" "With my wife" (de- void of content, no sign of
pleasure
or relationship).
Adorno-T-Authoritarian-Personality-Harper-Bros-1950
(This hypothesis might be tested by determining high-low differ- ences in reading reports of aggressive crimes, the highs being expected to read, to condemn, and to enjoy these more without recognizing that personal motives are at work.
) To the extent that the highly ethnocentric subjects are more punitive than the others, they would be expected to show more interest in crime and other pun- ishment-evoking activities.
The disturbance of the lows may also be due in part to the tendency to identify with the victim.
High Categories (Question 5)
1. Crude aggression and sex. These responses suggest, as have responses to previous items, that for many highs there is a deep-lying, ego-alien fund of aggression and sex. These trends seem to have remained relatively primi- tive, destructive, unsocialized; and they are not well fused with or modified by other trends in the ego. The frequent association of sex with aggression suggests that sex is conceived as aggressive and threatening. Aggression is aimed at the body of the victim, without reference to personal relationships or to psychological meanings for aggressor or victim. It has the primitive quality commonly found in the fantasies and fears of small children. (The same impersonal, destructive, object-less quality is often found in the current flood of mystery detective fiction, in which the hero, finding a close friend or relative murdered, immediately responds not with sorrow or concern but with moral indignation and a list of suspects. ) The responses often refer to bizarre, destructive acts one might commit in a psychotic episode when ego-control and cognitive structuring of the environment are eliminated and unsocialized impulses break through.
Examples: Probably the most popular high response is "Murder and rape. " In the group of Veteran men, for example, this was given, sometimes along with other crimes, by 15 out of z6 highs as compared with 4 out of 25 lows. "Torture. " "Sex crimes. " "Murder without sufficient reason. " "Rape on juveniles. " "Sex crimes on children, women; kidnapping; murdering of newly born babies. " "Having been a prisoner of war in the Philippines, I would consider some of the sights I saw there truly unprintable, but to my knowledge the worst crime that is printable would be rape. "
? PROJECTIVE QUESTIONS
References to attacks on children are fairly common; this is perhaps related to the fact that in San Quentin the sex offenders,. many of whom engaged in sexual activities with children, were extremely high on ethnocentrism (see Chapter XXI). Occasionally there are detailed concrete descriptions of brutal acts. For example: "Kidnap a person, starve them for two weeks, then strangle them; after they are finally dead, dissect their body, wrap up the pieces and mail them home to the vic- tim's parents. "
2. Other immoral acts. These responses fall within a context of ethno- centrism, pseudopatriotism, and moral values dealing with conventional masculinity-femininity and conformity.
Examples: "Treason, traitorism, sedition" (crimes against the status quo). "Dope peddling, failure of a politician to protect his country. " "Heresy. " "Traitorous acts against those who have faith in him, as well as sex crimes. " (This is a matter of not living up to others' expectations rather than a matter of personal relationship or inner demands. ) "Adultery. " "Crimes against his person, sex crimes, and to will- fully smear a woman's name. " "Murder, immoral acts, dishonesty. " "To neglect himself and family" (no reference to relationship, motivation). "The one against the Holy Ghost. " "Willful passing on of dangerous disease to other person" (body anxiety, concern with contamination).
3? Various legal offenses. We note here the tendency to think in formal, external, legal terms. Again the concern with property and money is ex- pressed.
The more common specific offenses include robbery, stealing, larceny, blackmail, kidnapping, "Destruction of property," arson, manslaughter, and so on. References to murder in legalistic terms are included here: "Willful first-degree murder. " "Un- justifiable homicide. "
QuESTION 6. MosT EMBARRASSING MoMENTs?
Low Categories
The defining context for the low responses includes violation of achieve- ment values, self-blame and guilt, concern for the feeling of others, feel- ings of failure and inadequacy.
1. Hurting another's feelings. Both highs and lows often refer to acts which involve breaches of common courtesy. However, the highs ordinarily focus on the act per se and on the idea of etiquette, whereas the lows are concerned mainly with the problem of rejection and with the feelings of the other person. Also, there is often an element of self-reproach in the low responses.
Examples: "Forgetting things about others that I really should know" (explicit self-blame). "Unintentionally offending any person, but particularly any loved one or well-liked one. " "When I have done anything tactless that may hurt someone, or any act of stupidity. " "To see others suffer from embarrassment" (identification and empathy). "Walk into room at wrong moment, others are being intimate" (self- rejection for intruding, rather than rejection of others for behaving that way).
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THE AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
2. Feelings of inadequacy, failure, being rejected. In these responses the focus is mainly on oneself and there is explicit or implicit self-criticism.
Examples: "When I start talking, realize that I don't know what I'm talking about. " "Ignorance-that is, not knowing well something I should know. " "Meet someone and not know what to say. '' "Situations in which I am inadequate. " "To be laughed at for failing to get off a presentable public speech; to be put in an embar- rassing position by a person who outmaneuvers you mentally. " ("Making a public speech" alone is Na. ) "To find out that after taking a strong stand I was absolutely wrong. " "People laugh at me, not with me. " "Not go somewhere because I didn't have a date, then be asked how it was. " "Asking someone something or some service" (scored L because of surface inhibition, inadequacy, implied fear of rejection).
The embarrassing situation may involve moral obligation and guilt. In some cases the individual does not meet his own inner standards; in other cases he does not want to do something or be with someone, but feels both obligation and open ambivalence.
Examples: "Not fulfilling promises I made. " "When I feel I have neglected to do something I should have done. " "Getting into some situation in which you had no desire to be but someone expected you to be there. "
In general, references to mistakes, especially when they are described as silly or stupid, are scored L; they seem to be based on self-evaluation, inner focusing and intrapunitiveness.
Responses like "Exposure of my own weaknesses, I suppose" and "Being caught for the faker I am" are included here because of the explicit self-blame and the self- critical humor, although the idea of "exposure" or being caught, without this con- text, is high (see below).
High Categories (Question 6)
1. Violations of convention and etiquette. Probably the most common high response to this item refers to breaches of etiquette. The focus is on the behavior per se, on behavior which violates specific formulae of the Emily Post variety. There is almost never a reference to inner needs or faults, the violations usually being regarded as "slips" or unmotivated accidents. In this way guilt, self-blame, and ego-reference are made unnecessary. Whereas the embarrassment of the lows is primarily an inner matter, relatively independ- ent of whether or not they were observed, the embarrassment of the highs depends almost entirely on being frowned upon by an external moral force. The idea of "being caught" is prominent in the high responses, and with it the implication that the same thing done without detection would not be embarrassing.
Examples: "Making a decided error in social etiquette would be the worst. " "For- getting names of people" (social anxiety, no reference to personal concern for per- son). "Faulty dress. " "Saying something degrading of another person r. . vithin their hearing" (author's italics). "To appear inefficient. " "Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. " "When I talk about something and forget what I have been talking
? PROJECTIVE QUESTIONS
about" (compare with L response: "Discover I don't know what I am talking about"). "When the children pipe up in front of company with something I've said about the person or some other innocent thing which sounds evil and embarrasses me. " "When my husband is rude to me in front of other people" (inhibited hostil- ity? ). "If I am found being lax about kindness, counesy toward everybody" (the idea of kindness (not love) toward everyone as a kind of task is not uncommon among people who, in the details of their ideology, ethnocentrically reject the bulk of mankind). "Being disapproved of. " "Get called down for an error in front of other people" (compare with the L response: "Being exposed for the faker I am"). "Mispronounce words. " "Guests arrive and the house is dirty or I'm unkempt. " "Be accidentally rude or impolite. " "Do something out of the ordinary. " The idea of being threatened, rather than being rejected, is often an undercurrent in high re- sponses. So too is extrapunitiveness. For example: "Diny jokes (by others). " "People's thoughtlessness. " The response "Nothing I can write here" is scored H for its "antiprying" character.
2. Blows at exhibitionism and narcissism. Many of the violations in Cate- gory I imply unacceptable conspicuousness and loss of prestige. The same thing is expressed more directly in this category. Some of the main properties of the H responses are social anxiety, rigid conformity and fear of noncon- formity, emphasis on appearance (apparently based on a combination of conventionality and exhibitionism, though the motives are largely unrecog- nized by the individual), nonintraceptive approach.
Examples: "Walking into a crowded room with my shons on. " "To stumble in public. " "Fall off a horse in a riding exhibition. " "Fall on a banana peel with men watching. " "Have my slip showing or a hole in my sock. " "I passed out waiting for an elevator one day and even now I can remember my humiliation when I opened my eyes and saw 'thousands' of people gazing at me. " The humiliation over fainting lends itself to interpretation in terms of ego-alien, anxiety-producing passive needs covered over by a masculine fa~ade. Some anxiety regarding women or regarding sexual impulses (or both) is implied in such responses as "Being alone with a crowd of women" and "Surrounded by women. "
Neutral Responses. Omissions are scored Na. They occurred in ? 9 per cent of the cases and equally often in highs and lows.
When the response deals with errors of tact in personal relationships and it is not clear whether the subject is disturbed over hurting someone's feelings (L) or violating a rule of etiquette (H), the response should be scored Na. The superficial event is the same; it is the meaning of the experience that
differentiates highs from lows, and the meaning is sometimes ambiguous.
Often, however, subtle cues can be used. Consider, for example, the response, "When I talk to a person, repeat his name wrong over and over, don't realize my mistake till later. " The two scorers, working independently and "blindly," both cor- rectly assigned a score of L primarily on the basis of the phrase, "realize my mistake" which seemed to imply introspection and self-blame. Similarly, they gave score of H to the response, "Speaking or acting out of turn," a score of L to "Barging in where I don't belong. " Most of the responses are more clearly H or L.
? 572 THE AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
QuEsTION 7. How WouLD You SPEND YOUR LAsT Six MoNTHs?
Low Categories
I. Achievement values: creativity and social contribution.
Examples: "Conveying accumulated ideas to my fellow man. " "I would like to spend such a time solely in creative endeavor. " "Reading poetry, philosophy, study- ing psychiatry. " "Fight intolerance and social wrongs. " "Try to do something, any- thing, for mankind or at least help someone; will my eyes and nerves to medicine, find someone who could use them. " (W ords like mankind and fellow man are used frequently by lows, seldom by highs. ) "Make people happy" (in contrast to H responses "try to be good" or "doing good deeds"). "If I were altruistic I would try to do as much as I could for the other person, but actually I would do everything possible to make my stay enjoyable" (scored L because of the surface conflict between social contribution and personal pleasure).
The general idea of "doing things for others" is expressed by both lows and highs, but in characteristically different forms. In the lows we find refer- ences to nurturance and love-giving which are either personalized towards a few love objects or else generalized to include all humanity.
Examples: "Try to make the world a better place for all to live in. " "In doing the most I would be capable of for those of whom I am fond. " In the highs, on the other hand, we find more moralized references to "doing good" rather than "making happy," and the generosity is usually directed toward individuals who are charac- terized as ingroup members rather than as love objects. For example: "Seeing if I could do the people I tpought most of any good; my family, such as mother, father, sister and brother. " In short, nurturance is scored L when it is found in a context of love, close relationship, and achievement values; it is scored H in a context of super- ficial conventionality and ingroup orientation. (It should be noted that there are many conventional lows, but their conventionality is expressed in a context of love- giving rather than conformity per se. )
2. Open sensuality and active pleasure. There were few references to sex, but most of these were by lows.
Examples: "Drinking and carousing around with women. " "l\1aking love. " "Have a romantic love affair while touring South America. " Sometimes a sexual-intellec- tual balance is sought: "Spend part of the time whoring around, most of the time trying to write 'the Great American Novel'-though I'm probably not good enough" (written by a low-scoring man).
The enjoyment of active sociability is characteristically low. It may occur in a sensual and/or intellectual context, or simply in the form of warmth and friendly interaction.
Examples: "Travel, enjoy life, take it easy with friends. " "Spend the time with friends in a constant rush of vacation and work if they didn't know I had only 6 months; if they knew, I'd take off to spend the time with strangers-reading, playing, working. " "I'd spend all that time with my friends, the people I know and like. " "In the company of my wife and child, enjoying good shows, car rides, and
? PROJECTIVE QUESTIONS
573
doing things I now do in my leisure" (compare to the highs' references to their families, below; note also the reference to leisure, a strong indication for scoring L). The high's references to pleasure are characteristically more dilute and empty, e. g. , "Have a good time" or "Do as I please" (see below).
Reference to seclusion in the sense of "rejecting the world" may be in- cluded because, though apparently the opposite of sociability, it seems to spring from similar deep sources.
Example: "I would go to some wild country region where I could just live and not be disturbed by anyone or anything. " (In this man's interview, the desire for soli- tude seemed associated with depressive feelings of rejection by the mother. ) This is in marked contrast to the objection to solitude in highs (see also Items I and 4); some high men, however, give "seclusion" responses in which the primary source seems to be passivity rather than ego-recognized rejection of others.
High Categories (Question 7)
An important aspect of many high responses is constnctwn of fantasy. Although the question allows complete freedom of choice-"if you could do just as you pleased, how would you spend your time? "-some highs
(and no lows in the present groups) make their actions explicitly con- ditional on the presence of certain external conditions. It is as if they can- not allow themselves a completely uninhibited fantasy, as if they cannot get away from concrete "reality" even for a moment. This unimaginativeness, or rather circumscription of ego bounds, seems related to the barren inner life, the shallow emotions, and the "escape into reality" which are also revealed in the F scale and in the interview material.
Examples: "Probably quit my job-if I had a job. " "Perhaps go fishing in the Sierras if the season was right. " "That is a question that is impossible to answer, as I do not know how I would act under those circumstances. "
1. Conventional morality and inhibition. The main theme in these responses is making peace with God and man (particularly ingroups), in the sense of being "good," of conforming, of denying oneself active pleasure. Many of the responses are in a religious context, but it must be stressed that there are also low religious responses. (To repeat a scoring slogan: It is not the event as such, but the meaning of the event to the individual, that determines whether the score isH or L. ) Compare for example the high response, "Mak- ing peace with God," with the low equivalent, "Working toward spiritual realization in a monastery. " The highs' emphasis is on inner peace and harmony, on the absence of conflict rather than on positive achievement. Religious responses having such qualities as self-expression, intraception, and self-blame should be scored L. (See also low category 1. )
Examples: "I would try and do as much good as I could. " "Be nice to everyone. " "I would live with God and prepare myself to meet Him. " "I'd meet as many people as I could, go all over the world and above all, go to church.
" "With my wife" (de- void of content, no sign of pleasure or relationship). "Being normal. " (The
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THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
emphasis on normality, which is commonly expressed, suggests that the person is worried about "letting loose. ") A recurrent high theme is that of "Getting my affairs in order," a sort of last-minute concern with compulsive detail. The response "Commit suicide" occurred in a few highs and no lows, and it was scored H. This response may reflect an authoritarian contempt for "cowards"; the individuals giving it would seem to regard death as more attractive than life-suicide being a temptation that "strong" men resist-something that the low scorers are not so likely to feel.
2. Incidental, dilute pleasures. These responses refer to pleasure-fun activi- ties of a highly conventionalized, desensualized, and emotionally shallow nature. Interpretively, the individual is seeking satisfaction but his moral fa<;ade prevents the free, intense, ego-accepted expression of underlying im- pulses. Travel is probably the most common activity; whatever its other mean- ings (e. g. , voyeuristic), it may also express the vague, undifferentiated desire for change (ego-alien rebellion? ) which is also expressed in some of the inter- views. These responses are distinguished from those in low category 2 by the lack of open sensuality and achievement values, and by the convention- alized quality.
Examples: "I would travel as far as possible, with a companion of the fair sex. " "I think I would go the forest and wild life and enjoy some companionship, but be more or less reserved in my actions. " "See interesting things, read books" (super- ficial, concrete, dilute). "I would spend the time at home and with my friends with a normal amount of recreation. " "Marry-traveling around the world. "
A "travel" response is scored L even when there is no explicit sensual quality, as long as there is some differentiation or detailed description. For example: "Travel- , ing the world and visiting the countries to see their natural and man-made wonders :j
and to see the natural habitats of the peoples of the world. " "Travel to South . ~. ,. America, Mexico and New York. '' There are, of course, transitional responses be-
tween the clearly high and the clearly low, but these are not numerous. . .
Included here also are responses in which there is no specific reference to what one would do but only to empty pleasures, e. g. , "Have fun," "Spend money doing exactly what I please" (release of conventional inhibition), l
"Try to be happy. " ? ~ ;j
All the references to athletics in the present groups were by highs, and . ~
~ ~
'~
Examples: "Probably quit my job-if I had a job; see as many sports events as I 1
~ ~
were scored H. (Had athletics been mentioned in a clearly low context, it would have been scored L. ) ~
could; play golf and, I imagine, get drunk fairly often also" (by a "middle-class" man). "Traveling, playing golf, bowling; a great variety of activities and as little ~ sleep as possible" (this is escape into reality rather than pleasure-sensuality). "Travel, adventure, general mischief, hazardous play. " "Hunting and fishing. "
When there is reference only to a single, specific behavior without a de- fining context, e. g. , "go to camp," the response is scored Neutral. Also Na is the response, "Same as ever" when no qualifications are given.
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575
3? Passivity. That many "high" men have considerable conflict between a surface emphasis on work-ambition-activity and an underlying, ego-alien passive-dependent trend, is suggested by several projective questions (1, 3, 4 especially), and it has been demonstrated by the material in other chapters. The passivity is occasionally expressed in the responses to this question. It is interesting that whereas the guiding (achievement) values of the lows come out more strongly than ever on this item, the guiding (work-success) values of the highs are less important, in the last six months-when one's individuality is at stake, so to speak-than are religious values,5 passivity, or other pleasures. The main forms of passivity are sleep, fishing, and relax- ing (in the sense of not working rather than of active leisure).
Examples: "Doing the things I like to do and getting ten hours' sleep" (underlin- ing by subject). "I would go to a nice quiet place and just sit down by a stream and fish and think" (mainly passivity; insufficient evidence of intellectuality or inten- sity to merit a score of L). "Relaxing, but trying not to worry or I would die before my six months came up. " "Not thinking about it" may be included here; it repre- sents not only anti-intraception but also a high trend toward negative rather than positive solutions of inner problems.
4? Omissions are recorded as Nb, converted to H.
QuESTION 8. WHA T ExPERIENCEs W ouLD BE MosT AwE-INSPIRING?
Low Categories
r. Realization of achievement values. As discussed previously, these values may be expressed in terms of interpersonal relations, where they refer to personal achievement (intellectual, aesthetic, scientific), warm relationships and social contribution; or they may be expressed on an ideological level in the form of progressive social change, elimination of prejudice, and the realization of broad democratic values.
Examples: "To see the day when the people (collectively) really controlled their own destiny and would no longer be dictated to by special interests. " "Mass emo- tion usually; awe that an emotion can be so uniform in so many people at the same time" (empathy, sense of unity with others). "The composition or fine perform- ance of good music. " "Impersonal and unselfish love for mankind. " "The responsi- bility that a Negro friend of mine feels for 13 million people. " "Birth of anything new-children, animals, seasons, scientific ideas" (references to birth and creativity are fairly common in lows). "A great work of art, poem, piece of sculpture, or sym- phony. " "Certain manifestations of human personality where people are unex- pectedly good, strong and beautiful, especially ordinary people who haven't had much chance; in people the two qualities which arouse my wonder are the power of courage and the power to accept defeat humbly and without bitterness and re- sentment. " References to being loved are low, to being praised or popular are high.
5 The sudden increase in the importance of religion to highs when they are faced with death reminds us of the acquiring of "fox-hole religion" during the war. These results, as well as the interview material on religion, suggest that such last-minute conversions occur more often in highs than in lows.
? THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
2. Power as exemplified in man's achievements and in nature. The idea of power is expressed by both low and high scorers, but again the same event seems to have systematically different meanings for the two groups. The highs' conception of power is extremely personalized (see below); they admire and are awe-inspired by powerful people, toward whom they show deference and submission. The lows, on the other hand, conceive of power in more impersonal terms; they see it mainly as a means toward socially bene- ficial ends (rather than an end in itself), as more universal in the sense of existing everywhere and for the over-all social good. The main kinds of admired power are material-technological achievements by man and exam- ples of grandeur in nature.
Examples: "W atch a two-thousand-ton aircraft take off; the Golden Gate Bridge; the view of the Bay Area from Mt. T amalpais on a clear night. " "The great struc- tures which man has built in this world. " "Seeing a star explode or earthquakes- any extreme natural manifestation. " "Great material achievements-building proj- ects, etc. " "The atomic bomb, Grand Canyon, Boulder Dam, etc. " References to the atomic bomb in itself are neutral; it is scored Lin a context of man-made power or material achievement, H in a context of destructiveness or other high trends.
3? Intense nature experiences. References to nature are scored L if there are explicit indications of a strong aesthetic, sensual-emotional experience, or if there is fairly specific description of what one would be looking at. Vague, empty references to nature in general or to "just looking" are scored H
(see below).
Examples: "Natural phenomena such as Crater Lake, Grand Canyon. " "Thoughts of God's infinite intelligence, power, etc. , as shown in nature-the structure and physiology of living creatures, behavior of the universe, etc. " (This is a good example of a low religious response; understanding, imaginative, universalistic, idea of Gad-in-universe rather than God-over-universe. ) "W atching a beautiful sunset; seeing Frisco at night from a ferry boat in the middle of the Bay. " "A descent into the center of the earth; a walk on the bottom of the ocean. "
High Categories (Question 8)
I. Realization of conventional values. These are highly conventionalized responses referring to acquisition or possession of things, to peace of mind (in the sense of freedom from worry), to a vague, undefined sense of virtue, and to incidental, desensualized pleasures.
Examples: "Feelings of good, examples of good. " "Marriage and happy family life; ownership of something important such as a home, new auto, business concern, etc. " "Love, I guess; from what I understand, when it dawns a fellow he has met the right girl; this is something I imagine and I really believe will be true" (love as a completely strange emotion, more imposed from without than motivated from within). "To know that when I get married I would be able to live very comfort- ably in a home with my wife and child. " "If my husband were home evenings" (no reference to relationship). "To get married. " "Get rid of my stomach trouble. " "Be
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577
in a good frame of mind all the time. " "Possession of great wealth; outstanding accomplishment of any kind" (note the equating of wealth and accomplishment). "Knowing my husband loved me without a doubt; peace on earth" (this seems to refer more to freedom from anxiety than to emotional warmth and exchange). The responses in this category suggest a lack of inner emotional vitality.
2. Power: deference and submission toward power figures. The highs' references to power are in an authoritarian context: the power is personalized in a strong man toward whom the subject has, implicitly or explicitly, a defer- ent, submissive relation. The authority figure may come from various areas of social life: military, political, industrial, religious. There is often an em- phasis on ritual and a concern with what is external rather than with in- trinsic meanings and values.
Examples: "During the war: to sit in on a meeting of the German General Staff; to witness a V-2 bomb launching. For peacetime: a presidential conference with his aides and Cabinet; a meeting of the country's leading personnel men. " "Watch- ing politicians in action in Washington; talking with professional athletes. " "A coronation, a college graduation, awarding of Nobel prizes" (emphasis on ritual and success, not an achievement in an inner sense). "Meeting a truly great man such as Admiral Halsey or General Patton, or President Truman. "
The religious references by highs express the same underlying variables.
Examples: "Certain church services I have seen; religion in the midst of war, on battlefields I have seen. " "A conversation or sight of God. " "A picture of President Roosevelt, whom I admire; being in church during the service. " Note the primary concern with religion as ritual rather than as ethics, and the conception of God in terms similar to those expressed above with regard to personnel men, athletes, mili- tary authorities, politicians. Again we find an indication of religion as a fox-hole phenomenon-something that one turns to only as a support against external threat and inner anxiety. A mystical, superstitious trend is illustrated by the following response: "The feeling relating to something that is supernatural, something that happens in a weird way and has no factual reasons about it. "
In some cases the subject wants to play the power role himself, often with specific reference to someone else playing the deferent role.
Examples: "To be able to fly in the Army Air Corps" (gaining power through the plane; desire for military experience). "I have the mad desire to hear an audience screaming 'Author' for me when my play has been the greatest ever to see Broad- way" (more emphasis on personal prestige, audience deference, than on achieve- ment). "To know the basic actualities of electricity; to create something or see something created, heretofore considered impossible or unbelieveable" (not achievement values, but wanting to do what no one else is powerful enough to do).
3? Destruction-harm of other persons. Many of the military experiences in Category 2 have this aspect, but it is the focal one here.
Examples: "Death of a close relative; torture to reveal an important plan. " "To see death" (this presumably means death in someone else; references to one's personal experience of death would be scored L). "To see San Francisco destroyed by an
? THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
earthquake. " "To see the results of the atomic bomb. " "To watch a delicate stomach operation" (references to surgery are usually high; they seem related to the body- anxiety found in previous items). "To see an alcoholic who cannot help himself stay away from the cravings of liquor, a person who has been severely crippled by a dis- ease, and to go to a funeral. " (Note the associative sequence from dependency to disease to death. )
4? Dilute experiences of nature and beauty. These responses are matter- of-fact, general, superficial descriptions of aesthetic or "nature" experiences, with no detail and no indication of sensual-emotional involvement. The person is for the most part "just looking. "
Examples: "Experiences in nature. " "The sight of rare jewels and metals; the view- ing of great natural wonders of the world. " "Traveling to another planet-galaxy, though I doubt the probability of it" (note the "constriction of fantasy" observed also in Item 7). "The great natural beauties of nature have thrilled me and probably always will. " "Trips through all the important nations of the world and not have to worry about the expenses involved" (note the limitation to "important" nations and the desire for gratuities). "Music. " "Warching some unusual scientific event such as atomic energy" (merely watching, not participation or achievement). "Scenic grandeur. " "Seeing something of real importance. " ?
5? Omissions are recorded as Nb, scored as H. Of the 6 omissions (9 per cent), 5 were by highs.
Note: Due to various circumstances (seep. 58o), only 65 of the total of 312 subjects received this question. It is likely, therefore, that further experi- ence will suggest modifications and particularly additions to the present scor- ing scheme.
SUMMARY OF PROJECTIVE QUESTION CA TEGORIES
High Categories Low Categories
Question I: What moodsare unpleasant or disturbing?
1. Violations of conventional val- ues
2. Threatening or nonsupporting environment
3? "Rumblings from below"
1. Conscious conflict and guilt
2. Focal dependency and love-seek- ing
3? Open hostility, by self or others, toward love objects
4? Omissions
Question 2: What desires are most difficult to control?
I. N onfocal and/or motor aggression 1. Focal (usually verbal) hostility directed against violators of
2. Ego-alien passivity
3? Impersonal sex
4? Incidental pleasures and viola-
tions of conventional values
5. Omissions
achievement values
2. The tendency to violate achieve-
ment values oneself 3? Miscellaneous
? 1. 2. 3?
4?
1. 2.
3?
1. 2. 3?
1.
2.
1.
2.
Power and control Conservative Americans Parents and relatives
1. The arts and philosophy
2. Physical and biological scientists 3? Social scientists, liberal-radical
political figures
4?
High Categories (Question 5)
1. Crude aggression and sex. These responses suggest, as have responses to previous items, that for many highs there is a deep-lying, ego-alien fund of aggression and sex. These trends seem to have remained relatively primi- tive, destructive, unsocialized; and they are not well fused with or modified by other trends in the ego. The frequent association of sex with aggression suggests that sex is conceived as aggressive and threatening. Aggression is aimed at the body of the victim, without reference to personal relationships or to psychological meanings for aggressor or victim. It has the primitive quality commonly found in the fantasies and fears of small children. (The same impersonal, destructive, object-less quality is often found in the current flood of mystery detective fiction, in which the hero, finding a close friend or relative murdered, immediately responds not with sorrow or concern but with moral indignation and a list of suspects. ) The responses often refer to bizarre, destructive acts one might commit in a psychotic episode when ego-control and cognitive structuring of the environment are eliminated and unsocialized impulses break through.
Examples: Probably the most popular high response is "Murder and rape. " In the group of Veteran men, for example, this was given, sometimes along with other crimes, by 15 out of z6 highs as compared with 4 out of 25 lows. "Torture. " "Sex crimes. " "Murder without sufficient reason. " "Rape on juveniles. " "Sex crimes on children, women; kidnapping; murdering of newly born babies. " "Having been a prisoner of war in the Philippines, I would consider some of the sights I saw there truly unprintable, but to my knowledge the worst crime that is printable would be rape. "
? PROJECTIVE QUESTIONS
References to attacks on children are fairly common; this is perhaps related to the fact that in San Quentin the sex offenders,. many of whom engaged in sexual activities with children, were extremely high on ethnocentrism (see Chapter XXI). Occasionally there are detailed concrete descriptions of brutal acts. For example: "Kidnap a person, starve them for two weeks, then strangle them; after they are finally dead, dissect their body, wrap up the pieces and mail them home to the vic- tim's parents. "
2. Other immoral acts. These responses fall within a context of ethno- centrism, pseudopatriotism, and moral values dealing with conventional masculinity-femininity and conformity.
Examples: "Treason, traitorism, sedition" (crimes against the status quo). "Dope peddling, failure of a politician to protect his country. " "Heresy. " "Traitorous acts against those who have faith in him, as well as sex crimes. " (This is a matter of not living up to others' expectations rather than a matter of personal relationship or inner demands. ) "Adultery. " "Crimes against his person, sex crimes, and to will- fully smear a woman's name. " "Murder, immoral acts, dishonesty. " "To neglect himself and family" (no reference to relationship, motivation). "The one against the Holy Ghost. " "Willful passing on of dangerous disease to other person" (body anxiety, concern with contamination).
3? Various legal offenses. We note here the tendency to think in formal, external, legal terms. Again the concern with property and money is ex- pressed.
The more common specific offenses include robbery, stealing, larceny, blackmail, kidnapping, "Destruction of property," arson, manslaughter, and so on. References to murder in legalistic terms are included here: "Willful first-degree murder. " "Un- justifiable homicide. "
QuESTION 6. MosT EMBARRASSING MoMENTs?
Low Categories
The defining context for the low responses includes violation of achieve- ment values, self-blame and guilt, concern for the feeling of others, feel- ings of failure and inadequacy.
1. Hurting another's feelings. Both highs and lows often refer to acts which involve breaches of common courtesy. However, the highs ordinarily focus on the act per se and on the idea of etiquette, whereas the lows are concerned mainly with the problem of rejection and with the feelings of the other person. Also, there is often an element of self-reproach in the low responses.
Examples: "Forgetting things about others that I really should know" (explicit self-blame). "Unintentionally offending any person, but particularly any loved one or well-liked one. " "When I have done anything tactless that may hurt someone, or any act of stupidity. " "To see others suffer from embarrassment" (identification and empathy). "Walk into room at wrong moment, others are being intimate" (self- rejection for intruding, rather than rejection of others for behaving that way).
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THE AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
2. Feelings of inadequacy, failure, being rejected. In these responses the focus is mainly on oneself and there is explicit or implicit self-criticism.
Examples: "When I start talking, realize that I don't know what I'm talking about. " "Ignorance-that is, not knowing well something I should know. " "Meet someone and not know what to say. '' "Situations in which I am inadequate. " "To be laughed at for failing to get off a presentable public speech; to be put in an embar- rassing position by a person who outmaneuvers you mentally. " ("Making a public speech" alone is Na. ) "To find out that after taking a strong stand I was absolutely wrong. " "People laugh at me, not with me. " "Not go somewhere because I didn't have a date, then be asked how it was. " "Asking someone something or some service" (scored L because of surface inhibition, inadequacy, implied fear of rejection).
The embarrassing situation may involve moral obligation and guilt. In some cases the individual does not meet his own inner standards; in other cases he does not want to do something or be with someone, but feels both obligation and open ambivalence.
Examples: "Not fulfilling promises I made. " "When I feel I have neglected to do something I should have done. " "Getting into some situation in which you had no desire to be but someone expected you to be there. "
In general, references to mistakes, especially when they are described as silly or stupid, are scored L; they seem to be based on self-evaluation, inner focusing and intrapunitiveness.
Responses like "Exposure of my own weaknesses, I suppose" and "Being caught for the faker I am" are included here because of the explicit self-blame and the self- critical humor, although the idea of "exposure" or being caught, without this con- text, is high (see below).
High Categories (Question 6)
1. Violations of convention and etiquette. Probably the most common high response to this item refers to breaches of etiquette. The focus is on the behavior per se, on behavior which violates specific formulae of the Emily Post variety. There is almost never a reference to inner needs or faults, the violations usually being regarded as "slips" or unmotivated accidents. In this way guilt, self-blame, and ego-reference are made unnecessary. Whereas the embarrassment of the lows is primarily an inner matter, relatively independ- ent of whether or not they were observed, the embarrassment of the highs depends almost entirely on being frowned upon by an external moral force. The idea of "being caught" is prominent in the high responses, and with it the implication that the same thing done without detection would not be embarrassing.
Examples: "Making a decided error in social etiquette would be the worst. " "For- getting names of people" (social anxiety, no reference to personal concern for per- son). "Faulty dress. " "Saying something degrading of another person r. . vithin their hearing" (author's italics). "To appear inefficient. " "Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. " "When I talk about something and forget what I have been talking
? PROJECTIVE QUESTIONS
about" (compare with L response: "Discover I don't know what I am talking about"). "When the children pipe up in front of company with something I've said about the person or some other innocent thing which sounds evil and embarrasses me. " "When my husband is rude to me in front of other people" (inhibited hostil- ity? ). "If I am found being lax about kindness, counesy toward everybody" (the idea of kindness (not love) toward everyone as a kind of task is not uncommon among people who, in the details of their ideology, ethnocentrically reject the bulk of mankind). "Being disapproved of. " "Get called down for an error in front of other people" (compare with the L response: "Being exposed for the faker I am"). "Mispronounce words. " "Guests arrive and the house is dirty or I'm unkempt. " "Be accidentally rude or impolite. " "Do something out of the ordinary. " The idea of being threatened, rather than being rejected, is often an undercurrent in high re- sponses. So too is extrapunitiveness. For example: "Diny jokes (by others). " "People's thoughtlessness. " The response "Nothing I can write here" is scored H for its "antiprying" character.
2. Blows at exhibitionism and narcissism. Many of the violations in Cate- gory I imply unacceptable conspicuousness and loss of prestige. The same thing is expressed more directly in this category. Some of the main properties of the H responses are social anxiety, rigid conformity and fear of noncon- formity, emphasis on appearance (apparently based on a combination of conventionality and exhibitionism, though the motives are largely unrecog- nized by the individual), nonintraceptive approach.
Examples: "Walking into a crowded room with my shons on. " "To stumble in public. " "Fall off a horse in a riding exhibition. " "Fall on a banana peel with men watching. " "Have my slip showing or a hole in my sock. " "I passed out waiting for an elevator one day and even now I can remember my humiliation when I opened my eyes and saw 'thousands' of people gazing at me. " The humiliation over fainting lends itself to interpretation in terms of ego-alien, anxiety-producing passive needs covered over by a masculine fa~ade. Some anxiety regarding women or regarding sexual impulses (or both) is implied in such responses as "Being alone with a crowd of women" and "Surrounded by women. "
Neutral Responses. Omissions are scored Na. They occurred in ? 9 per cent of the cases and equally often in highs and lows.
When the response deals with errors of tact in personal relationships and it is not clear whether the subject is disturbed over hurting someone's feelings (L) or violating a rule of etiquette (H), the response should be scored Na. The superficial event is the same; it is the meaning of the experience that
differentiates highs from lows, and the meaning is sometimes ambiguous.
Often, however, subtle cues can be used. Consider, for example, the response, "When I talk to a person, repeat his name wrong over and over, don't realize my mistake till later. " The two scorers, working independently and "blindly," both cor- rectly assigned a score of L primarily on the basis of the phrase, "realize my mistake" which seemed to imply introspection and self-blame. Similarly, they gave score of H to the response, "Speaking or acting out of turn," a score of L to "Barging in where I don't belong. " Most of the responses are more clearly H or L.
? 572 THE AUTHORIT ARIAN PERSONALITY
QuEsTION 7. How WouLD You SPEND YOUR LAsT Six MoNTHs?
Low Categories
I. Achievement values: creativity and social contribution.
Examples: "Conveying accumulated ideas to my fellow man. " "I would like to spend such a time solely in creative endeavor. " "Reading poetry, philosophy, study- ing psychiatry. " "Fight intolerance and social wrongs. " "Try to do something, any- thing, for mankind or at least help someone; will my eyes and nerves to medicine, find someone who could use them. " (W ords like mankind and fellow man are used frequently by lows, seldom by highs. ) "Make people happy" (in contrast to H responses "try to be good" or "doing good deeds"). "If I were altruistic I would try to do as much as I could for the other person, but actually I would do everything possible to make my stay enjoyable" (scored L because of the surface conflict between social contribution and personal pleasure).
The general idea of "doing things for others" is expressed by both lows and highs, but in characteristically different forms. In the lows we find refer- ences to nurturance and love-giving which are either personalized towards a few love objects or else generalized to include all humanity.
Examples: "Try to make the world a better place for all to live in. " "In doing the most I would be capable of for those of whom I am fond. " In the highs, on the other hand, we find more moralized references to "doing good" rather than "making happy," and the generosity is usually directed toward individuals who are charac- terized as ingroup members rather than as love objects. For example: "Seeing if I could do the people I tpought most of any good; my family, such as mother, father, sister and brother. " In short, nurturance is scored L when it is found in a context of love, close relationship, and achievement values; it is scored H in a context of super- ficial conventionality and ingroup orientation. (It should be noted that there are many conventional lows, but their conventionality is expressed in a context of love- giving rather than conformity per se. )
2. Open sensuality and active pleasure. There were few references to sex, but most of these were by lows.
Examples: "Drinking and carousing around with women. " "l\1aking love. " "Have a romantic love affair while touring South America. " Sometimes a sexual-intellec- tual balance is sought: "Spend part of the time whoring around, most of the time trying to write 'the Great American Novel'-though I'm probably not good enough" (written by a low-scoring man).
The enjoyment of active sociability is characteristically low. It may occur in a sensual and/or intellectual context, or simply in the form of warmth and friendly interaction.
Examples: "Travel, enjoy life, take it easy with friends. " "Spend the time with friends in a constant rush of vacation and work if they didn't know I had only 6 months; if they knew, I'd take off to spend the time with strangers-reading, playing, working. " "I'd spend all that time with my friends, the people I know and like. " "In the company of my wife and child, enjoying good shows, car rides, and
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573
doing things I now do in my leisure" (compare to the highs' references to their families, below; note also the reference to leisure, a strong indication for scoring L). The high's references to pleasure are characteristically more dilute and empty, e. g. , "Have a good time" or "Do as I please" (see below).
Reference to seclusion in the sense of "rejecting the world" may be in- cluded because, though apparently the opposite of sociability, it seems to spring from similar deep sources.
Example: "I would go to some wild country region where I could just live and not be disturbed by anyone or anything. " (In this man's interview, the desire for soli- tude seemed associated with depressive feelings of rejection by the mother. ) This is in marked contrast to the objection to solitude in highs (see also Items I and 4); some high men, however, give "seclusion" responses in which the primary source seems to be passivity rather than ego-recognized rejection of others.
High Categories (Question 7)
An important aspect of many high responses is constnctwn of fantasy. Although the question allows complete freedom of choice-"if you could do just as you pleased, how would you spend your time? "-some highs
(and no lows in the present groups) make their actions explicitly con- ditional on the presence of certain external conditions. It is as if they can- not allow themselves a completely uninhibited fantasy, as if they cannot get away from concrete "reality" even for a moment. This unimaginativeness, or rather circumscription of ego bounds, seems related to the barren inner life, the shallow emotions, and the "escape into reality" which are also revealed in the F scale and in the interview material.
Examples: "Probably quit my job-if I had a job. " "Perhaps go fishing in the Sierras if the season was right. " "That is a question that is impossible to answer, as I do not know how I would act under those circumstances. "
1. Conventional morality and inhibition. The main theme in these responses is making peace with God and man (particularly ingroups), in the sense of being "good," of conforming, of denying oneself active pleasure. Many of the responses are in a religious context, but it must be stressed that there are also low religious responses. (To repeat a scoring slogan: It is not the event as such, but the meaning of the event to the individual, that determines whether the score isH or L. ) Compare for example the high response, "Mak- ing peace with God," with the low equivalent, "Working toward spiritual realization in a monastery. " The highs' emphasis is on inner peace and harmony, on the absence of conflict rather than on positive achievement. Religious responses having such qualities as self-expression, intraception, and self-blame should be scored L. (See also low category 1. )
Examples: "I would try and do as much good as I could. " "Be nice to everyone. " "I would live with God and prepare myself to meet Him. " "I'd meet as many people as I could, go all over the world and above all, go to church.
" "With my wife" (de- void of content, no sign of pleasure or relationship). "Being normal. " (The
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THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
emphasis on normality, which is commonly expressed, suggests that the person is worried about "letting loose. ") A recurrent high theme is that of "Getting my affairs in order," a sort of last-minute concern with compulsive detail. The response "Commit suicide" occurred in a few highs and no lows, and it was scored H. This response may reflect an authoritarian contempt for "cowards"; the individuals giving it would seem to regard death as more attractive than life-suicide being a temptation that "strong" men resist-something that the low scorers are not so likely to feel.
2. Incidental, dilute pleasures. These responses refer to pleasure-fun activi- ties of a highly conventionalized, desensualized, and emotionally shallow nature. Interpretively, the individual is seeking satisfaction but his moral fa<;ade prevents the free, intense, ego-accepted expression of underlying im- pulses. Travel is probably the most common activity; whatever its other mean- ings (e. g. , voyeuristic), it may also express the vague, undifferentiated desire for change (ego-alien rebellion? ) which is also expressed in some of the inter- views. These responses are distinguished from those in low category 2 by the lack of open sensuality and achievement values, and by the convention- alized quality.
Examples: "I would travel as far as possible, with a companion of the fair sex. " "I think I would go the forest and wild life and enjoy some companionship, but be more or less reserved in my actions. " "See interesting things, read books" (super- ficial, concrete, dilute). "I would spend the time at home and with my friends with a normal amount of recreation. " "Marry-traveling around the world. "
A "travel" response is scored L even when there is no explicit sensual quality, as long as there is some differentiation or detailed description. For example: "Travel- , ing the world and visiting the countries to see their natural and man-made wonders :j
and to see the natural habitats of the peoples of the world. " "Travel to South . ~. ,. America, Mexico and New York. '' There are, of course, transitional responses be-
tween the clearly high and the clearly low, but these are not numerous. . .
Included here also are responses in which there is no specific reference to what one would do but only to empty pleasures, e. g. , "Have fun," "Spend money doing exactly what I please" (release of conventional inhibition), l
"Try to be happy. " ? ~ ;j
All the references to athletics in the present groups were by highs, and . ~
~ ~
'~
Examples: "Probably quit my job-if I had a job; see as many sports events as I 1
~ ~
were scored H. (Had athletics been mentioned in a clearly low context, it would have been scored L. ) ~
could; play golf and, I imagine, get drunk fairly often also" (by a "middle-class" man). "Traveling, playing golf, bowling; a great variety of activities and as little ~ sleep as possible" (this is escape into reality rather than pleasure-sensuality). "Travel, adventure, general mischief, hazardous play. " "Hunting and fishing. "
When there is reference only to a single, specific behavior without a de- fining context, e. g. , "go to camp," the response is scored Neutral. Also Na is the response, "Same as ever" when no qualifications are given.
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575
3? Passivity. That many "high" men have considerable conflict between a surface emphasis on work-ambition-activity and an underlying, ego-alien passive-dependent trend, is suggested by several projective questions (1, 3, 4 especially), and it has been demonstrated by the material in other chapters. The passivity is occasionally expressed in the responses to this question. It is interesting that whereas the guiding (achievement) values of the lows come out more strongly than ever on this item, the guiding (work-success) values of the highs are less important, in the last six months-when one's individuality is at stake, so to speak-than are religious values,5 passivity, or other pleasures. The main forms of passivity are sleep, fishing, and relax- ing (in the sense of not working rather than of active leisure).
Examples: "Doing the things I like to do and getting ten hours' sleep" (underlin- ing by subject). "I would go to a nice quiet place and just sit down by a stream and fish and think" (mainly passivity; insufficient evidence of intellectuality or inten- sity to merit a score of L). "Relaxing, but trying not to worry or I would die before my six months came up. " "Not thinking about it" may be included here; it repre- sents not only anti-intraception but also a high trend toward negative rather than positive solutions of inner problems.
4? Omissions are recorded as Nb, converted to H.
QuESTION 8. WHA T ExPERIENCEs W ouLD BE MosT AwE-INSPIRING?
Low Categories
r. Realization of achievement values. As discussed previously, these values may be expressed in terms of interpersonal relations, where they refer to personal achievement (intellectual, aesthetic, scientific), warm relationships and social contribution; or they may be expressed on an ideological level in the form of progressive social change, elimination of prejudice, and the realization of broad democratic values.
Examples: "To see the day when the people (collectively) really controlled their own destiny and would no longer be dictated to by special interests. " "Mass emo- tion usually; awe that an emotion can be so uniform in so many people at the same time" (empathy, sense of unity with others). "The composition or fine perform- ance of good music. " "Impersonal and unselfish love for mankind. " "The responsi- bility that a Negro friend of mine feels for 13 million people. " "Birth of anything new-children, animals, seasons, scientific ideas" (references to birth and creativity are fairly common in lows). "A great work of art, poem, piece of sculpture, or sym- phony. " "Certain manifestations of human personality where people are unex- pectedly good, strong and beautiful, especially ordinary people who haven't had much chance; in people the two qualities which arouse my wonder are the power of courage and the power to accept defeat humbly and without bitterness and re- sentment. " References to being loved are low, to being praised or popular are high.
5 The sudden increase in the importance of religion to highs when they are faced with death reminds us of the acquiring of "fox-hole religion" during the war. These results, as well as the interview material on religion, suggest that such last-minute conversions occur more often in highs than in lows.
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2. Power as exemplified in man's achievements and in nature. The idea of power is expressed by both low and high scorers, but again the same event seems to have systematically different meanings for the two groups. The highs' conception of power is extremely personalized (see below); they admire and are awe-inspired by powerful people, toward whom they show deference and submission. The lows, on the other hand, conceive of power in more impersonal terms; they see it mainly as a means toward socially bene- ficial ends (rather than an end in itself), as more universal in the sense of existing everywhere and for the over-all social good. The main kinds of admired power are material-technological achievements by man and exam- ples of grandeur in nature.
Examples: "W atch a two-thousand-ton aircraft take off; the Golden Gate Bridge; the view of the Bay Area from Mt. T amalpais on a clear night. " "The great struc- tures which man has built in this world. " "Seeing a star explode or earthquakes- any extreme natural manifestation. " "Great material achievements-building proj- ects, etc. " "The atomic bomb, Grand Canyon, Boulder Dam, etc. " References to the atomic bomb in itself are neutral; it is scored Lin a context of man-made power or material achievement, H in a context of destructiveness or other high trends.
3? Intense nature experiences. References to nature are scored L if there are explicit indications of a strong aesthetic, sensual-emotional experience, or if there is fairly specific description of what one would be looking at. Vague, empty references to nature in general or to "just looking" are scored H
(see below).
Examples: "Natural phenomena such as Crater Lake, Grand Canyon. " "Thoughts of God's infinite intelligence, power, etc. , as shown in nature-the structure and physiology of living creatures, behavior of the universe, etc. " (This is a good example of a low religious response; understanding, imaginative, universalistic, idea of Gad-in-universe rather than God-over-universe. ) "W atching a beautiful sunset; seeing Frisco at night from a ferry boat in the middle of the Bay. " "A descent into the center of the earth; a walk on the bottom of the ocean. "
High Categories (Question 8)
I. Realization of conventional values. These are highly conventionalized responses referring to acquisition or possession of things, to peace of mind (in the sense of freedom from worry), to a vague, undefined sense of virtue, and to incidental, desensualized pleasures.
Examples: "Feelings of good, examples of good. " "Marriage and happy family life; ownership of something important such as a home, new auto, business concern, etc. " "Love, I guess; from what I understand, when it dawns a fellow he has met the right girl; this is something I imagine and I really believe will be true" (love as a completely strange emotion, more imposed from without than motivated from within). "To know that when I get married I would be able to live very comfort- ably in a home with my wife and child. " "If my husband were home evenings" (no reference to relationship). "To get married. " "Get rid of my stomach trouble. " "Be
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577
in a good frame of mind all the time. " "Possession of great wealth; outstanding accomplishment of any kind" (note the equating of wealth and accomplishment). "Knowing my husband loved me without a doubt; peace on earth" (this seems to refer more to freedom from anxiety than to emotional warmth and exchange). The responses in this category suggest a lack of inner emotional vitality.
2. Power: deference and submission toward power figures. The highs' references to power are in an authoritarian context: the power is personalized in a strong man toward whom the subject has, implicitly or explicitly, a defer- ent, submissive relation. The authority figure may come from various areas of social life: military, political, industrial, religious. There is often an em- phasis on ritual and a concern with what is external rather than with in- trinsic meanings and values.
Examples: "During the war: to sit in on a meeting of the German General Staff; to witness a V-2 bomb launching. For peacetime: a presidential conference with his aides and Cabinet; a meeting of the country's leading personnel men. " "Watch- ing politicians in action in Washington; talking with professional athletes. " "A coronation, a college graduation, awarding of Nobel prizes" (emphasis on ritual and success, not an achievement in an inner sense). "Meeting a truly great man such as Admiral Halsey or General Patton, or President Truman. "
The religious references by highs express the same underlying variables.
Examples: "Certain church services I have seen; religion in the midst of war, on battlefields I have seen. " "A conversation or sight of God. " "A picture of President Roosevelt, whom I admire; being in church during the service. " Note the primary concern with religion as ritual rather than as ethics, and the conception of God in terms similar to those expressed above with regard to personnel men, athletes, mili- tary authorities, politicians. Again we find an indication of religion as a fox-hole phenomenon-something that one turns to only as a support against external threat and inner anxiety. A mystical, superstitious trend is illustrated by the following response: "The feeling relating to something that is supernatural, something that happens in a weird way and has no factual reasons about it. "
In some cases the subject wants to play the power role himself, often with specific reference to someone else playing the deferent role.
Examples: "To be able to fly in the Army Air Corps" (gaining power through the plane; desire for military experience). "I have the mad desire to hear an audience screaming 'Author' for me when my play has been the greatest ever to see Broad- way" (more emphasis on personal prestige, audience deference, than on achieve- ment). "To know the basic actualities of electricity; to create something or see something created, heretofore considered impossible or unbelieveable" (not achievement values, but wanting to do what no one else is powerful enough to do).
3? Destruction-harm of other persons. Many of the military experiences in Category 2 have this aspect, but it is the focal one here.
Examples: "Death of a close relative; torture to reveal an important plan. " "To see death" (this presumably means death in someone else; references to one's personal experience of death would be scored L). "To see San Francisco destroyed by an
? THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
earthquake. " "To see the results of the atomic bomb. " "To watch a delicate stomach operation" (references to surgery are usually high; they seem related to the body- anxiety found in previous items). "To see an alcoholic who cannot help himself stay away from the cravings of liquor, a person who has been severely crippled by a dis- ease, and to go to a funeral. " (Note the associative sequence from dependency to disease to death. )
4? Dilute experiences of nature and beauty. These responses are matter- of-fact, general, superficial descriptions of aesthetic or "nature" experiences, with no detail and no indication of sensual-emotional involvement. The person is for the most part "just looking. "
Examples: "Experiences in nature. " "The sight of rare jewels and metals; the view- ing of great natural wonders of the world. " "Traveling to another planet-galaxy, though I doubt the probability of it" (note the "constriction of fantasy" observed also in Item 7). "The great natural beauties of nature have thrilled me and probably always will. " "Trips through all the important nations of the world and not have to worry about the expenses involved" (note the limitation to "important" nations and the desire for gratuities). "Music. " "Warching some unusual scientific event such as atomic energy" (merely watching, not participation or achievement). "Scenic grandeur. " "Seeing something of real importance. " ?
5? Omissions are recorded as Nb, scored as H. Of the 6 omissions (9 per cent), 5 were by highs.
Note: Due to various circumstances (seep. 58o), only 65 of the total of 312 subjects received this question. It is likely, therefore, that further experi- ence will suggest modifications and particularly additions to the present scor- ing scheme.
SUMMARY OF PROJECTIVE QUESTION CA TEGORIES
High Categories Low Categories
Question I: What moodsare unpleasant or disturbing?
1. Violations of conventional val- ues
2. Threatening or nonsupporting environment
3? "Rumblings from below"
1. Conscious conflict and guilt
2. Focal dependency and love-seek- ing
3? Open hostility, by self or others, toward love objects
4? Omissions
Question 2: What desires are most difficult to control?
I. N onfocal and/or motor aggression 1. Focal (usually verbal) hostility directed against violators of
2. Ego-alien passivity
3? Impersonal sex
4? Incidental pleasures and viola-
tions of conventional values
5. Omissions
achievement values
2. The tendency to violate achieve-
ment values oneself 3? Miscellaneous
? 1. 2. 3?
4?
1. 2.
3?
1. 2. 3?
1.
2.
1.
2.
Power and control Conservative Americans Parents and relatives
1. The arts and philosophy
2. Physical and biological scientists 3? Social scientists, liberal-radical
political figures
4?
