(See also the
characterization
of the "rigid low" in Chapter XIX.
Adorno-T-Authoritarian-Personality-Harper-Bros-1950
I had my first hemorrhage from the stomach when I was 18.
It always comes when I start working too hard.
.
.
.
I found out that she wasn't interested in money, but was interested in me in spite of my discharge from the army, my poor health and possibilities.
.
.
.
She is a good cook, and that is an asset, what with my stomach condition.
"
M45: "Always sick, always going to the doctor. (What was wrong with you? ) Well, I don't think they ever knew. "
Msz: "Wasn't it Emily Bronte who wrote so much, with tuberculosis? . . . It's not laziness (with the subject). " Subject goes on about his tuberculosis and its enervating effects upon him and the restriction which this places on what kind of work he can do, etc. (Are you an active tubercular? ) "I'm an arrested tubercular, inactive . . . still. . . . "
M45: "They thought it might be sugar diabetes. . . . In my childhood, something that held me back, my kidneys. . . . I wet the bed all the time, consequently couldn't visit other boys, etc. . . . Might have given me a kind of complex. . . . Though I couldn't help it. But I thought that other people might think that I could help it. . . . Finally stopped when I was about 12. "
Within the general framework of preoccupation with one's body there is
? PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 46I
also some tendency, especially in high-scoring women, to put exaggerated emphasis on physical appearance (Category 56e). As many as 8 high-scoring women and only I low-scoring woman spontaneously refer to this aspect when describing people (see Chapters X and XI). The difference is, how- ever, not significant, perhaps again due to the large number of "Neutrals. " For men there is no trend in the direction indicated; in fact, there is even a slight reversal.
B. COGNITIVE PERSONALITY ORGANIZA TION
1. DEFINITION OF RA TING CA TEGORIES AND QUANTITATIVE RESULTS
The last subsection of our Scoring Manual refers to those of the more general factors in personality orientation which are of a more specifically cognitive, or perceptual, character. Some of their special forms have been discussed repeatedly in the chapters dealing with the clinical aspects of the interviews. As in the preceding sections of this chapter, discussion can there- fore again be brief and often will take the form of a summary.
The section of the Scoring Manual referring to cognitive factors follows:
INTERVIEW SCORING MANUAL: COGNITIVE PERSONALITY ORGANIZA TION
(to Table z(XII))
PRESUMABLY "HIGH" VARIANTS
57? Rigid set and outlook; pre- 57?
conceived categorizations, in-
PRESUMABLY "Low" VARIANTS Flexible: more adaptable to ' changing circumstances, more open to rational argument Tolerant of ambiguity Scientific-naturalistic orienta- tion toward social and psycho- logical dynamics
accessible to new experience
58. Intolerant of ambiguity
59? Pseudoscientific or antiscien- 59?
tific; implicit denial of person- ality dynamics; ready explana- tion by accidental factors, he- redity, etc. ; superstition
6o. Anti-intraceptive
61. Suggestible, gullible
62. Autistic thinking in goal-be- 62.
havior; unrealistic view of means-end relationships
Autonomous
Realistic thinking m goal-be- havior
The quantitative results are shown in the usual manner in Table 2 (XII). 2. RIGIDITY
The first two categories, rigidity vs. flexibility (Category 57), and in- tolerance vs. tolerance of ambiguity (Category 58) cover related personality trends. Most subjects received the same rating on the two variables. Dif- ferentiation between low scorers and high scorers in the anticipated direction
58.
6o. lntraceptive
61.
? 57.
58.
59.
3 13 . ll 5
26 6 1
TABLE 2 (XII)
INTERVIEW RATINGS ON COGNITIVE PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION
FUR 80 SUBJECTS S<XlRING EXTRFMELY "HIGH" OR "LOW" ON THE ETHNIC PREJUDICE QUESTIONNAIRE SCALE
. . J:. 0\
. . . . .
Interview rating categories (abbreviated from Manual)
~ 20 men and 25 women
"high scorers?
20 men and 15 women "low scorers"
H L
Sums of instances
"positive" "negative" reached or . . . ,
H
Men 18 Women 18
Men 16 Women 19
Pseudo- or anti-scientific(H)
vs. scientific-naturalistic(L) Women
L
2
4 2. ?
2 . 2 17 2 4 8
3 1 15 10 14
:II >
Rigid(H) vs. flexible(L)
Intolerant of ambiguity(H) vs. tolerant of ambiguity(L)
C! . . . ,
1 :II 0
~
60. Anti-intraceptive(H) vs. Men
intraceptive(L) WOmen ! ? 2
32 7 1
61. Suggestible, gullible(H) vs. autonomous(L)
62? Autism(H) vs. realism(L) in goal-behavior
Men ~ 2 Women 1 3
Men 13 5
Women 8 9 3 ! ! . . 19 12
Men 12
33 4
27 6 1
27 4 1 30 1 1
z>
"d
M
~
rJ)
0
z
>
I:"' . . . . . . . . . ,
~
Number o f "High"{H} and "Low" {L) ratings received by
ld~Yel o f statistical significance
16
16 4
3 16
1 14 32 3 1
2 11 28 4 1 1 ll 20 4 1
7 . . ! ! . 21 12
surpassed (percentage) M
1 . . . . .
. . . . .
. . . ,
>
~
? PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 463
is significant at the 1 per' cent level throughout. High scorers show more rigidity and avoidance of ambiguity; low scorers tend toward greater flexibil- ity and acceptance of ambiguity. The inability, on the part of typical high scorers, to face "ambivalence"-which is emotional ambiguity-has been dis- cussed previously, mainly in connection with their attitude toward parents and toward the other sex: in these and other areas hostile emotions were found to have been repressed and hidden behind a fac;ade of glorification. A rigid, and in most instances, conventionalized set of rules seems thus to deter- mine the conception the typical high scorer has of his own and of other people's behavior. Values and religion are often taken over in their most dogmatic form. Quotations cited in the previous chapter revealed these rigid
conceptions on the part of the high scorers in many a sphere of life.
On the other hand, the openness of conflicts and doubts in the case of low scorers likewise became obvious. Over and above the previous quotations the following records from the interviews of low-scoring subjects show their readiness to think over matters and to come to a solution through their
own thinking as well as their unwillingness to take over traditional and fixed concepts and ideals without scrutiny:
M42: He shows much philosophizing about the purpose of it all, involving much questioning of prevailing values about work, success, etc. But, on the other hand, he keeps pulling back and is overcome with doubt and indecision about these things. He emphasizes the basic importance of happiness and the emptiness of "success" without any personal satisfaction.
M44: His speech abounds in qualifying phrases and overintellectualization. He seems repeatedly unable to verbalize a generalization before he is overwhelmed by a rush of qualifications. Further, his thinking is rich in philosophizing, psychologiz- ing, and poetic statement. Moreover, these characteristics are not shallow but have much substance. ". . . Well, I don't think you should obey anyone or anything with- out question. I think it's man's unique function to question and when he ceases to question, he ceases to be man. (Have you ever had serious doubts about your re- ligious beliefs? ) Oh, not especially serious, I'd say, because I believe there should be changes. "
M48: "I'm what they always call an agnostic. Sounds sort of prosaic. . . . I'm skep- tical-though I believe Christ was a great man . . . persecuted. . . . "
M53: (How do you account for your growing away from the conventionalism of your background? ) "I don't know. It wasn't simply a change of locale. I think, probably, through reading. From 15 to 16 I did a lot of reading and became rather dissatisfied with it (i. e. , with conventional ideas with which brought up). (Were there any people who especially influenced you? ) No, must have been a hell of a lot of people. (Q) I don't know. I think through reading. I enjoy reading for read- ing's sake as well as a means of securing information. "
There is in the records of the low scorers a tendency to use a great deal of qualifying phrases and other devices characteristic of an approach that is judicious rather than prejudicial through dogma, convention or a fixed set. Impressionistic ratings based on synopsis as employed here are perhaps not
? THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
the best means to nail down this difference. More concrete experimental studies on intolerance toward ambiguity now in progress (for an advance report see Frenkel-Brunswik, 37, and forthcoming papers dealing with the relationship between emotional ambivalence and perceptual ambiguity), and on rigidity (Rokeach, 98) point toward the relative prominence in eth- nically prejudiced as compared with unprejudiced children of a tendency to impose, in a rigid manner, certain preconceived sets upon ambiguous per- ceptual data or upon the solving of reasoning problems.
There seems to be a general tendency on the part of low scorers to expose themselves to broad experience-emotional, cognitive, perceptual-even at the risk of having to modify one's preconceived notions and of having to sustain conflicts. Thus all the evidence seems to point toward a greater over- all rigidity in the high scorers as compared with the low scorers. These results however, as many others, may well be valid only for the extreme groups. In the medium range, on the other hand, rigidity may be neither pervasive nor relatively absent throughout the personality as a whole, but may be differentially distributed over some areas of personality whereas other areas retain their flexibility.
Although low scorers seem in general to accept more realities even if com- plex and unstructured, there is a distinct sub-variety of the ethnically ex- tremely unprejudiced who cling to the liberal ideology in a rigid and stereo- typed manner. This often goes with a personality structure not dissimilar to that of the typical high scorer.
(See also the characterization of the "rigid low" in Chapter XIX. )
Intolerance of emotional and cognitive ambiguity seems not only to be a characteristic of the personality of the ethnically prejudiced; it also ap- pears as part of the explicitly stated ego-ideal of exponents of the Nazi ideology in professional psychology. The most notable case is that of E. R. Jaensch with his programatic glorification of a personality type character- ized by fixed relationships between stimuli and perceptual responses, and with his rejection of the school of Gestalt psychology mainly on the ground of its stress on the concept of ambiguity. (For a summary on Jaensch see the paper by Boder, in Harriman, 47; see also 37. )
3. NEGA TIVE A TTITUDE TOW ARD SCIENCE. SUPERSTITION
The inability to "question" matters and the need for definite and dog- matic answers, as frequently found in high scorers, leads either to an easy acceptance of stereotyped, pseudoscientific answers, of which escape into ready-made hereditarian explanations is but one manifestation, or else to an explicitly antiscientific attitude. Explanations by accidental factors are like- wise included under this general heading. Its opposite is a scientific-natural- istic attitude, found predominantly in the low scorers. The entire Category 59 encompassing these alternatives differentiates significantly (at the 1 per
? PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 465
cent level) for both men and women. The difference in attitudes involved has been described previously, primarily in discussing the subjects' concepts of their "selves. " It will be remembered that it was the low scorers who showed a tendency toward explanations in terms of sociopsychological dynamics.
The antiscientific thinking of the typical high scorer is closely connected with his tendency toward superstition, as discussed in Chapter VII. The tendency toward superstition is illustrated by the following records of high- scoring women:
F31: "I am not superstitious. Mother is a little bit superstitious. She believes in old-world customs and palmistry. I'm not a fatalist, either; what I do will control my life, what I make of it. But I don't know about that-there are the boys on the battle- field, for instance. They say a bullet has your name on it. "
F36: Subject does not believe in formal religion; this is why she likes the Uni- tarians. She does not think the churches should have a narrow, strict creed and tell you exactly what you should believe. She has read a great deal of theosophy, Madame Blavatsky, etc. She believes in reincarnation and divine will: reincarnation in the sense that the soul goes from one body to another and that you will be sub- jected to those experiences that are necessary to learning, to enable the soul to reach a higher state.
F6o: (Why did you come to ? -) "Why, I don't know! It just happened. Don't you think some things just happen to us? " (Superstition? ) She was just "called" to do it. Once she was out walking in the early morning-the birds were singing-she raised her hands and her face to the sky, and they were wet. (What was it? ) She considered it a supernatural phenomenon.
Along the same line Lentz (67) reports that conservatives are more an- tagonistic to science, especially with regard to its future activities, and, conversely, are more superstitious. They feel much more favorable toward the conventional, the traditional, and the routine. They are less tolerant and sympathetic towards the underdog, less aesthetic and less imaginative.
The fact that high scorers on ethnocentrism are more often given to stereotyping, pre-judgments and ready generalizations, or else to overcon- creteness, should not blind us to the fact that there also are tendencies of this kind in the low scorers. The increasing complexity of the social realities and their partial unintelligibility to the individual sometimes may necessitate a falling back on stereotypes so that opaque events appear more compre- hensible (see Chapter XVII). Ethnic prejudice is but one of many pos- sible media for this tendency. It must be held in favor of the ethnically un- prejudiced, however, that they make a serious effort to counteract such stereotyping in one of the areas of paramount social significance.
4. ANTI-INTRACEPTIVENESS AND AUTISM
Likewise previously discussed but rated here directly and in its own right is the tendency, found primarily in the high scorer, toward what may be
? THE AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
called anti-intraceptiveness as contrasted with a greater readiness toward intraception in the low scorer (Category 6o). The difference is significant at the I per cent level. The concept of intraception covers the tendency toward introspection, as well as a readiness toward gaining insights into psychological and social mechanisms. It is contrasted primarily with ex- ternalizations of various kinds as referred to above. The greater creativity, imagination, and ability for empathy of the low scorers just discussed is likewise related to their greater intraceptiveness.
It may suffice to cite here in addition to previous quotations only one record of a low-scoring woman and one of a low-scoring man in which the tendency toward reflection becomes apparent.
F7o: Always wanted to work with people. . . . (What does religion give you? ) "I suppose going to church takes a load off of me of thinking about things I should think about. I think it covers my social ideas, and it causes me to think about things I must think about for some reason. (What about? ) Moral values, the relative value between peace and liberty in wartime, for instance. Pacifism and its ins and outs, interpersonal relationship as moral values. I don't think of those values as right or wrong, except as it has social implications. "
M so: (Future? ) "l don't know. I just recently came of the opinion that it is not necessary for me to be a commercial artist. Important to do whatever I do well. Not important what I do any more (Q) Well, I was the prima donna type . . . built up myself into an idea that not suited for the work . . . now it doesn't matter any more . . . it began when I was here about a month . . . the child guidance center psychol- ogist gave a speech . . . he gave the idea that (deviation in behavior has a cause) . . . . It may go back to infancy. . . . I play around with it (leading to nothing) . . . until a friend also interested made a startling remark. . . . Then I thought a lot about it . . . put down reasons on both sides, on two sheets of paper and decided he was right. I don't mean I am in love with my mother, but I have a dependency com- plex . . . married a woman older than myself . . . and always depend on others . . . leave responsibility to others . . . it seems on looking back that I have always done that. . . . "
The -absence of proper orientation toward social and psychological dy- namics in the typical high scorer may be linked to a general tendency toward autistic thinking in goal behavior as contrasted with the somewhat more realistic attitude that might be expected to be present in the typical low scorer (Category 62). Though not significantly differentiating between the two extreme groups of interviewees, this category shows a distinct trend in the direction that we expected (2I positive as compared with I2 negative instances in men, and I9 positive as compared with I2 negative instances in women). The trend is particularly evident in the vocational choices and economic expectations of our subjects.
The somewhat adolescent and fantastic, glamour-seeking character of the vocational ambitions of high-scoring subjects is illustrated by the following records:
F66: "If you're good, you can get up to ambassador. I think there have been
? PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 467
some women ambassadors. Or maybe there were only women ministers. I made the choice about three years ago. I just heard some friends of mine talking about it, and it sounded interesting. (Why vocational choice? ) Well, salary had a little to do with it. I think if I could really put myself to it, I could do it. If I really wanted to and had nothing else to stand in the way. The times have much to do with my choice. I would like to know why they do what they do. "
F34: Subject wants to be a journalist. This is purely utilitarian. She likes journal- ism, but her real desire is to do creative writing. She has imagined herself as a great actress. "But my acting is purely amateur stuff. I was always active in school dramatics as well as high school journalism. The family used to laugh because I was always play-acting. I always said I'd earn my living at either acting or writing. . . . "
5. SUGGESTIBILITY
Submission to authority and lack of independence and of critical judg- ment tend to lead the high scorer toward being suggestible and gullible, as contrasted with the greater autonomy of the low scorer (Category 6I). Again, the difference is significant at the I per cent level for both men and women. The social implications of a tendency on the part of the gullible person to fall easy prey to unsound and destructive political propaganda are obvious. The high scorer's dependence, in his personal life, upon author- ity, conventionalized values, church dogma, public opinion, and prestige figures, and the low scorer's relative independence of, and occasional rebel- lion against, these authorities have been pointed out so often throughout this volume that no further comment seems necessary.
The present chapter will be summarized together with a general synopsis of the interview results at the conclusion of the chapter which follows.
? CHAPTER XIII
COMPREHENSIVE SCORES AND SUMMARY OF INTERVIEW RESULTS Else Frenkel-Brunswik
A. THE DISCRIMINATORY POWERS OF THE MAJOR AREAS STUDIED
1. VERIFICA TION OF ANTICIP A TED TREND BY CA TEGQRIES
In the preceding four chapters (IX to XII), the technique of interviewing was described, and specific results of interviews with eighty subjects scor- ing extremely high or extremely low on the overt anti-Semitism or Ethno- centrism scales were presented and discussed in terms of the approximately ninety rating categories of the Scoring Manual used to classify the records of the subjects.
As shown in the tables of these chapters, a sizable proportion of the cate- gories differentiated high scorers from low scorers to a statistically sig- nificant degree in the direction anticipated for either or both sexes. The vast majority of the remaining categories showed at least a trend in the expected direction. For men, there are only three out of the eighty-six categories for which the number of "positive" and "negative" instances is equal, and only one (Category 2 3c) which shows a slight trend in the direction op- posite to the one expected. As can be seen from Tables 3(X), 1(XI), and 2 (XI), to which the four exceptions are limited, the absolute number of rat- ings involved is very small in each case; the items involved deal with certain aspects of attitude toward siblings, sex, and people. For women there are two out of the ninety categories that show equality and four that show reversal, all six exceptions being confined to Tables 1(X), 2 (X), and 3(X), and deal- ing with aspects of the relationships to parents and siblings. In no case does the reversal approach statistical significance; nor does it appear in the case of any category that yielded less than 50 per cent "Neutral" ratings and was thus included in the list of those for which intensive evaluation was under- taken (72 for men and 65 for women, see end of Chapter IX).
468
? Based on categories presented in tables
20 men and 25 women
20 men and 15 women "low scorers"
Sums of Means '
en
1 ( X ) , 2 ( X ) , 3(X)
P a r e n t s ? a n d Childhood
Men 8. . . . . . 613 women 7. 47
L 37 3. 26
3. 11 1. 68
8. 42 5. 11
17. 10 12. 58
4. 47 4. 94
1(Xl)
Attitude toward Sex
Men 10. 57 Women 10. 43
0 "':: ,. . . .
2(Xl)
Attitude toward
M 3. 89 i1:l
3(Xl)
Attitude toward Men Present Self Women
13. 00 11. 33
2. 44 3. 56
2. 44 1. 11
13. 11 9. 67
26. 11 21. 00
4. 88 4. 67
~
4(XI)
Attitude toward Men Childhood Self Women
8. 50 8. 00
3. 75 5. 75
2. 25 12. 75 1.
M45: "Always sick, always going to the doctor. (What was wrong with you? ) Well, I don't think they ever knew. "
Msz: "Wasn't it Emily Bronte who wrote so much, with tuberculosis? . . . It's not laziness (with the subject). " Subject goes on about his tuberculosis and its enervating effects upon him and the restriction which this places on what kind of work he can do, etc. (Are you an active tubercular? ) "I'm an arrested tubercular, inactive . . . still. . . . "
M45: "They thought it might be sugar diabetes. . . . In my childhood, something that held me back, my kidneys. . . . I wet the bed all the time, consequently couldn't visit other boys, etc. . . . Might have given me a kind of complex. . . . Though I couldn't help it. But I thought that other people might think that I could help it. . . . Finally stopped when I was about 12. "
Within the general framework of preoccupation with one's body there is
? PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 46I
also some tendency, especially in high-scoring women, to put exaggerated emphasis on physical appearance (Category 56e). As many as 8 high-scoring women and only I low-scoring woman spontaneously refer to this aspect when describing people (see Chapters X and XI). The difference is, how- ever, not significant, perhaps again due to the large number of "Neutrals. " For men there is no trend in the direction indicated; in fact, there is even a slight reversal.
B. COGNITIVE PERSONALITY ORGANIZA TION
1. DEFINITION OF RA TING CA TEGORIES AND QUANTITATIVE RESULTS
The last subsection of our Scoring Manual refers to those of the more general factors in personality orientation which are of a more specifically cognitive, or perceptual, character. Some of their special forms have been discussed repeatedly in the chapters dealing with the clinical aspects of the interviews. As in the preceding sections of this chapter, discussion can there- fore again be brief and often will take the form of a summary.
The section of the Scoring Manual referring to cognitive factors follows:
INTERVIEW SCORING MANUAL: COGNITIVE PERSONALITY ORGANIZA TION
(to Table z(XII))
PRESUMABLY "HIGH" VARIANTS
57? Rigid set and outlook; pre- 57?
conceived categorizations, in-
PRESUMABLY "Low" VARIANTS Flexible: more adaptable to ' changing circumstances, more open to rational argument Tolerant of ambiguity Scientific-naturalistic orienta- tion toward social and psycho- logical dynamics
accessible to new experience
58. Intolerant of ambiguity
59? Pseudoscientific or antiscien- 59?
tific; implicit denial of person- ality dynamics; ready explana- tion by accidental factors, he- redity, etc. ; superstition
6o. Anti-intraceptive
61. Suggestible, gullible
62. Autistic thinking in goal-be- 62.
havior; unrealistic view of means-end relationships
Autonomous
Realistic thinking m goal-be- havior
The quantitative results are shown in the usual manner in Table 2 (XII). 2. RIGIDITY
The first two categories, rigidity vs. flexibility (Category 57), and in- tolerance vs. tolerance of ambiguity (Category 58) cover related personality trends. Most subjects received the same rating on the two variables. Dif- ferentiation between low scorers and high scorers in the anticipated direction
58.
6o. lntraceptive
61.
? 57.
58.
59.
3 13 . ll 5
26 6 1
TABLE 2 (XII)
INTERVIEW RATINGS ON COGNITIVE PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION
FUR 80 SUBJECTS S<XlRING EXTRFMELY "HIGH" OR "LOW" ON THE ETHNIC PREJUDICE QUESTIONNAIRE SCALE
. . J:. 0\
. . . . .
Interview rating categories (abbreviated from Manual)
~ 20 men and 25 women
"high scorers?
20 men and 15 women "low scorers"
H L
Sums of instances
"positive" "negative" reached or . . . ,
H
Men 18 Women 18
Men 16 Women 19
Pseudo- or anti-scientific(H)
vs. scientific-naturalistic(L) Women
L
2
4 2. ?
2 . 2 17 2 4 8
3 1 15 10 14
:II >
Rigid(H) vs. flexible(L)
Intolerant of ambiguity(H) vs. tolerant of ambiguity(L)
C! . . . ,
1 :II 0
~
60. Anti-intraceptive(H) vs. Men
intraceptive(L) WOmen ! ? 2
32 7 1
61. Suggestible, gullible(H) vs. autonomous(L)
62? Autism(H) vs. realism(L) in goal-behavior
Men ~ 2 Women 1 3
Men 13 5
Women 8 9 3 ! ! . . 19 12
Men 12
33 4
27 6 1
27 4 1 30 1 1
z>
"d
M
~
rJ)
0
z
>
I:"' . . . . . . . . . ,
~
Number o f "High"{H} and "Low" {L) ratings received by
ld~Yel o f statistical significance
16
16 4
3 16
1 14 32 3 1
2 11 28 4 1 1 ll 20 4 1
7 . . ! ! . 21 12
surpassed (percentage) M
1 . . . . .
. . . . .
. . . ,
>
~
? PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 463
is significant at the 1 per' cent level throughout. High scorers show more rigidity and avoidance of ambiguity; low scorers tend toward greater flexibil- ity and acceptance of ambiguity. The inability, on the part of typical high scorers, to face "ambivalence"-which is emotional ambiguity-has been dis- cussed previously, mainly in connection with their attitude toward parents and toward the other sex: in these and other areas hostile emotions were found to have been repressed and hidden behind a fac;ade of glorification. A rigid, and in most instances, conventionalized set of rules seems thus to deter- mine the conception the typical high scorer has of his own and of other people's behavior. Values and religion are often taken over in their most dogmatic form. Quotations cited in the previous chapter revealed these rigid
conceptions on the part of the high scorers in many a sphere of life.
On the other hand, the openness of conflicts and doubts in the case of low scorers likewise became obvious. Over and above the previous quotations the following records from the interviews of low-scoring subjects show their readiness to think over matters and to come to a solution through their
own thinking as well as their unwillingness to take over traditional and fixed concepts and ideals without scrutiny:
M42: He shows much philosophizing about the purpose of it all, involving much questioning of prevailing values about work, success, etc. But, on the other hand, he keeps pulling back and is overcome with doubt and indecision about these things. He emphasizes the basic importance of happiness and the emptiness of "success" without any personal satisfaction.
M44: His speech abounds in qualifying phrases and overintellectualization. He seems repeatedly unable to verbalize a generalization before he is overwhelmed by a rush of qualifications. Further, his thinking is rich in philosophizing, psychologiz- ing, and poetic statement. Moreover, these characteristics are not shallow but have much substance. ". . . Well, I don't think you should obey anyone or anything with- out question. I think it's man's unique function to question and when he ceases to question, he ceases to be man. (Have you ever had serious doubts about your re- ligious beliefs? ) Oh, not especially serious, I'd say, because I believe there should be changes. "
M48: "I'm what they always call an agnostic. Sounds sort of prosaic. . . . I'm skep- tical-though I believe Christ was a great man . . . persecuted. . . . "
M53: (How do you account for your growing away from the conventionalism of your background? ) "I don't know. It wasn't simply a change of locale. I think, probably, through reading. From 15 to 16 I did a lot of reading and became rather dissatisfied with it (i. e. , with conventional ideas with which brought up). (Were there any people who especially influenced you? ) No, must have been a hell of a lot of people. (Q) I don't know. I think through reading. I enjoy reading for read- ing's sake as well as a means of securing information. "
There is in the records of the low scorers a tendency to use a great deal of qualifying phrases and other devices characteristic of an approach that is judicious rather than prejudicial through dogma, convention or a fixed set. Impressionistic ratings based on synopsis as employed here are perhaps not
? THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
the best means to nail down this difference. More concrete experimental studies on intolerance toward ambiguity now in progress (for an advance report see Frenkel-Brunswik, 37, and forthcoming papers dealing with the relationship between emotional ambivalence and perceptual ambiguity), and on rigidity (Rokeach, 98) point toward the relative prominence in eth- nically prejudiced as compared with unprejudiced children of a tendency to impose, in a rigid manner, certain preconceived sets upon ambiguous per- ceptual data or upon the solving of reasoning problems.
There seems to be a general tendency on the part of low scorers to expose themselves to broad experience-emotional, cognitive, perceptual-even at the risk of having to modify one's preconceived notions and of having to sustain conflicts. Thus all the evidence seems to point toward a greater over- all rigidity in the high scorers as compared with the low scorers. These results however, as many others, may well be valid only for the extreme groups. In the medium range, on the other hand, rigidity may be neither pervasive nor relatively absent throughout the personality as a whole, but may be differentially distributed over some areas of personality whereas other areas retain their flexibility.
Although low scorers seem in general to accept more realities even if com- plex and unstructured, there is a distinct sub-variety of the ethnically ex- tremely unprejudiced who cling to the liberal ideology in a rigid and stereo- typed manner. This often goes with a personality structure not dissimilar to that of the typical high scorer.
(See also the characterization of the "rigid low" in Chapter XIX. )
Intolerance of emotional and cognitive ambiguity seems not only to be a characteristic of the personality of the ethnically prejudiced; it also ap- pears as part of the explicitly stated ego-ideal of exponents of the Nazi ideology in professional psychology. The most notable case is that of E. R. Jaensch with his programatic glorification of a personality type character- ized by fixed relationships between stimuli and perceptual responses, and with his rejection of the school of Gestalt psychology mainly on the ground of its stress on the concept of ambiguity. (For a summary on Jaensch see the paper by Boder, in Harriman, 47; see also 37. )
3. NEGA TIVE A TTITUDE TOW ARD SCIENCE. SUPERSTITION
The inability to "question" matters and the need for definite and dog- matic answers, as frequently found in high scorers, leads either to an easy acceptance of stereotyped, pseudoscientific answers, of which escape into ready-made hereditarian explanations is but one manifestation, or else to an explicitly antiscientific attitude. Explanations by accidental factors are like- wise included under this general heading. Its opposite is a scientific-natural- istic attitude, found predominantly in the low scorers. The entire Category 59 encompassing these alternatives differentiates significantly (at the 1 per
? PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 465
cent level) for both men and women. The difference in attitudes involved has been described previously, primarily in discussing the subjects' concepts of their "selves. " It will be remembered that it was the low scorers who showed a tendency toward explanations in terms of sociopsychological dynamics.
The antiscientific thinking of the typical high scorer is closely connected with his tendency toward superstition, as discussed in Chapter VII. The tendency toward superstition is illustrated by the following records of high- scoring women:
F31: "I am not superstitious. Mother is a little bit superstitious. She believes in old-world customs and palmistry. I'm not a fatalist, either; what I do will control my life, what I make of it. But I don't know about that-there are the boys on the battle- field, for instance. They say a bullet has your name on it. "
F36: Subject does not believe in formal religion; this is why she likes the Uni- tarians. She does not think the churches should have a narrow, strict creed and tell you exactly what you should believe. She has read a great deal of theosophy, Madame Blavatsky, etc. She believes in reincarnation and divine will: reincarnation in the sense that the soul goes from one body to another and that you will be sub- jected to those experiences that are necessary to learning, to enable the soul to reach a higher state.
F6o: (Why did you come to ? -) "Why, I don't know! It just happened. Don't you think some things just happen to us? " (Superstition? ) She was just "called" to do it. Once she was out walking in the early morning-the birds were singing-she raised her hands and her face to the sky, and they were wet. (What was it? ) She considered it a supernatural phenomenon.
Along the same line Lentz (67) reports that conservatives are more an- tagonistic to science, especially with regard to its future activities, and, conversely, are more superstitious. They feel much more favorable toward the conventional, the traditional, and the routine. They are less tolerant and sympathetic towards the underdog, less aesthetic and less imaginative.
The fact that high scorers on ethnocentrism are more often given to stereotyping, pre-judgments and ready generalizations, or else to overcon- creteness, should not blind us to the fact that there also are tendencies of this kind in the low scorers. The increasing complexity of the social realities and their partial unintelligibility to the individual sometimes may necessitate a falling back on stereotypes so that opaque events appear more compre- hensible (see Chapter XVII). Ethnic prejudice is but one of many pos- sible media for this tendency. It must be held in favor of the ethnically un- prejudiced, however, that they make a serious effort to counteract such stereotyping in one of the areas of paramount social significance.
4. ANTI-INTRACEPTIVENESS AND AUTISM
Likewise previously discussed but rated here directly and in its own right is the tendency, found primarily in the high scorer, toward what may be
? THE AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
called anti-intraceptiveness as contrasted with a greater readiness toward intraception in the low scorer (Category 6o). The difference is significant at the I per cent level. The concept of intraception covers the tendency toward introspection, as well as a readiness toward gaining insights into psychological and social mechanisms. It is contrasted primarily with ex- ternalizations of various kinds as referred to above. The greater creativity, imagination, and ability for empathy of the low scorers just discussed is likewise related to their greater intraceptiveness.
It may suffice to cite here in addition to previous quotations only one record of a low-scoring woman and one of a low-scoring man in which the tendency toward reflection becomes apparent.
F7o: Always wanted to work with people. . . . (What does religion give you? ) "I suppose going to church takes a load off of me of thinking about things I should think about. I think it covers my social ideas, and it causes me to think about things I must think about for some reason. (What about? ) Moral values, the relative value between peace and liberty in wartime, for instance. Pacifism and its ins and outs, interpersonal relationship as moral values. I don't think of those values as right or wrong, except as it has social implications. "
M so: (Future? ) "l don't know. I just recently came of the opinion that it is not necessary for me to be a commercial artist. Important to do whatever I do well. Not important what I do any more (Q) Well, I was the prima donna type . . . built up myself into an idea that not suited for the work . . . now it doesn't matter any more . . . it began when I was here about a month . . . the child guidance center psychol- ogist gave a speech . . . he gave the idea that (deviation in behavior has a cause) . . . . It may go back to infancy. . . . I play around with it (leading to nothing) . . . until a friend also interested made a startling remark. . . . Then I thought a lot about it . . . put down reasons on both sides, on two sheets of paper and decided he was right. I don't mean I am in love with my mother, but I have a dependency com- plex . . . married a woman older than myself . . . and always depend on others . . . leave responsibility to others . . . it seems on looking back that I have always done that. . . . "
The -absence of proper orientation toward social and psychological dy- namics in the typical high scorer may be linked to a general tendency toward autistic thinking in goal behavior as contrasted with the somewhat more realistic attitude that might be expected to be present in the typical low scorer (Category 62). Though not significantly differentiating between the two extreme groups of interviewees, this category shows a distinct trend in the direction that we expected (2I positive as compared with I2 negative instances in men, and I9 positive as compared with I2 negative instances in women). The trend is particularly evident in the vocational choices and economic expectations of our subjects.
The somewhat adolescent and fantastic, glamour-seeking character of the vocational ambitions of high-scoring subjects is illustrated by the following records:
F66: "If you're good, you can get up to ambassador. I think there have been
? PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION SEEN THROUGH INTERVIEWS 467
some women ambassadors. Or maybe there were only women ministers. I made the choice about three years ago. I just heard some friends of mine talking about it, and it sounded interesting. (Why vocational choice? ) Well, salary had a little to do with it. I think if I could really put myself to it, I could do it. If I really wanted to and had nothing else to stand in the way. The times have much to do with my choice. I would like to know why they do what they do. "
F34: Subject wants to be a journalist. This is purely utilitarian. She likes journal- ism, but her real desire is to do creative writing. She has imagined herself as a great actress. "But my acting is purely amateur stuff. I was always active in school dramatics as well as high school journalism. The family used to laugh because I was always play-acting. I always said I'd earn my living at either acting or writing. . . . "
5. SUGGESTIBILITY
Submission to authority and lack of independence and of critical judg- ment tend to lead the high scorer toward being suggestible and gullible, as contrasted with the greater autonomy of the low scorer (Category 6I). Again, the difference is significant at the I per cent level for both men and women. The social implications of a tendency on the part of the gullible person to fall easy prey to unsound and destructive political propaganda are obvious. The high scorer's dependence, in his personal life, upon author- ity, conventionalized values, church dogma, public opinion, and prestige figures, and the low scorer's relative independence of, and occasional rebel- lion against, these authorities have been pointed out so often throughout this volume that no further comment seems necessary.
The present chapter will be summarized together with a general synopsis of the interview results at the conclusion of the chapter which follows.
? CHAPTER XIII
COMPREHENSIVE SCORES AND SUMMARY OF INTERVIEW RESULTS Else Frenkel-Brunswik
A. THE DISCRIMINATORY POWERS OF THE MAJOR AREAS STUDIED
1. VERIFICA TION OF ANTICIP A TED TREND BY CA TEGQRIES
In the preceding four chapters (IX to XII), the technique of interviewing was described, and specific results of interviews with eighty subjects scor- ing extremely high or extremely low on the overt anti-Semitism or Ethno- centrism scales were presented and discussed in terms of the approximately ninety rating categories of the Scoring Manual used to classify the records of the subjects.
As shown in the tables of these chapters, a sizable proportion of the cate- gories differentiated high scorers from low scorers to a statistically sig- nificant degree in the direction anticipated for either or both sexes. The vast majority of the remaining categories showed at least a trend in the expected direction. For men, there are only three out of the eighty-six categories for which the number of "positive" and "negative" instances is equal, and only one (Category 2 3c) which shows a slight trend in the direction op- posite to the one expected. As can be seen from Tables 3(X), 1(XI), and 2 (XI), to which the four exceptions are limited, the absolute number of rat- ings involved is very small in each case; the items involved deal with certain aspects of attitude toward siblings, sex, and people. For women there are two out of the ninety categories that show equality and four that show reversal, all six exceptions being confined to Tables 1(X), 2 (X), and 3(X), and deal- ing with aspects of the relationships to parents and siblings. In no case does the reversal approach statistical significance; nor does it appear in the case of any category that yielded less than 50 per cent "Neutral" ratings and was thus included in the list of those for which intensive evaluation was under- taken (72 for men and 65 for women, see end of Chapter IX).
468
? Based on categories presented in tables
20 men and 25 women
20 men and 15 women "low scorers"
Sums of Means '
en
1 ( X ) , 2 ( X ) , 3(X)
P a r e n t s ? a n d Childhood
Men 8. . . . . . 613 women 7. 47
L 37 3. 26
3. 11 1. 68
8. 42 5. 11
17. 10 12. 58
4. 47 4. 94
1(Xl)
Attitude toward Sex
Men 10. 57 Women 10. 43
0 "':: ,. . . .
2(Xl)
Attitude toward
M 3. 89 i1:l
3(Xl)
Attitude toward Men Present Self Women
13. 00 11. 33
2. 44 3. 56
2. 44 1. 11
13. 11 9. 67
26. 11 21. 00
4. 88 4. 67
~
4(XI)
Attitude toward Men Childhood Self Women
8. 50 8. 00
3. 75 5. 75
2. 25 12. 75 1.
