Knowra Authoritarian personality Authoritarian personality A personality pattern marked by submission to authority, aggression toward perceived rule-breakers, and adherence to conventional norms. The concept is most closely associated with mid-twentieth-century research on prejudice and fascism.
Authoritarianism : A political or social orientation favoring obedience to authority, conformity, and punishment of perceived norm violators. The personality concept is one psychological account of a broader orientation toward authority and conformity.
Theodor W. Adorno : A German philosopher and social theorist associated with the Frankfurt School and critical theory. Adorno co-authored the study that established the concept's influential early formulation.
Psychoanalytic theory : A family of theories explaining mental life through unconscious processes, conflicts, and early experience. The original account interpreted authoritarian traits through psychoanalytic ideas about childhood and repression.
Left-wing authoritarianism : A proposed form of authoritarian attitudes associated with left-wing political commitments. It challenges accounts that treat authoritarian dispositions as exclusive to the political right.
Ethnocentrism : The tendency to evaluate other cultures through the standards and assumptions of one's own culture. The original study examined authoritarian traits alongside ethnocentric attitudes.
Conventionalism : Adherence to established social norms, customs, and conventions. Conventionalism is one of the three traits in the original account of the authoritarian personality.
Else Frenkel-Brunswik : An Austrian-American psychologist who studied prejudice, personality, and child-rearing. Her clinical interviews contributed to the study's account of authoritarian character.
Punitive parenting : A parenting style that relies heavily on punishment to control children's behavior. The original theory proposed that harsh discipline could foster fear and suppressed hostility.
Social dominance orientation : An individual preference for group-based hierarchy and unequal relations between social groups. It explains support for hierarchy without requiring the same emphasis on submission and conventionalism.
Antisemitism : Hostility, prejudice, or discrimination directed against Jews. Antisemitism was a central form of prejudice the postwar research aimed to explain.
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