Psychological studies of values.

(1961). The Social Desirability of Trait Descriptive Terms: Preliminary Norms and Sex Differences. The Journal of Social Psychology: Vol. 53, No. 2, pp. 225-233.

The Social Desirability of Trait Descriptive Terms: Preliminary Norms and Sex Differences

This study reports on changes in the attitudes of authoritarianism and dogmatism among adolescents in West Germany and in the United States over a 33-year period. Surveys conducted in the United States in 1978 and in West Germany in 1979 are compared with surveys carried out in these countries in 1945 and in the 1960s. The survey instrument was a questionnaire composed of nine subscales, including items from the California F-Scale and from the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale. It focused on authoritarianism in relation to the state, the family, the school, and society in general. A significant decrease in authoritarianism scale scores over time was noted in each country. The changes were greater in West Germany than in the United States whereas German adolescents were far more authoritarian than their American contemporaries in 1945, American adolescents are somewhat more authoritarian than those in West Germany today, according to the scale scores. These findings also held when the analyses were repeated separate...

Trends in Authoritarianism A Study of Adolescents in West Germany and the United States Since 1945

Summary Because of the widely-acknowledged validity problems with the California F scale, it seems important to explore what alternative methods are available for the measurement of authoritarianism. Thirty-seven scales are reviewed which offer alternative conceptions to the F scale. Although uneven in quality, some seem to offer considerable potential for future research use. An account of recent attempts to produce a balanced version of the F scale is also given which concludes that this problem has now been substantially solved.

Alternatives to the F Scale in the Measurement of Authoritarianism: A Catalog

Using affect control theory, an ideal type of authority is developed from the literature identifying three dimensions of meaning. This ideal type is then used to compare U.S. and German subjects. Because their power is legitimated by cultural rules, authorities are positively evaluated despite their ability to coerce. Because it is understood, authorities need not engage in expressive action to demonstrate their power. The affective meaning of role identities reflects their structural meaning, such as authority. Role identities, rated on three-dimensional semantic differential scales of affective meaning, are classified using a K-means clustering algorithm to empirically generate clusters of structural meaning. The cluster discussed here corresponds to the ideal typical authority category of potent, positively evaluated, and not expressive role identities. In the two studies reported here involving more than 1,700 U.S. and German subjects, I find a high degree of cross-cultural agreement on what is classi...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/sop.2004.47.3.313

McGRANAHAN Dv

Papers

A comparison of social attitudes among American and German youth.