Authoritarian Submission Research Articles

Information processing style and institutional trust as factors of COVID vaccine hesitancy

This study investigates the factors contributing to COVID vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy has commonly been attributed to susceptibility to misinformation and linked to particular socio-demographic factors and personality traits. We present a new perspective, emphasizing the interplay between individual cognitive styles and perceptions of public health institutions. In January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, 318 participants underwent a comprehensive assessment, including self-report measures of personality and clinical characteristics, as well as a behavioral task that assessed information processing styles. During 2021, attitudes towards vaccines, scientists, and the CDC were measured at three time points (February–October). Panel data analysis and structural equation modeling revealed nuanced relationships between these measures and information processing styles over time. Trust in public health institutions, authoritarian submission, and lower information processing capabilities together contribute to vaccine acceptance. Information processing capacities influenced vaccination decisions independently from the trust level, but their impact was partially mediated by authoritarian tendencies. These findings underscore the multifactorial nature of vaccine hesitancy, which emerges as a product of interactions between individual cognitive styles and perceptions of public health institutions. This novel perspective provides valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms that drive this complex phenomenon.

Uticaj sociodemografskih karakteristika na desničarsku autoritarnost

Introduction. This paper explores the impact of sociodemographic characteristics on right-wing authoritarianism. Right-wing authoritarianism is defined as a combination of three attitudinal clusters: authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression, and conventionalism. Objective. The aim of the study is to examine the influence of gender, age, education, and religiosity on right-wing authoritarianism. Methods. In the conducted research, right-wing authoritarianism was defined as the criterion variable, while others were specified as predictors. The Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) scale, consisting of 12 questions and measured at an interval level, was used to assess right-wing authoritarianism. The study was conducted on 112 participants of different genders and ages from the general population in Serbia, using a non-random, voluntary sample. Results. The obtained data show that, on average, respondents exhibit a slightly more pronounced right-wing authoritarianism (both in terms of the overall scale and its subscales). There were gender differences in the degree of right-wing authoritarianism, with men being more authoritarian than women. Age-related differences in the degree of right-wing authoritarianism were found, as well as the fact that respondents with higher levels of education are less prone to authoritarianism, while those who emphasize their religiosity are more inclined toward authoritarianism. Conclusion. The results of this study have important implications for interventions to reduce the prevalence of right-wing authoritarianism and the development of policies to mitigate its negative effects on individuals and society. Based on the obtained results, implications for further research are presented.

Conative gamification model for psychological diagnostics and identification of risk zones of deviant behavior in educational institutions

Introduction. In the modern world, new methods of teaching and upbringing in the educational process are being created, new technologies are associated with the creation of digital methods of modeling the environment: interactive tools. Simulation-based learning methods are more common, which is a new tool that can potentially replace and enhance the real experience in a fully interactive way. The central trend in the educational institution is the transition to new methods that are integrated into the digital environment. The purpose of the article is to create a model of gamification of psychological diagnostics and identification of risk zones of deviant behavior in educational institutions. Methods. Within the framework of the strategic academic leadership program «Priority 2030», we conducted studies of deviant behavior of schoolchildren (n=85) and students (n=125). The following methods are used: diagnostics of the level of empathic abilities of V. V. Boyko; methodology of T. Adorno, E. FrenkelBrunswick, D. Levinson, R. Sanford «Scale of fascism»; methodology for identifying the «bullying structure» of E. G. Norkina. Methods of mathematical statistics: factor analysis by the method of principal components, regression analysis. Research results. Six components that make up the conative model of identifying risk zones of deviant behavior are identified: «Self-destruction», «Tendency to violate norms», «Susceptibility to right-wing extremism», «Cognitive distortion», «External aggression», «Pathological personality». A regression equation has been compiled, which gives the probability of prediction, where 94% accuracy of prediction, thereby determining that the scale of fascism is determined by two variables: authoritarian aggression and authoritarian submission. Other empirical facts have also been established to explain the model based on cognitive empathy. The management of the Penetrating ability in empathy can change the structure of bullying, reduce the number of aggressor's assistants, because it is positively interrelated with the role of defenders of victims (r=0.19; p<0.05). Conclusion. The components that reflect the diagnostic potential of the gamification model for identifying risk zones in the educational institution of students are fixed. Based on the selected components, you can create a program using the regulatory framework.

Experimentally induced changes in authoritarian submission as a response to threat

Authoritarianism is best conceptualised by three attitudinal clusters: Aggression, Submission, and Conventionalism. Once considered a fixed characteristic, recent observational research has demonstrated how the dimension of submission can fluctuate in response to COVID-19 threat as a means of maintaining collective security. However, this effect has not been investigated with other forms of threat, nor has it been supported experimentally. In the present study, we sought to test observational findings by priming 300 participants with either a COVID-19 threat, a domestic terrorism threat, or a non-threatening control. Levels of authoritarianism were tested before and after presentation of a prime and then the difference between the two measures could be compared between prime conditions. Results from a Bayesian multivariate regression analysis informed by observational findings suggested that participants who experienced the COVID-19 or terrorism primes reported higher levels of authoritarian submission after the prime compared to before the prime, relative to those who experienced the neutral control prime. In contrast, the aggression subfactor did not seem to elicit any change in response to threat, and the conventionalism subfactor showed a response only to the terrorism prime. We concluded that two different forms of societal threat could elicit changes in specific dimensions of authoritarianism over a very short time span. We caution against the common practice of treating authoritarianism as a unidimensional construct without careful consideration.

Obedience to authorities is not unconditional: Differential effects of COVID‐19 threat on three facets of RWA in Poland and Germany

AbstractCollective authoritarian responses to threat might differ depending on whether people trust collective authorities in reducing threat. Thus, we tested the differential effects of epidemic threat on three facets of right‐wing authoritarianism, in Germany (a country with high authorities' efficacy in responses to COVID‐19) and Poland (low authorities' efficacy context). Two representative sample longitudinal studies performed in Poland (N = 892) and Germany (N = 883) showed that in Germany feelings of COVID‐19 threat explained increases in authoritarian submission and (to a lesser extent) authoritarian aggression, whereas in Poland such feelings of threat explained changes in authoritarian aggression and conventionalism after the pandemic, but did not alter authoritarian submission. These findings suggest that specific authoritarian reactions to threat (submissive vs. conventionalist) might depend on the general trust in authorities' ability to respond to crises.

Structures of Loyalty: A Comparative Study of Jewish and Palestinian Evangelicals' Acquiescence to Fundamentalist and Authoritarian Values

This is a qualitative comparative study of two evangelical movements in Israel and in the West Bank: the Israeli Messianic (IM) movement and the Palestinian Evangelical (PE) movement. Through interviews on how informants understand the Middle Eastern conflict, our aim is (1) to compare the prevalence of fundamentalist/authoritarian (F/A) values in the IM and PE movements and (2) to understand how a particular socio-political context —Israel and the West Bank—might affect the acquiescence to a F/A mindset amongst the two movements. To accomplish this, we created a F/A construct that measures five values: literalism, social withdrawal, authoritarian aggression, authoritarian submission, and conventionalism. We found that the IM scores higher on all five F/A values. To explain the difference, we point out the importance of structures of loyalty: the difference in how IMs and PEs connect to key societal groups affects the way they acquiesce to fundamentalist and authoritarian values.

Becoming authoritarian for the greater good? Authoritarian attitudes in context of the societal crises of COVID-19 and climate change

Authoritarianism is widely conceived as destructive phenomenon that threatens liberal societies. However, some scholars suggest that authoritarianism is beneficial both for individuals' sense of control and goal attainment within groups. In line with this reasoning, collective problems, such as the COVID-19 crisis and climate change, may go hand in hand with increased levels of authoritarianism. While individuals may generally reject the abstract ideas of authoritarian rule and intolerance, societal threat may require individuals to weigh liberal values against needs for collective unity and action. Thus, individuals are expected to show less support for abstract authoritarian ideas compared to authoritarian ideas that are directed at dealing with a specific societal crisis (crisis-related authoritarianism). Following the notion that authoritarianism serves as an antiliberal means for achieving collective goals, relative increases in crisis-related authoritarianism hinge on the rejection of the means being outweighed by the perceived importance of the goal. While authoritarian disposition captures general tendencies to accept the means, trust in science serves as a proxy for the perceived importance of COVID-19 and climate change mitigation. The relative increase in crisis-related authoritarianism should be particularly pronounced among individuals who are not predisposed to authoritarianism and who trust in science. Findings from a cross-national survey experiment in Germany (N = 1,480) and Spain (N = 1,511) support this reasoning. Participants answered four items covering authoritarian submission and aggression either on an abstract level (control condition), or applied to the COVID-19 crisis or the climate change crisis. Participants were more supportive of authoritarian ideas targeted at a specific collective problem as compared to abstract authoritarian ideas. Furthermore, the differences in authoritarianism between the control condition and the two societal crisis conditions decreased with authoritarian disposition and increased with trust in science. Exploratory analyses suggest that the main differences across experimental conditions are driven by authoritarian submission while the interaction effects are rather driven by authoritarian aggression. The study underlines the role of authoritarian ideas for collective goal attainment that exists above and beyond stable personal dispositions. As such, it sheds light on the conditions under which citizens conceive authoritarianism as justifiable.

Left-wing support of authoritarian submission to protect against societal threat.

New Zealand's Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, adopted a "go hard, go early" approach to eliminate COVID-19. Although Ardern and her Labour party are considered left-leaning, the policies implemented during the pandemic (e.g., police roadblocks) have the hallmarks of Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA). RWA is characterized by three attitudinal clusters (authoritarian aggression, submission, and conventionalism). The uniqueness of the clusters, and whether they react to environmental change, has been debated. Here, in the context of the pandemic, we investigate the relationship between political orientation and RWA. Specifically, we measured political orientation, support for New Zealand's major political parties, and RWA among 1,430 adult community members. A multivariate Bayesian model demonstrated that, in the middle of a pandemic, both left-leaning and right-leaning individuals endorsed items tapping authoritarian submission. In contrast to authoritarian submission, and demonstrating the multidimensional nature of RWA, we observed the typical relationships between political orientation and authoritarian aggression and conventionalism was observed.

Longitudinal Change in Authoritarian Factors as Explained by Political Beliefs and a Distrust of Science

During the COVID-19 pandemic there have been marked changes in individuals' belief systems (e.g., support for lockdowns) as a result of the threat of COVID-19. In the current study, we investigated whether these belief systems change as a function of changes in the threat of COVID-19. Specifically, we conducted a longitudinal study, with authoritarianism measured at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand and when the threat of COVID-19 was low (i.e., no known COVID-19 cases in the community). A total of 888 participants responded at both timepoints, completing measures of political orientation and distrust of science, in addition to the measure of authoritarianism. We had two hypotheses. First, that liberals would display a more marked reduction in authoritarian submission between Alert Level 4 and Alert Level 1 relative to conservatives. Second, that changes would be mediated by trust in science. Both hypotheses were supported, demonstrating that authoritarianism is sensitive to threat, even for those on the political left, and that trust in science helps to explain these changes. We suggest that fluctuations in authoritarianism may be different across the political spectrum due to underlying belief systems such as a distrust of science.

Профили политической идентичности россиян: роль моральных оснований, оправдания системы и сопротивления изменениям

Objectives. To extract profiles of Russian political identity in terms of attitude to the conservative agenda, main ideologies, political parties, and institutions among Russians, as well as to identify the connections of these profiles with moral foundations and motivation for system justification and resistance to change. Subsequent analysis showing what is consolidating and what is divisive among the participants, as well as the key dimensions along which this split takes place.Background. A simple analysis of attitudes towards individual politicians and political parties and other subjects of politics does not allow to understand the relatively stable political views of Russians. At the same time, ideological closeness or disagreement is not psychologically accidental, even among those who are poorly versed in politics. There are always some pre-political psychological variables that reflect the predisposition of people to accept certain explicit ideological preferences that are reflected in specific profiles of political identity.Study design. Cross-sectional one-sample correlation design using data from socio-psychological survey. A person-centered approach was applied in the form of latent profile analysis.Participants. There were 224 participants in study 1 and 125 participants in study 2.Measurements. Moral foundations (Graham et al., 2011), attitude toward conservative agenda (Everett, 2013), system justification (Jost, 2015), resistance to change (White et al., 2020), feelings thermometer (Converse et al., 1980).Results. The greatest differences between the profiles of the Russian political identity were observed in the positive attitude toward capitalism, free market, and freedom of speech, as well as toward the president, patriotism, monarchy, military and national security. These differences were related to support for the current Russian political course and the manifestation of loyalty to it. The differences between the profiles were more related to the binding moral foundations, while the idea of fairness was equally important for Russians with any of the profiles found.Conclusions. Authoritarian submission can be considered a key psychological foundation of the Russian political identity. On the other hand, political views are differentiated by the choice between the demand for security (stabil’nost’) or development (i.e., accepting the risks of changes for the future development, or abandoning them in favor of security, stability, predictability of the current political course).

When trauma isn’t traumatic enough: Authoritarianism, sex, and religion influence agreement with Alabama’s HB 314 restrictions on traumatic abortion

ABSTRACT Abortion access has been found to have more support when the circumstances are traumatic, i.e., rape, rather than personal choice. The study is an examination of the factors that influence support for Alabama’s anti-abortion House Bill 314 (HB 314) under three different scenarios of traumatic abortion, depicting the bill’s ramifications: a married woman who is raped and denied an abortion, a single woman who is raped and denied an abortion, and a pregnant, unmarried woman allowed an abortion for health reasons. Participants (n=873) were randomly assigned in equivalent numbers to one of three conditions, in which they were exposed to a vignette depicting one of the scenarios and asked afterward whether they supported the ramifications of HB 314. Participants also provided demographic information and completed surveys assessing factors such as religious rigidity, authoritarianism, and moral conviction on abortion. The results of logistic regression indicate that the factors influencing support of the bill differ by scenario. The most consistent predictors of abortion opposition were right-wing authoritarianism and being male. Participants responded differently depending on whether trauma was the cause of (i.e., rape) or the reason for (i.e., endangered health of mother) the abortion: abortion opposition was lower for abortion with traumatic reason, with authoritarians most likely to oppose abortion access in that scenario. Evangelical Christians were over four times as likely as others to oppose single, versus married, women’s access to abortion after rape. Results indicate that future studies of abortion opposition should analyze traumatic causes and reasons separately. Researchers also should consider potential mediators of the correlates of abortion opposition found here. It may be that some other factor such as conventionalism or authoritarian submission, which was significantly higher for Christian participants, is mediating the relationship between evangelical Christianity and strict opposition to abortion access.

Cultivating Authoritarian Submission: Race and Gender in Conservative Media

Over the last four decades, right-wing movements have brought authoritarian political forms into mainstream US politics and mobilized widespread consent for an increase in social control. This article argues that conservative media helped drive the move to the right in American political culture by cultivating the desire for command-based relations of rule on the part of listeners. Leaders of the Christian Right, hosts of Fox News, and the politicians they showcased refurbished conservative politics for an era of post-racial and gender equality by framing reclamations of privilege and authority in narratives of redemption. Identifying redemption narratives in the genres of Christian-themed self-help and conservative talk news, I show how they instill particular relations of authority in part by tethering these relations to the construction of white masculinity and white femininity.

Unraveling the Black Mountain: Authoritarian Submission and Party Preference in Montenegro

AbstractWhy do some post-communist countries regularly experience democratic overturn of power while others do not? This article analyzes the role of authoritarianism, adopting a novel approach concentrating on three separate dimensions (authoritarian submission, conventionalism, authoritarian aggression). Examining Montenegro, a country that has not changed its incumbent government since the breakdown of communism, the article argues that authoritarian submission, which stands for an obedient relationship to a political authority, is a relevant factor for the domination of a single party—the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS). I test my assumptions using two surveys: the Montenegrin National Elections Study (2016) and a self-designed student survey. Notwithstanding the Montenegrin and Serb ethnic cleavage and economic preferences that remain significant for voting patterns, findings from both analyses confirm that submissive tendencies are important for voting behavior both for the national sample and for the educated young. This emphasizes the importance of psychological factors and the need to break submissive mindsets for successful democratic transformation in post-communist countries.

The Good Man Shooting Well: Authoritarian Submission and Aggression in the “Gun-Citizen”

ABSTRACT In the two decades since Bruno Latour imagined the “gun-citizen” as an emergent combination of human and object, the number of US civilians carrying firearms daily has increased fivefold. This essay analyzes discourses of “carry culture” and argues that within it good citizenship comprises the twinned acts of submission to the gun and aggression toward othered groups, defining carry culture as fundamentally authoritarian. The essay further argues that carriers’ submission to their weapons is a corrupted form of care, prompting rhetoricians to reconsider what constitutes ethical relations with objects. Viewing guns in these ways reveals carrying, despite gun culture’s preoccupation with “freedom,” as physically and mentally constricting and puts forth the idea that firearms carried in public are dangerous whether or not they are ever fired.

Why are consistently-handed individuals more authoritarian? The role of need for cognitive closure

ABSTRACT Recent studies indicate that individuals with consistent hand preference are more authoritarian than individuals whose preference is relatively inconsistent. We explored the role of epistemic needs in the handedness-authoritarianism relationship. Based on findings that consistent individuals are less cognitively flexible than inconsistent individuals, we hypothesized that consistent-handers would report greater need for definite knowledge. To measure this, we administered the revised Need for Cognitive Closure scale to a sample of undergraduates (N = 235), along with measures of handedness consistency and authoritarian submission. Consistent individuals scored significantly higher on authoritarian submission and need for closure. Need for closure fully mediated the relationship between consistency and submission. Consistent individuals also expressed greater prejudice against authoritarian out-groups such as immigrants and liberals. This effect was partially mediated by authoritarian submission. We theorize that consistent-handers’ cognitive inflexibility leads them to covet definite knowledge. These individuals turn to authoritarianism because it promises to stifle dissent and protect existing (conventional) knowledge.

Authoritarianism and the transgenerational transmission of corporal punishment

BackgroundAuthoritarianism, firstly described by Horkheimer in 1936, is characterized by submission to authorities, aggression against subordinates and conventionalism. Authoritarianism is discussed as major contributor for right-wing attitudes. Horkheimer hypothesized that authoritarianism has its origin in the experience of harsh parenting and exposure to corporal punishment (CP) by authoritarian parents. The other way around, literature points towards an association between conventionalism and support of CP as disciplinary method, suggesting a role of authoritarianism in the vicious cycle of transgenerational transmission of CP. ObjectiveWe aimed to assess the association of authoritarianism, right-wing attitudes and affirmation of CP, focusing particularly the role of authoritarianism and right-wing attitudes in the transgenerational transmission of CP.Participants and Setting: In a cross-sectional survey, a representative sample of the German population above the age of 14 (N = 2524) was selected in a random route approach. ResultsAuthoritarian aggression, authoritarian submission and conventionalism (OR 1.40) such as right-wing self-assessment (OR 1.39) are associated with an increased support of different forms of CP. Moderation analyses reveal an increasing affirmation of CP by those with a history of CP holding authoritarian attitudes and right-wing positions. ConclusionsOur results suggest a significant role for sociopolitical attitudes in the affirmation of CP and its transgenerational transmission. Sociopolitical ideology may be an important factor to identify risk groups, but furthermore represents a promising target for preventive interventions that aim to stop the cycle of violence in families, and, subsequently, the dire consequences of CP.

The Underpinnings of Ageism: Multiple Mediational Model of Epistemological Style, Social Dominance Orientation, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and Ageist Attitudes.

This study seeks to understand the psychological factors that may contribute to the development and endorsement of ageist belief systems. Dual process theory is used to examine how one's worldview, beliefs in social hierarchy, authoritarian aggression, authoritarian submission, and conventionalism predict ageist attitudes. Participants living in the United States (n = 407) in 49 states and territories were recruited through this online national study and completed surveys of their ageist beliefs, epistemological style, social dominance orientation (SDO), and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). RWA, SDO, and naïve realism were all positively associated with ageist beliefs. A hypothesized path model and two alternative models suggested the retention of a model whereby naïve realism led to RWA, which led to SDO, and finally to ageism. All possible direct and indirect effects were significant within the retained model, suggesting the presence of a multiple mediation. The fit of this model was superior to that of models testing alternative theoretical causal chains. Naïve realism may lead to authoritarian aggression, authoritarian submission, and conventionalism, which may then increase the value that people place on social hierarchies, and this may influence the development and retention of ageist beliefs. Helping people to understand what their basic beliefs about the world are and how they may play a role in the development of ageism may assist in reducing ageist attitudes.

"Važno je imati moćnog vođu!" Analiza autoritarnosti u hrvatskom društvu od 1999. do 2018. godine

The primary goal of this paper is the analysis of authoritarianism in Croatian society which is based on the results from the European Values Study. In a theoretical sense, we are following Bob Altemeyer’s concept of authoritarianism, which is defined as the combination of three attitudinal clusters – authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression and conventionalism (Altemeyer, 1988). The analysis is divided into two parts. In the first part we analyse separately eight particles which comprise our authoritarian construct with the basic socio-demographic characteristics for the year 2018. In the second part we use the authoritarianism index as criterion for the three-predictor model (socio-demographic characteristics, religiosity and trust). On the basic level, the results show an increase of those who consider that having a strong leader is good and that it would be a good thing to have greater respect for authority in the near future. Further analysis shows that a lower level of education, the importance of God in life, and trust in the Church are the most important predictors for authoritarianism in Croatian society.

Construcción y evidencias de validez de una escala abreviada de autoinforme para evaluar el autoritarismo

Authoritarian aggression, authoritarian submission, and conventionalism comprise beliefs or attitudes know as authoritarianism. In the present study, we report on the development and the test of the psychometric properties of a brief scale for the assessment of authoritarian tendencies, the Attitudes toward Authoritarianism Scale (ESCAUT). Participants in the study were 786 adults with ages ranging from 18 to 75 years, 70.7 % military. An initial pool of 42 items written to capture the core features of authoritarianism was evaluated by specialists, and then answered by the participants. Results from ordinal factor analysis indicated 20 items with moderately to highly discriminative (factor loadings > .50) of two latent factors: Moral and punitive authoritarianism (α = .88), and submissive authoritarianism (α = .89). Test information curves revealed a broad coverage of the latent trait in both subscales. Moreover, the instrument could discriminate military from non-military participants, with large size differences. The ESCAUT is a brief self-report scale recommended for the assessment of the main features of authoritarianism in the general Latin American population. Limitations of the study are addressed.

Оценка толерантности военнослужащих к экстремистской идеологии

The article focuses on the research of the diagnostic indicators of the assessment of tolerance of military personnel to extremist ideology. A methodical toolkit of the research included a structured interview on the proprietary questionnaire «Assessment of tolerance to manifestation of extremist ideology», «Bogardus Social Distance Scale» (E. Bogardus), «The California F-scale» personality test (T. Adorno, E. Frenkel-Brunswik, D. Levinson, R. Sanford), Allport's Scale of Prejudice (G. Allport, B. Kramer); the questionnaire «Types of ethnic identity» (G.U. Soldatova, S.V. Ryzhova) as well as expert assessment. 76 military personnel took part in the research (experts:16, subjects:60). Frequency, correlation and factorial analyses were used for empiric data processing. The statistically significant indicators related to tolerance of military personnel to extremist ideology were identified by comparing test and evaluation data. The disposition to ideology of extremism can be defined through such diagnostic parameters as «social distance», «reluctance to change», «authoritarian submission» and «aggression», «destructiveness and obscenity», «exaggerated importance of the force», etc. These personal features can be reckoned as a generalised psychological profile of an individual committed to extremist ideology. The highlighted indicators such as «Tolerance», «Signs of commitment to extremist ideology», «Ethnic attitudes», «Intolerant convictions» combine sings denoting an increased probability of an individual being involved in improper activities. A degree of impact (specific weight) of component factors on formation of propensity of a military to the ideology of extremism is exposed. According to the research report it is confirmed that the designed questionnaire «Assessment of tolerance to manifestations of extremism ideology» enables to detect the diagnostic parameters of tolerance of military personnel to extremist ideology. The approach permits to reckon the diagnostic indicators of tolerance to extremist ideology in forming specific research toolkit (questionnaires, forms, etc.). The material aims to improve psychodiagnostic and psychoprophylactic activities with the Armed Forces personnel of the Russian Federation.