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An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship between Conservatism and Superstition
Author(s) -
BOSHIER ROGER
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1973.tb00066.x
Subject(s) - acquiescence , conservatism , superstition , psychology , social psychology , authoritarianism , personality , proposition , scale (ratio) , epistemology , law , political science , philosophy , democracy , politics , physics , theology , quantum mechanics
According to the Authoritarian Personality researchers (Adorno et al. , 1950) superstition was a central component of the highly conservative fascistic type person and indicates a tendency to shift responsibility from the individual on to outside forces beyond his control; it indicates that the ego might already have “given up”, that is to say, renounced the idea that it might determine the individual's fate by overcoming external forces' (p. 236). However, close examination of the Authoritarian Personality reveals the evidence in support of the above proposition to be somewhat equivocal. Furthermore, findings derived from studies using the F Scale are now suspect because of criticisms levelled at the F Scale concerning acquiescence response bias (viz. Peabody, 1966). The constructors of the Conservatism Scale included items such as ‘horoscopes' and ‘inborn conscience’ in order to tap superstition. The balanced keying of items has successfully overcome problems of acquiescence response bias inherent in propositional statement type measures of conservatism (Cloud & Vaughan, 1970).