F-scale 2303807 224435230 2008-07-08T20:51:07Z Jcbutler 915184 removed inactive links {{for|F-scale as the Fujita scale of tornado intensity|Fujita scale}} The '''F-scale''' is a [[personality test]] ([[Psychometrics|psychometric]] [[assessment]]) that attempts to quantify [[Authoritarian personality|authoritarian]] tendencies. The F-scale was designed on the basis of [[Frankfurt School]] [[Marxist]] philosopher [[Theodor Adorno]]'s theory of [[authoritarian personality]].<ref>Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). ''The authoritarian personality''. New York: Harper and Row.</ref> The "F" stands for "[[fascism]]." The test is designed to measure several variables, including conventionalism, authoritarian submission, authoritarian aggression, anti-intraception, [[superstition]] and [[stereotype]], [[Power (sociology)| power]] and "[[toughness]]," [[destructiveness]] and [[cynicism]], projectivity, and [[sex]]. [[Robert Altemeyer]]'s [[Right Wing Authoritarianism]] Scale revised and refined the work of the F-Scale, and is today the most influential measurement of authoritarianism.{{Fact|date=May 2008}} ==Criticisms== Among the criticisms of the F-scale is its sensitivity to respondents with [[acquiescence|acquiescent]] response styles. A number of related scales such as the Wilson-Patterson Conservatism Scale, P-scale and the Balanced F-scale have been created in an attempt to fix the shortcomings of the F-scale. Adorno's Marxist background has led some to question his exclusive examination of authoritarianism from supposedly right-wing sources. The F-scale's effort to label fascism and Nazism as discredited, authoritarian right-wing movements may have been due to his desire as a Leftist to avoid tarnishing the Left. [http://jonjayray.110mb.com/leftauth.html] His examination of fascism ignored [[Mussolini]]'s Left-wing, socialist origins as well as those of the Nazis, which [[libertarian]] Austrian economist [[Ludwig von Mises]] asserted ''not only imitated the Bolshevist tactics of seizing power,'' but copied their way of governance. (quoted in Ray, 2004) {{cquote|"They have borrowed from the Marxians even such absurdities as the mode of address, party comrade (Parteigenosse), derived from the Marxian comrade (Genosse), and the use of a military terminology for all items of civil and economic life. The question is not in which respects both systems are alike but in which they differ -- Ludwig von Mises}} Adorno overlooked Hitler's initial willingness to sign a non-aggression pact with [[Joseph Stalin]] while waging a war against the government of Conservative British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]]. Fellow [[Austrian School]] economist Friedrich von Hayek charged that Nazism grew out of the post-World War I [[collectivism]] rather from a sense of conservatism. Conservative researcher John J. Ray contends the popularity of Adorno's F-scale is derived from what he sees as the overwhelmingly Leftist orientation of many social scientists. He claims the ideological prejudices of most researchers who have referred to it makes an empirical evaluation of Adorno's work difficult if not impossible. {{cquote|"It must be noted, however, that I am speaking here only of research that sets out to test elements of the Adorno theory. Most research into the Adorno theory reported in the psychological literature assumes the truth of the theory and so the authors concerned tend to fit whatever they find into the theory, by hook or by crook (Ray, 1989 & 1990). And most writers who cite the Adorno work show little or no awareness that there have ever been any serious criticisms of it."[http://jonjayray.110mb.com/leftauth.html]}} Ray also suggests, based on the work of (Pflaum, 1964) that many of the criteria used to evaluate the F-scale such as the tendency to submit to authority or having an "old-fashioned" outlook were based in 1920s "superstitions" rather than solid science.[http://jonjayray.tripod.com/gul.html] ==References== <references/> ==External links== * [http://www.anesi.com/fscale.htm An F-test sample] [[Category:Personality tests]] {{psychology-stub}}