " She made it clear that she could find nothing about herself in which she could take pride except the fact that she belonged to the - - family.
A high-scoring man, M46, tells that his wife was brought up "by aristocratic parents with patriarchal setup. "
One of the prison inmates, M_p, says about his mother, "She came out in Capitol society, that's where she met my father. "
The same tendency to overemphasize the socioeconomic status of his family could be seen in the record of M4, where the mother's family status seems to be exag- geratedly described and an effort is made to conceal embarrassment about the status of the father's family: "Family on both sides have been here for several generations. Mother came from a quite well-to-do family; her grandfather was a millionaire, her father independently wealthy and never worked. There were 6 children, all devout Catholics. Grandmother was a very well trained artist; Mother herself went to high school, then married when she was about 18. Father came from a family less well-to-do. " Subject couldn't quite say this, but the grandfather ran a small grocery store in _ _ , sold out somewhere around _ _ , came to California, worked in the shipyards. "Father himself went to high school, afterwards went to a _ _ school, started his - - business, which he sold later on to work for a large corporation. "
A mixture of pride and embarrassment about family status is also seen in the de- scription of Mu: "My father's first father was named--? His second father was named - - , and he took that name. His father, - - , worked, or still works, as - - on the railroads. My mother's mother was _ _ from - - ? Her father was Spanish, born in this country. "
The high-scoring subjects show a tendency to magnify the status of their families in a way which enters and essentially modifies their entire concep- tion of their families. We find both an insecure concern about status and an ardent wish to transmit the impression that their families had repute and prestige.
In an attempt to summarize the attitudes toward parents thus far dis- cussed, the following may be said: The prejudiced subjects show little evi- dence of genuine love toward their parents. On the surface theirs is a stereotyped, rigid glorification of the parents, with strong resentment and feelings of victimization occasionally breaking through on the overt level in the interview material. Usually, however, only admiration for the parent is accepted by the subject. The underlying hostility has to be kept ego-alien for several reasons: it is too strong to be fully admitted; and it interferes with the desire to be taken care of by the parents. This conflict leads to a sub- mission to parental authority on the surface and a resentment underneath which, although not admitted, is the more active under the guise of mecha- nisms of displacement.
There is evidence, on the other hand, that the unprejudiced subjects re- ceived more love and therefore have basically more security in their rela- tionships to their parents. Disagreement with, and resentment against, the
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parents are openly worked out, resulting in a much greater degree of inde- pendence from them. This independence is carried over into the subject's attitude toward social institutions and authorities in general. At the same time, there is more love-oriented dependenc;e on people, which prevents the individual from too much manipulation and exploitation of others. In spite of the conflicts these subjects carry with them, this type of relationship remains for them one of their important sources of gratification.
C. CONCEPTIONS OF CHILDHOOD ENVIRONMENT
1. DEFINITION OF RA TING CA TEGORIES AND QUANTITATIVE RESULTS
In this section discussion will center about the subject's conception of childhood events, including especially also the recollection and image of parental figures and their handling of discipline. The preceding section was concerned with the attitude toward the parents in general; now we proceed to describe the specific images of father and mother in the prejudiced and the unprejudiced. As stated in Chapter IX, it is difficult to say how much the image of a parent corresponds to reality and how much it is a subjective conception. However, this distinction may be of less importance when, as is the case here, personality structure rather than its genesis is the major concern. The notions our subjects have of their parents are psychologically relevant in the discussion of the parent-child relationship whether they are true or not. In a separate project, parents of prejudiced and unprejudiced children were actually studied, substantiating in kind many of the state- ments our present interviewees make about their own childhood (preliminary report by E. Frenkel-Brunswik, 30).
We will first consider the traits ascribed to the father by both the male and female interviewees. Since the categories under this heading in the Scor- ing Manual are rather specific, the total of responses in each category is not very large. Not all subjects described their parents spontaneously in such terms. The differences are, therefore, less significant here than elsewhere. The list of categories relating to the image of the parents is as follows:
INTERVIEW SCORING MANUAL: CONCEPTIONS OF CHILDHOOD ENVIRONMENT
(to Table z(X))
PRESUMABLY "HIGH" VARIANTS PRESUMABLY "Low" VARIANTS
6M. Traits ascribed to father by Men:
a. Distant, stern, bad temper, "a barrier between us"
b. A moral-model
c. Pseudomasculine: Determi-
nation, worked his way up, a "success"
a. Some demonstrativeness
b. Principled puritanism c. Relaxed, mild
? P ARENTS A. . ~D CHILDHOOD SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 359 6W. Traits ascribed to father by Women:
a. Hardworkingprovider:"'Vill do anything for me" (ex- ternalized), works fingers to bone for family; or psy- chopath
c. Warm, sociable, lovable d. Understanding
e. Intellectual-aesthetic
b. A moral-model
7M. Traits ascribed to mother by Men:
a. Sacrificing, "kind," submis- sive
c. Warm, sociable, lovable d. Understanding
e. Intellectual-aesthetic
b. A moral-model
7W. Traits ascribed to mother by Women:
a. Restricting
b. A moral-model
c. "Sweet," pseudofeminine
8. Denial of parental conflict-ex- cept "mild-normal" disagree- ments
d. Some demonstrativeness e. Understanding
f. Intellectual-aesthetic
8. Objective verbalization of pa- rental conflict
9M. Power relationship, Man (Score a orb, not both):
a. Father was dominant, more influential
b. Henpeckingly dominant mother
a. Mother-centered (Love-nur- turance) home
b. Equalitarian home
9W. Power relationship, Women (Score a orb, not both):
a. "Perfect division of labor": Mother, home; father, work
b. Mother stronger, dominant IO. Discipline for violation of rules,
primarily moralistic
I I . Discipline threatening, trauma- tic, overwhelming (castration- threat)
a. Father more important, stronger
b. Equalitarian home
10. Discipline for violation of prin-
ciples, primarily rationalized I I.