Reply #14: There are 3 to 5 basic personality traits that seem largely genetic. [View All]

[Jackpine Radical]

These same factors, particularly the first 3, keep turning up in factor-analytic studies of personality such as Eysenck's work in Britain, R. B. Cattell's 16-PF, and Costa & McCrae's 5-factor model. These first 3 factors typically account for 50 or 60% of the variance, depending on the particular variable set you are analyzing.

They are neuroticism (incorporating anxiety & its relatives such as depression); extroversion; openness, and perhaps two others (conscientiousness and agreeableness). I know of no particular data suggesting authoritarianism loads on any one of the major 3 factors (openness may be worth looking at that way, but I know of no research that has done so).

Personally, I look to Lakoff for a developmental explanation of authoritarianism rather than to the personality theorists. His "strict-father" model, and the associated childrearing practices, explain a lot IMHO.