The document discusses the concept of authoritarian personality. It begins by defining authoritarianism as a personality disorder characterized by rigid beliefs, obedience to authority, cynicism towards outsiders, and resistance to change. The concept originated to explain the rise of German fascism in the 1930s. Authoritarianism is rooted in feelings of insecurity, uncertainty, and anxiety caused by modern capitalism, which led people to turn to authoritarian ideologies for psychological security. Childhood experiences, such as obedience training from dogmatic parents, also contribute to the development of authoritarian traits like submission to authority figures. Authoritarian personalities are characterized as dogmatic, ethnocentric, aggressive towards outsiders who threaten their beliefs, and having a closed view of the world.

1. The concept of the authoritarian personality !!!! Student: Euridiki Damoulianou Instructor: Tina Stathopoulou PSY: Political psychology Hellenic American University 28/3/2011

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3. The Definition of authoritarianism Authoritarianism is the personality disorder where the individual has the tendency to be dogmatic , rigid , absolute to his beliefs , resistant to novelty and changes , obedient to authority, submissive to the people who regards superior than him and cynical against the out-group members who regards as inferior in comparison with his group members. (Detlef, 2005) 28/3/2011

5. From 1929 to 1933, the amount of people who voted for the National Socialists increased from 1 million to 7 million !

6. According to Reich (1933), Fromm and Marcuse (1936) the unexpected success of the National Socialists was an effect of an authoritarian socialization !(Detlef, 2005). 28/3/2011

8. Uncertainty

9. Lack of direction

10. Anxiety As a RESULT People turned to the Nazi ideology because they felt that their values were in danger ! (Seculic, 2010). 28/3/2011

12. the individuals the need to restore psychological security and the endangered self-concept !!

13. According to the studies……humans with authoritarian predispositions when they perceive normative threat their intolerance increases !!(Seculic, 2010). 28/3/2011 The roots of the authoritarianism !!!

15. Because …authoritarians feel that the different ideologies from the out-group members can harm the nation & the society !(Seculic, 2010). The roots of the authoritarianism !

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18. If a person is raised by dogmatic and distant parents who…punished him constantly for minor reasons & b) have rigid and absolute ideologies and values about society and humanity ….. (Altemeyer, 2006). 28/3/2011

20. Children who obey constantly to their parent’s demands and there is not any room for independence or rebellion, when they became adults, there are high possibilities to became authoritarians !!!(Altemeyer, 2006). 28/3/2011

22. If an individual learns from the early childhood to obey to the people who have more power and privileges than him (in the case of the childhood the parents), then might he will continue this obedient attitude as an adult !!! (Altemeyer, 2006). 28/3/2011

25. These normative systems make the individual to feel less anxious and any criticism of these norms means for the individual an attack to his sense of security !!(Bhattacharya, 2007). 28/3/2011

27. When leading authorities are under attack, the authoritarian might display aggression, because he feels insecure without the support of the leading authorities !!!(Detlef, 2005). 28/3/2011 Traits of a personality with authoritarian predispositions !

28. Authoritarians also have….. Low-self esteem , lack of identity , the tendency to defend everything new and to reject individuals who have different values systems from them !! hostility & aggression !!! (Detlef, 2005). 28/3/2011

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31. They consider other nations hostile & dangerous !!(Ferrarotti, 1994). 28/3/2011

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34. Authoritarian personalities =an inflexibleuncritical way of thinking !!! =rigid and inflexible in their beliefs !! = a lot of biases& notsubjectivity or imagination !!! (Duckit, 2000) 28/3/2011

36. Educated people think more critically and do not follow the pre-existing beliefs without evaluating them first!!

37. Education = the key to make the individual’s way of thinking more complex and critical and to limit to some extent any authoritarian predispositions !!28/3/2011

38. b) Parental support : If parents offer support and warmth to their children & give them space to take their own decisions and to form their own opinions about the world and society… then the children have fewer possibilities to display authoritarian predispositions when they become adults !!! 28/3/2011

39. Adolf HITLER …the epitome of an authoritarian Personality….. He was born in 1889 by Alois & Klara Hitler . He gave all his affection to his mother while he feared & opposed his father. Adolf as a young boy was Somewhat tall ,sallow, with melancholy thoughtful eyes. He looked older for his age. 28/3/2011

40. Adolf Hitler He wanted to be an artist but he failed to pass his art examination. At the age of nineteen he went Vienna where his ideas about anti-Semitism and anti-slavism begun to crystallize. In 1914 he enlisted in the army with great enthusiasm and in 1919 he came in contact with Anton Drexler and later the Nazi party was formed. He gave the impression of a man with great strength and will but inside he was very insecure and needed power in order to fill his psychological gaps. He fight against minorities ( such as Jews and homosexuals) and exterminated a great number of them , he believed in the Aryan race and the superiority of the German nation , he was very brutal and aggressive and nation-centered. He committed suicide with pills on 30 April 1945 with Eva Braun (when the Russian military powers invaded through Berlin). (Vernon) 28/3/2011

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42. What a person with authoritarian predispositions would say “Whether the world we live is friendly or hostile ,what the future has on store for us , the adequacy of the self ,and what must it be done to alleviate feelings of adequacy of the self , and what must it be done to alleviate feelings of adequacy. It is assumed that the more closed the system , the more will the content of such beliefs be to the effect that we live alone , isolated and helpless in a friendless world. That we live I a world where the future is uncertain. That the self is fundamentally unworthy and inadequate to cope alone with this friendless world. And that way to overcome such feelings is by self-aggrandizing and self-righteous identification with a cause , a concern with power and status , and by a compulsive self-proselytization about the justice of such a cause” (Bothwell,2004) 28/3/2011

44. Submissive towards authority !

45. Rigid to this values & beliefs !

46. Resistant to change & novelty !

47. Aggressive & cynical against out- group members who regards as inferior !28/3/2011

49. Low cognitive complexity !

50. Perceives the world as a hostile place !

51. Accepts inequality !

52. Tends to be ethnocentric !

53. Rejects diversity !28/3/2011

54. two interesting videos to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGhdX1SI3KY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBO6lw607mc

55. Thank you  28/3/2011

57. Detlef, (2005).Flight into security. A new approach and measure of the authoritarian personality, 26 (2). Max –Planck –institute for human development.

58. Bhattacharya, (2007).Authoritarianism and conservatism. Department of political science.

59. Altemeyer, (2006). The authoritarians. Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba.

60. Altemeyer, (2004). Highly Dominating, Highly authoritarian personalities, 144(4), 421-447.University of Manitoba.

61. Ferrarotti, (1994). Beyond the authoritarian personality: Adorno’s Demon and its liberation, 8(1).International journal of politics.

62. Duckitt, (2000). Authoritarianism and dogmatism. Handbook of individual differences in social behaviors. Guilford press. 28/3/2011