Are "authoritarian personalities" born or made?

[annabanana]

We all have known people for whom obedience to or the exercise of power is the defining personality trait. The rightness or wrongness of the issue at hand is of secondary importance to these people. "Who has control?" Until that question is settled definitively, nothing else matters.

I've always thought it had something to do with toilet training, but the fact that large groups of people seem to be especially afflicted makes me wonder. Are these groups self-selected? Is there a genetic component?

[AIJ Alom]

1. I think it's a learned trait rather than one with a genetic component.

Although one can argue that it stems from human greed which arises from our very basic survival instincts and self-preservation. Said individuals seem however, more inclined to preserve themselves at the costs of others, parasites come to mind.

[Kiouni]

2. it's environmental

you can see easily in history just from the simple fact that all developed civilizations had leadership or a minority in power. the only exception i can think of in the sea of kings and presidents is ancient athens but even they had class-ism.

[sweetheart]

3. its a result of our hypercompetetive society

When nobody is a collegue or family, and everyone is competition for a higher paying job,
and its authority, then our society says that the power of the bossman is higher than god,
the pinnacle of civil society, to be another undeserving overpaid.

[sakabatou]

4. Made

[SerpentX]

5. Probably both to some degree

[H2O Man]

10. Correct. n/t

[genie_weenie]

11. Nature v. Nurture, again...

It's both and it not a set percentage. The amount that Nature or Nurture affect each individual varies.

[H2O Man]

13. Right.

It's like the amount of yellow and blue needed to make green.

[sam sarrha]

6. a recent study of why there is such a divide concluded that liberals and Conservatives marry others

who have similar views and produce children who have similar views, the old saying your will be your parents is sorta very true..

i think one of the reasons France was so progressive is they eliminated the fascist types from the gene pool during the revolution.. just like Napoleon eliminated all the tall men by drafting them during the wars he started..

[annabanana]

7. Well, they eliminated the aristocracy,

if that's what you mean. But I have known people whose "breeding" is impeccable who are the antithesis of authoritarian. Perhaps that's because none of them felt personally threatened by the changes they espoused.

[seabeyond]

27. authoritarians is not restricted to conservatives. we have it i

liberals also. we just call it rule for the good of the whole

[seabeyond]

8. the oldest child syndrome. and on both sides of the fence r and d

[The2ndWheel]

9. It's there naturally

but authoritarian personalities win, and win, and win again because an ever increasing complex society requires hierarchy.

[annabanana]

12. Authoritarians carry the seed of their own destruction..

An ever increasingly complex society requires increased cooperation, I think.

[The2ndWheel]

20. Diminishing returns

http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Complex-Societies-Studies-Archaeology/dp/052138673X

I think we're on the same page. Different paragraphs, but the same page.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. There are 3 to 5 basic personality traits that seem largely genetic.

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.

[seabeyond]

25. i have two children. one in need of rule. one rebels to rule

innate, since beginning of their time easily recognized.

our two family, my husband demand for rule, societal good behavior, authoritarian. my side,... non rule followers. we couldn't not be more clear or more black/white on this. my oldest is so his family and youngest so mine. i saw it in them as babies.

my oldest had a set routine, set breakfast every day... step by step always.

my youngest rejected any kind of control from beginning

i wonder

this is why i am so adamant to those that insist at all cost, we all follow all law for the good of the whole. THEY are capable of doing it because it is in essence who they are. I am not capable of and never have been capable of follow another's order to behave or do others bidding. i could not even if i tried. it is not what i am made of. what i have learned, the basis to who i am is balance, justice, honesty and win win for all,... so generally, regardless of rule or not... my choices are as good if not better than those that look not further than written rule to walk life.

the best we can do is understand the uniqueness in all of us and that demanding of another, something they are not capable or able to give is a waste of time. so behooves us all to see other methods of living together. each groups brings a higher to a mix. all are needed to balance the other out, avoiding an extreme

[mmonk]

15. I would suggest everyone read

"Whose Freedom? The Battle over America's Most Important Idea", by George Lakoff. Rarrar, Straus and Giroux/New York.

[Beer Snob-50]

16. i think you are predisposed to having the type of personality

to want to do it (make sense?) but you have to then learn that such behavior works.

[WinkyDink]

17. I am an authoritarian type, but I'd like to think benevolent. I kicked my way early

into this world as a Scorpio, and as an only child I much prefer "my way".
I call it my "Elizabeth Taylor Philosophy of Life", TYVM!

[seabeyond]

26. my boys and i were talking about judges. my oldest said he would

make a great judge. he is high iq, intellectually into justice, but i said the youngest would be a etter judge. i would be scared to death to go in front of the older. rule of law... right/wrong all so clear to him. no fuzziness for him. my youngest can go beyond the obvious

[benEzra]

18. I vote nurture over nature...

and power is addictive. I think people who come to believe that other people "ought to" think just like them, and lack the humility to see the problem with that, can become authoritarian if they manage to get in a position where they can dictate to someone else--even if it's over petty issues. A communitarian philosophy, with its rejection of "live and let live," can lead to authoritarian tendencies, as can conservative patriarchal or theocratic philosophies ("God has put me on this planet to make sure others live by my beliefs.")

And you don't have to look at Congress for examples. Look at local homeowners' associations, and the petty tyrants they sometimes attract (Mussolini meets Martha Stewart). When we bought our house, one of our absolute deal breaker criteria we gave our realtor was "No HOA."

The antidote to authoritarianism is a heaping dose of "live and let live." Live by your own choices to the fullest, but don't insist your neighbor live by the same choices "or else."

[porphyrian]

19. Both. Nature versus nurture is a false binary.

Think of it like a card game - genetics determine the hand you're dealt and environment determines how you play those cards.

[Jed Dilligan]

21. Made. You can't have it

without social structure. It's a form of overidentification with the structure of society.

[treestar]

22. Copied this from somewhere; found it interesting

Authoritarian personality – Believed to be the result of an upbringing of rigid discipline and conditional affection (Adorno et al. 1950). It was a discovered connection between racism/fascism and the authoritarian parenting style which led Adorno to attempting to specify a psychodynamic framework as a basis. While finding comfort in the identification of submissive behavior towards authority, the authoritarian person directs his/her aggression towards other groups, often racial minorities, all in an attempt to compensate for feelings of personal weakness with a search for absolute answers and strengths in the outside world.

The concept of authoritarian personality denotes a number of qualities, which according to the theories of Theodor Adorno and his colleagues predict one's potential for fascist and antidemocratic leanings and behaviors. These qualities are assessed by a coherent system--the "structure of personality"--which arises out of characteristic experiences in early childhood and the pattern of internal, psychic processing.

• Conventionalism -- the tendency to accept and obey social conventions and the rules of authority figures; adherence to the traditional and accepted
• Authoritarian Submission -- submission to authorities and authority figures
• Authoritarian Aggression -- an aggressive attitude towards individuals or groups disliked by authorities; particularly those who threaten traditional values
• Anti-Intraception -- rejection of the subjective, imaginative and aesthetic
• Substitution and Stereotypy -- superstition, cliché, categorization and fatalistic determinism
• Power and Toughness -- identification with those in power, excessive emphasis on socially advocated ego qualities
• Destructiveness and Cynicism -- general hostility, putting others down
• Projectivity -- the tendency to believe in the existence of evil in the world and to project unconscious emotional impulses outward
• Sex -- exaggerated concerns with respect to sexual activity
Freud's psychoanalytic theory suggests that values and norms that are first represented in the person of the father are internalized in the course of the child's development. From these the first unconscious stage of the so-called superego develop. The grappling with an authoritarian, very strict father leads to the development of a very strong superego. Thereby, from the earliest childhood onward, unconscious desires and drives (e.g., power and sexual license) must be thrust down and remain unsatisfied.

The unconscious conflicts that are unleashed thereby are solved when the person projects the "forbidden" drives and aggressions of his superego onto other people. As a rule, ethnic, political or religious minorities are selected as a screen for these projections, because this way there are no social sanctions to fear. Often, he can fall back on socially acceptable prejudices.

[chaska]

24. This deserves a reply...

I gotta go, but have copied it to my desktop for later.

[chaska]

23. Probably a little of both, but definitely, it's learned behavior.

[More Than A Feeling]

28. It's all about how people choose to deal with the human condition.

You can try to buy security at the expense of others. That's an authoritarian.

You can get everyone to realize that we sink or swim together. That's an egalitarian.

[montieg]

29. Erich Fromme, "Escape from Freedom", 1941

MUST read! Best analysis I've ever read. Humans long for freedom and fear nothing more. Uses term of 'conformist'. Wonderful analysis of mob psychology.

[hsher]

30. I think born

Been around and seen too many of 'em.

[kineneb]

31. check the sources in John Dean's newest book

I will bet there is some good info to be had on the subject there.