AUTHORITARIANISM REVISITED: EVIDENCE FOR AN AGGRESSION FACTOR

Abstract

A principal components factor analysis was performed on the scores of 245 undergraduates to a short version of the F Scale and measures of prejudice, attitude toward welfare, toleration of political deviance, punitiveness toward criminals, and support of the Vietnam War. The analysis produced two factors. One was an authoritarian aggression factor which was consistent with the Berkeley levels of personality approach and previous factorial research. All of the measures except the welfare items had substantial loadings on this factor. The second was an attitude toward welfare factor which appeared to be unrelated to authoritarianism.