🚀 go-pugleaf

That's interesting. I think there's something to that.

At the same time, I wonder if anyone has studied the left-wing type.

Left-wing personality trait:

Continues to try to improve systems through use of strategies that have
failed for decades, believing that the reason for the failure lies not
in the strategies but in something outside the strategies, like
insufficient funding.  The left-wing approach to education clearly
demonstrates this personality trait.



Alistair Sim wrote:
> "Paul Muad'Dib" <tartan_army@msn.com> wrote in message news:...
> > Filip Stojanovski
> > Professor Dungan
> > Personality (52:334)
> > Term Paper
> > Graceland University
> > November 30, 1999
> > Authoritarian Personality and Internet (IRC)
> >
> > The trait approach to personality provided some very insightful results
> > when applied to its own area of interest. The core of this approach is
> > measurement and comparison of traits, personality dimensions that
> > psychologists use to describe differences among human beings. Starting
> > from 1968 (Funder, 1997), great controversy shook the area of trait
> > personality psychology: the trait-situation debate. It was initiated by
> > Walter Mischel's book Personality and Assessment, who claimed that
> > knowledge of personality traits can not help the researcher predict
> > behavior of the observed persons. This debate lead to further research
> > that confirmed the basic assumption of trait psychology: that behavior can
> > be predicted by measuring of person's traits. This article will provide an
> > example of application of these results.
> >
> > The focus of this article is the behavior of people with identified trait
> > called authoritarian personality, when set in a particular environment
> > (situation) - the Internet. The influence of the conditions provided by
> > the environment will be examined and conclusions will be drawn, in
> > comparison with the theoretical data.
> >
> > To illustrate the point, I will use a case study methodology, and
> > cumulative results from personal observations. Although I am dealing with
> > Internet from 1995, I have not conducted statistical data analysis of the
> > behavior of people there, although I could not help but take mental notes
> > of it. Thus, the results of this research should be taken with a grain of
> > salt, since they can be considered somewhat subjective, or in other words,
> > relating to my personal reality.
> >
> >
> >
> > The Authoritarian Personality
> >
> > The monstrosity and the scale of Holocaust that took place during World
> > War II is still puzzling the people who have enough intellectual courage
> > to think about it. Scientific research attempts to ponder into its causes
> > lead several American psychologists to production of a book called
> > Authoritarian Personality (Nevitt Stanford at all, 1950). In this book,
> > they argued that the collection of prejudices and ways of thinking that
> > lead individuals in Europe (and elsewhere) to accept the nazi (or fascist)
> > ideology and participate in accomplishments of its goals can be summed up
> > in a distinct personality trait called authoritarian personality. Causes
> > for development of authoritarian personality were explained using eclectic
> > approach, a blend of behaviorism and psychoanalysis, thus extending the
> > scope of application of this thesis. And since one of the basic approaches
> > in trait psychology is a trait, as "distinguishing quality of personality"
> > (Merriam-Webster Dictionary), can be measured according to some relative
> > scale, the F-scale was developed. F-scale uses indirect questions to gain
> > insight in the level a person is prejudiced and possesses the other
> > distinguishing characteristics of the authoritarian personality. The
> > indirectness comes from the fact that, just like some Germans claim that
> > they did not know about the concentration camps, not all persons would
> > admit their bigotry or close-mindedness.
> >
> > The F-scale (F stands for fascism) uses seven variables to determine the
> > level of authoritarianism in a person's personality. I will note these
> > variables together with examples from the case studies, which will serve
> > both as illustration of the variables and a sort of proof that the people
> > I talk about further in the article would score high on the F-scale. The
> > nine variables in question are:
> >
> >  1.. Conventionalism - submission to conventional, middle-class values:
> > "what would the neighbors say" type of behavior, as well as emphasis on
> > hard work as opposed to creativity and different ways of thinking when
> > attaining goals.
> >
> >  2.. Authoritarian submission - submissive, uncritical attitude toward
> > idealized moral authorities of the in-group. During discussions about
> > politics, some of these people refused to acknowledge the responsibility
> > for corruption of the high government officials, such as president or
> > prime-minister, on the grounds that they "represent the country, so if you
> > talk bad about them, you talk bad about the country". Also, these people
> > expressed deep devotion to the parental figures, even when their influence
> > was not constructive.
> >
> >  3.. Authoritarian aggression - tendency to be on the lookout for, to
> > condemn and punish people who violate conventional values. This variable
> > was mostly expressed in the fear from members of other ethnic groups, such
> > as Albanians, or people with unconventional sexual orientation: the
> > promiscuous and homosexuals. When quarreling, most insults referred to
> > some of these categories.
> >
> >  4.. Anti-interception - opposition to people who try to see their reality
> > more in terms of feelings, fantasies and by use of imagination, than by
> > adherence to strict rules. The anti-interceptive person is described as
> > afraid to think about this side of human nature in order to prevent
> > oneself to think "wrong thoughts". Thus, the attempts to talk about inner
> > feelings, as well as their initiators, were met with opposition starting
> > from a seemingly carefree attitude ("I do not come here to talk about hard
> > stuff. I come here to have fun."), and ending in breakdown of
> > communication with introspective people.
> >
> >  5.. Superstition and Stereotypy - it is acute how some of the most
> > extreme cases of suspected authoritarian personality that I met like to
> > deal with subjects such as horoscope, former lives, numerology, sometimes
> > to the extreme point of fear from black cats. The tendency to enclose
> > one's thinking by imposing "beliefs of mystical determinants of the
> > individual's fate," was often paired with use of stereotypes, such as
> > ethnic or cultural. For example, westerners were described as
> > sophisticated and cultured, while members of their own community as rude
> > or uneducated. This went to extremes such as attributing the courteous
> > traits to common U.N. soldiers stationed in Macedonia, and saying that gas
> > stoves and some basic parts of a car mechanism that are used in America do
> > not exist in Macedonia.
> >
> >  6.. Power and "toughness" - preoccupation with a world view in terms of
> > power and dominance-submission, strength, and identification with power
> > figures. Examples include the following: "The lover I choose will be my
> > slave", defending a obviously wrong point in an argument just to prove
> > oneself right, or "I had dinner at the same place as the president. I
> > should have walked to him and shake his hand."
> >
> >  7.. Destructiveness and cynicism - generalized hostility towards humans.
> > A classical example used in the F-scale was often encountered "No matter
> > how they act on the surface, men are interested in women for only one
> > reason." The theory goes that such an individual, harboring perfectly
> > human impulses suppressed by external restrictions, turns the frustration
> > into aggression.
> >
> >  8.. Projectivity - defined as a disposition to believe that wild and
> > dangerous things (projected emotional impulses), are committed by others.
> > This also includes putting the blame of one's own failures to communicate
> > to others, as well as projecting ones own insecurities, such as "You are
> > so stupid!".
> >
> >  9.. Sex - concern for sexual activity, and result of interaction of other
> > variables. Usually a supplement (reaction formation) for unsatisfied,
> > sometimes willfully denied, personal needs.
> >
> >
> >
> > Situation: Usage of Internet (IRC)
> >
> > The researchers who study the Internet view it as a medium that promotes
> > open mindedness, diversity, and tolerance to individual and group
> > differences. An extensive research (Katz, 1997) done by HotWired, a
> > company dealing with digital culture, concluded that people who use
> > digital technologies tend to be more optimistic, tolerant, civic-minded,
> > and that they feel unafraid and empowered to deal with changes in the
> > society. This looks like the total opposite of the authoritarian
> > personality. The assumption of these researchers is that the Internet as a
> > medium is molding the behavior and thinking of its users in that
> > direction.
> >
> > The observations I've done were committed mostly by using IRC (Internet
> > Relay Chat), a communication system that enables the users to send written
> > messages in real time. At a same time the users can communicate on a
> > person-to-person basis, sending private messages, but they can also talk
> > to a group of people who "inhabit" the same channel, or a chat-room at the
> > same time. This activity enables the users to meet many new acquaintances
> > from all over the world, or to strengthen or keep the relations when
> > moving or traveling.
> >
> > IRC is highly addictive, because it is based on a both variable-ratio and
> > variable-schedule reinforcement. By using this medium, people succumb to
> > operant conditioning, because satisfaction from meeting the people of
> > interest to them does not come regularly and the intensity of pleasure
> > from conversation is not always the same, since sometimes tiredness and
> > miscommunications occur. The addictiveness of the medium leaves the people
> > with authoritarian personality feeling trapped, out of control, and since
> > their inner insecurities crave for control, they turn to aggression. The
> > aggression can take form of verbal abuse, extensive quarreling with other
> > members of the group, to damaging attacks on other person's computers by
> > hacking or nuking. This cannot always be traced to polar disease or
> > expedition choler, described by Konrad Lorenz (Lorenz, 1963) as a drive to
> > interpersonal aggression among members of small, threatened groups.
> > Although there were some cases of this reported, when Greek nationalists
> > using the same tactics attacked Macedonian channels, the pattern emerged
> > in channels non aggravated by outside threats.
> >
> > I was (or still am) an active member of several such channels, and a
> > pattern that emerged, is that when the channel is visited by people who
> > seem close to authoritarian personalities two things happen - either the
> > talk in the channel virtually stops (the channel dies), or such people
> > leave the channel and do not come back, except sometimes as voyeurs (the
> > IRC jargon is "leeches"). The second thing happens in channels where power
> > structures and openness are explicitly promoted by majority of visitors,
> > as well as channel "managers" who can control the access. This impression
> > was confirmed by other users, who seem to long for the good old days when
> > there was much more real talk on the channels.
> >
> >
> >
> > Conclusion
> >
> > Based on intuition and theoretical results and the observed situations, I
> > concluded that there is much usefulness to use the trait approach in this
> > regard. The level of my personal problems on IRC (explosive situations and
> > worry) declined significantly after I decided to accept people as they
> > are, and not what I feel that they might become if they overcome their
> > personal inhibitions and background influences, such as the ones that lead
> > to development of authoritarian personality (for example, the patriarchal
> > traditions present in the "regular" Macedonian society). Identifying a
> > person as authoritarian personality and deciding to accept him/her as s/he
> > is, can spare someone a lot of headache. On a long run, I hope that
> > exposure to the medium, and different world-views, influences such persons
> > to move in direction of bettering their lives and the lives of those
> > around them. Change does good.
> >
> >
> >
> > Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) is a psychological personality variable
> > or "ideological attitude".
> >
> > It is defined as the convergence of three attitudinal clusters in an
> > individual:
> >
> > 1. Authoritarian submission - a high degree of submission to the
> > authorities who are perceived to be established and legitimate in the
> > society in which one lives. "It is good to have a strong authoritarian
> > leader."
> >
> > 2. Authoritarian aggression - a general aggressiveness, directed against
> > various persons, that is perceived to be sanctioned by established
> > authorities. "It is acceptable to be cruel to those who do not follow the
> > rules."
> >
> > 3. Conventionalism - a high degree of adherence to the social conventions
> > that are perceived to be endorsed by society and its established
> > authorities. "Traditional ways are best."
> >
> > High scorers on the RWA scale (High RWAs) tend to have a rigid, often
> > fundamentally religious, view of morality tending toward homophobic,
> > racist and patriarchal beliefs. High RWA scorers tend to support authority
> > figures, such as the government, taking action to censor certain social
> > groups - often those they view as physically or morally threatening.
> >
> > It is not an ideological measure, but a social psychological one. The
> > nature of the RWA scale leads to predictions that High RWAs will tend to
> > support the current political authority, regardless of the ideology
> > expounded by those in power. For example, it was predicted, and confirmed
> > that in the old Soviet Union, high RWAs were supporters of the Communist
> > Party because it represented the established authority. (The Authoritarian
> > Specter)
> >
> >
> >
> > History of the RWA Theory
> > The RWA construct was developed by Robert Altemeyer, drawing on Adorno's
> > post-WWII research on the concept of an authoritarian personality - based
> > on Freudian theory - which contained conservative, pro-fascist, prejudiced
> > and ethnocentric beliefs. Taking an empirical approach based on
> > statistical analysis and disregarding the theoretical construct, Altemeyer
> > found that just three facets of this authoritarian personality were
> > statistically significant and cross-correlated: conventionalism,
> > authoritarian aggression and authoritarian submission. Conventionalism is
> > the tendency to accept and obey social conventions and the rules of
> > authority figures. Authoritarian aggression is characterised by an
> > aggressive attitude towards individuals or groups disliked by authorities,
> > and authoritarian submission is submission to authorities and authority
> > figures. (The Authoritarian Specter)
> >
> > Altemeyer developed the RWA scale to measure this cluster of beliefs,
> > asking subjects to rate their agreement (or disagreement) with statements
> > such as "Our country will be great if we honor the ways of our
> > forefathers, do what the authorities tell us to do, and get rid of the
> > 'rotten apples' who are ruining everything." This example contains all
> > three facets of RWA:
> >
> >  a.. "honor the ways of our forefathers" - conventionalism/traditional
> > values
> >  b.. "do what the authorities tell us to do" - authoritarian submission
> >  c.. "get rid of the 'rotten apples' who are ruining everything" -
> > authoritarian aggression
> > Although he made some minor adjustments to the scale, the original
> > construct has not been changed. However, its relationship to other
> > attitudinal scales and theories has been the subject of empirical
> > research, and theorizing about how different attitudinal factors interact.
> >
> > [edit]
> >
> > Significant Correlations
> > Altemeyer discovered a wide range of correlations over the years, which
> > can be organized into four general categories. (The Authoritarian Specter)
> >
> > 1: Faulty reasoning - RWAs are more likely to:
> >
> >  a.. Make many incorrect inferences from evidence.
> >  b.. Hold contradictory ideas leading them to 'speak out of both sides of
> > their mouths.'
> >  c.. Uncritically accept that many problems are 'our most serious
> > problem.'
> >  d.. Uncritically accept insufficient evidence that supports their
> > beliefs.
> >  e.. Uncritically trust people who tell them what they want to hear.
> >  f.. Use many double standards in their thinking and judgements.
> > 2: Hostility Toward Outgroups - RWAs are more likely to:
> >
> >  a.. Weaken constitutional guarantees of liberty such as the Bill of
> > Rights.
> >  b.. Severely punish 'common' criminals in a role-playing situation.
> >  c.. Admit they obtain personal pleasure from punishing such people.
> >  d.. Be prejudiced against racial, ethnic, nationalistic, and linguistic
> > minorities.
> >  e.. Be hostile toward homosexuals.
> >  f.. Volunteer to help the government persecute almost anyone.
> >  g.. Be mean-spirited toward those who have made mistakes and suffered.
> > 3: Profound Character Flaws - RWAs are more likely to:
> >
> >  a.. Be dogmatic.
> >  b.. Be zealots.
> >  c.. Be hypocrites.
> >  d.. Be bullies when they have power over others.
> >  e.. Help cause and inflame intergroup conflict.
> >  f.. Seek dominance over others by being competitive and destructive in
> > situations requiring cooperation.
> > 4: Blindness To One's Own Failings And To The Failings Of Authority
> > Figures whom They Respect- RWAs are more likely to:
> >
> >  a.. Believe they have no personal failings.
> >  b.. Avoid learning about their personal failings.
> >  c.. Be highly self-righteous.
> >  d.. Use religion to erase guilt over their acts and to maintain their
> > self-righteousness.
> > RWA is also correlated with political conservatism - not so much at the
> > level of ordinary voters, but with increasing strength as one moves from
> > voters to activists to office holders, and then from lower to higher-level
> > officeholders. (The Authoritarian Specter)
> >
> > In one part of his summation, Altemeyer wrote that RWAs are more likely
> > to: "Be conservative/Reform party (Canada) or Republican Party (United
> > States) lawmakers who (1) have a conservative economic philosophy; (2)
> > believe in social dominance; (3) are ethnocentric; (4) are highly
> > nationalistic; (5) oppose abortion; (6) support capital punishment; (7)
> > oppose gun-control legislation; (8) say they value freedom but actually
> > want to undermine the Bill of Rights; (9) do not value equality very
> > highly and oppose measures to increase it; (10) are not likely to rise in
> > the Democratic party, but do so among Republicans." (The Authoritarian
> > Specter)
> >
> > Altemeyer's own statement about this may be worth noting (From p. 239 of
> > "Enemies of Freedom"): "right-wing authoritarians show little preference
> > in general for any political party" and their prevalence in the Republican
> > party reflects the long term effects of point (10) above.
> >
> > [edit]
> >
> > Early Development of RWA
> > Duckitt has suggested a model of attitude development for RWA in which
> > punitive socialisation causes social conformity. This leads to a view of
> > the world as a dangerous, dog-eat-dog place. This fits with RWA beliefs,
> > which influence ingroup and outgroup attitudes.
> >
> > [edit]
> >
> > Connection with Social Dominance Orientation
> > RWA has been found to correlate moderately with Social Dominance
> > Orientation (SDO). Together they are strong predictors of a variety of
> > prejudiced beliefs such as sexism, racism and anti-homosexual attitudes.
> > The two measures can be thought of as two sides of the same coin: RWA
> > provides submissive followers, and SDO provides power-seeking leaders.
> > ("The other 'authoritarian personality.'")
> >
> > [edit]
> >
> > Further reading
> >  a.. Altemeyer, Robert (1996). The Authoritarian Specter. Harvard
> > University Press. ISBN 0-674-05305-2.
> >  b.. Altemeyer, B. (1998). "The other 'authoritarian personality.'" In M.
> > Zanna (Ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 30 (pp. 47-92).
> > San Diego: Academic Press.
> >  c.. Martin, John Levi (2005). "The Authoritarian Personality, 50 Years
> > Later: What Questions Are There for Political Psychology?". Political
> > Psychology 22 (1): 1-26. DOI:10.1111/0162-895X.00223.
> >  d.. Dean, John W. (2006). Conservatives without Conscience. Viking Adult.
> > ISBN 0-670-03774-5.
> > Works Cited
> >
> > Funder, D. The Personality Puzzle (pp. 59+). New York: W. W. Norton &
> > Company
> >
> > Katz, J. (1997) The Digital Citizen [Online]. HotWired. Retreived November
> > 30, 1999 from the World Wide Web.
> >
> > Lorenz, K. (1963) On Aggression. (pp. 55-56) San Diego: Harvest/HBJ
> >
> > Neill, A. S. (1960) Sumerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing. New
> > York City: Hart Publishing Company
> >
> > Newit Sanford, R., & Adorno T. W., & Frenkel-Brunswik, E., & Levinson, D.
> > J. (1950, 1997) The Measurement of Implicit Antidemocratic Trends. In
> > Funder. D. C., & Ozer, D. J. (Ed), Pieces of The Personality Puzzle (pp.
> > 89-114). New York: W. W. Norton & Company
> >
> > Weiten, W. (1997) Psychology: Themes and Variations (3rd ed., briefer
> > version). (pp. 165-167). Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company
> >
> > The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (1997) Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster,
> > Incorporated
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was
> > German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody
> > that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody
> > could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The
> > greatest
> > trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
> > Keaton always said, "I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him." Well
> > I
> > believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze. - Verbal
> > Kint
> >
> > "They seek him here, they seek him there,
> > "those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
> > "Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
> > "That damned elusive Pimpernel."
> >
> >
> > "How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the
> > impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?"
> >
> >
> > The little things are infinitely more important."
> >
> >
> > "I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for
> > trifles."
> >
> >
> >