Dr. Bob Altemeyer's - The Authoritarians - studies on authoritarian personalities & their followers

[Shallah Kali]

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

PDF link: http://members.shaw.ca/jeanaltemeyer/drbob/TheAuthoritarians.pdf


Comment on the Tea Party http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/drbob/Comment%20on%20the%20Tea%20Party.pdf

For example, take the following statement: “Once our government leaders and the authorities condemn the dangerous elements in our society, it will be the duty of every patriotic citizen to help stomp out the rot that is poisoning our country from within.” Sounds like something Hitler would say, right? Want to guess how many politicians, how many lawmakers in the United States agreed with it? Want to guess what they had in common?

Or how about a government program that persecutes political parties, or minorities, or journalists the authorities do not like, by putting them in jail, even torturing and killing them. Nobody would approve of that, right? Guess again.

Don’t think for a minute this doesn’t concern you personally. Let me ask you, as we’re passing the time here, how many ordinary people do you think an evil authority would have to order to kill you before he found someone who would, unjustly, out of sheer obedience, just because the authority said to? What sort of person is most likely to follow such an order? What kind of official is most likely to give that order, if it suited his purposes? Look at what experiments tell us, as I did.

If, on the other hand, you’re way ahead of me, and believe the extreme right-wing elements in America are poised to take it over, permanently, I think you can still get a lot from this book. The studies explain so much about these people. Yes, the research shows they are very aggressive, but why are they so hostile? Yes, experiments show they are almost totally uninfluenced by reasoning and evidence, but why are they so dogmatic? Yes, studies show the Religious Right has more than its fair share of hypocrites, from top to bottom; but why are they two-faced, and how come one face never notices the other? Yes, their leaders can give the flimsiest of excuses and even outright lies about things they’ve done wrong, but why do the rank and file believe them? What happens when authoritarian followers find the authoritarian leaders they crave and start marching together?

ShrinkRap Radio: #127 – The Authoritarian Personality with Dr. Robert Altemeyer
http://www.shrinkrapradio.com/2007/12/19/127-the-authoritarian-personality/

Link to Transcript in PDF http://www.shrinkrapradio.com/127.pdf

Google html cache of the transcript: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shrinkrapradio.com%2F127.pdf

[OnyxCollie]

1. K&R. nt

[Fuddnik]

2. You can download the book for free.

Highly recommended.

John Dean cited Altmeyers book and work extensively in "Conservatives Without Conscience".

[cate94]

3. k & r

[Overseas]

4. K&R!

[vduhr]

5. I've been referencing this book for a long time.

I actually purchased a hard-copy, which is relatively inexpensive. I visit the comments page of the website often because Altemeyer frequently comments and answers question.

After reading the book, I've made the comparisons to many right-wing politicians. Also, when reading posts by many conservatives on message boards, you can pick out the authoritarian followers. It's not difficult to see how spot-on Altemeyer's findings are. I am positive that one authoritarian-follower is Michelle Bachmann who I think truly believes everything she says. She seems to have a lot of irrational fears, which I think have been fed to her by her religion. Bachmann is probably a very high RWA.

However, knowing how these people's brains function doesn't make me accept or sympatize with them.

[SharonAnn]

6. It's an outstanding book. Highly recommend it.

[FiveGoodMen]

7. "How do we stop them?" is the only thing I care about.

[Fuddnik]

8. Understanding how they think is a good first step.

Unfortunately,after that, it's like drilling through a diamond with a straw.

[FiveGoodMen]

9. So the first step is also the last step.