I had a long blog entry here not long ago asking a few questions about right wing Republicans. I said that a study should be done so we can understand people that think the way they think.
It appears that Bob Altemeyer, a psychologist, at the University of Manitoba (Canada) has been studying these sort of people for 30 years. He also used the research of Theodor Adorno. There were studies done after WWII trying to identify the personality traits of people like Hitler.
See a story in This Magazine
A few things come out in the studies of Bob Altemeyer that seem common in RWA people. One is the "persistent belief" that men and woman are not equal.
RWAs are attracted to the "bedrock" founding principles of the society they live in and become anxious and fearful when others challenge those principles.
"...Using cognition testing, Altemeyer found that RWAs are able to keep conflicting ideas in separate mental compartments. They can believe in “freedom of speech” and “my country, love it or leave it” without seeing the contradiction. This permits them to support legislation such as the U.S. Patriot Act without perceiving the damage it has done to fundamental democratic freedoms..."
The RWA types do not agree with Altemeyer. They feel he is trying to turn them into a psychological group with problems.
I think is work answers the questions I was asking. It seems right to me.
I said I would like for a study to be done and one of the studies he did was of 1,233 members of U.S. state legislatures.
So right wing hard core Republicans are hard wired in their brain when they are born to think a certain way.
A RWA person born in the United States is going to wrap himself in the American flag and not want to see or hear anything that conflicts with his basic ideas. He will not want change.
A RWA person born in some other nation would have different views. In the old days in South Africa a white male born there would believe in the apartheid system.
It is all very interesting. Of course I bet the Republicans can come up with some sort of study on left wing people.
We also have to remember that nothing is every 100%. Not all hard core right wing Republicans are going to be RWA.
