The Behavioral Validity of Some Recent Measures of Authoritarianism

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Abstract
The Rigby and Rump attitude to authority scale, the Hogan symbolic authoritarianism measure, the Ray Directiveness scale, and a balanced F scale were administered to a group of people selected and rated by students. An achievement motivation scale was also included because of recent findings suggesting that achievement motivation may be one source of authoritarian behavior. The responses of the 82 Ss showed the five scales as adequate in reliability. The composition of the sample was representative by basic demographic criteria. Ratings of 11 attributes important in the authoritarianism literature were gathered for each S. The highest correlation with rated overall authoritarian behavior was recorded for the achievement motivation scale followed closely by the Ray Directiveness scale. Equivalent correlations for the other three scales were nonsignificant. It was concluded that future research into authoritarianism should restrict itself to the use of behavior inventories as measuring instruments.

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