F-scale (personality test)

The California F-scale is a 1947 personality test, designed by Theodor W. Adorno and others to measure the authoritarian personality.[1] The "F" stands for "fascist". The F-scale measures responses on several different components of authoritarianism, such as conventionalism, authoritarian aggression, anti-intraception, superstition and stereotypy, power and "toughness," destructiveness and cynicism, projectivity, and sex.[2] Scores acquired from the F-scale could be directly associated with background components, educational level, and intellectual capacity.[3] It is an indirect type of test that ensures the result would not be due to the individual's fake responses; this is possible because the purpose of the measurement and which attitude is being measured are initially concealed from the participants.[4] The existence of this correlation could possibly affect the way in which the F-scale accurately measures the authoritarian personality syndrome.[3] The F-Test has two principal purposes: it aims to measure prejudice and anti-democratic tendencies at the personality level.[4]

The purpose of the F-scale is to measure an antidemocratic personality structure, usually defined by authoritarianism. A score of above 80 on the F-scale test indicates that the subject may be suffering from severe psychopathology. Patients who suffer from repeated episodes of disorders usually get a higher F-scale score than those who have acute disorders. Research has not found any correlation between F-scale scores and educational level.

The scale specifically examines the following personality dimensions:

  • Conventionalism: conformity to the traditional societal norms and values of the middle class;
  • Authoritarian submission: a passive notion towards adhering to conventional norms and values;
  • Authoritarian aggression: punishing and condemning individuals who don’t adhere to conventional values;
  • Religion and Ethics;
  • Superstition
  • Power and "toughness";
  • Anti-intraception, i.e. "rejection of all inwardness, of the subjective, the imaginative, the tender-minded, and of self-criticism"; and

F-scale tests measure not only the subject's overall level of stress but also his or her willingness to cooperate in the testing process.[5]

Early research

Research in the late 1960s focused on police and the detection of authoritarianism.

Doubt about its indirect measure

According to data presented by Baljeet Ahmed Muhammad, a hypothesis was formed proposing that brighter people are capable of penetrating the significance of the F scale, helping them react in a more “suitable” fashion. Hence, because the F scale can be faked, it cannot be considered as an indirect measure.[4] In the course of the Minnesota Adoption Study it was found that "the F-Scale scores were negatively correlated with WAIS vocabulary [an IQ test] (-0.42) and showed the same pattern of family correlations".[6]

Criticism

The scale has attracted a great deal of criticism, since it is ideological and associates societal processes with personality characteristics.[7]

Among the criticisms of the F-scale is its sensitivity to respondents with acquiescent response styles due to being worded so that agreement always indicated an authoritarian response. A number of related scales such as the Wilson-Patterson Conservatism Scale and the Balanced F-scale have been created in an attempt to fix the shortcomings of the F-scale. Bob Altemeyer's Right-wing authoritarianism Scale is the most frequently used, contemporary descendant of the F-scale.

Another criticism of the test is the assumption that users with a high score are unsophisticated and may lack social intelligence. According to Kelman and Barclay (1963), the experience of the participant is reflected on the test score; i.e., they may not be able to see the obvious pattern and motives recurring in the test and be ignorant of it.

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See also

References
  1. Codevilla, Angelo M. (2010). "America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution". The American Spectator. Archived from the original on 2012-12-07.
  2. http://www.anesi.com/fscale.htm
  3. Kelman, Herbert C.; Barclay, Janet (1963). "The F scale as a measure of breadth of perspective". The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 67 (6): 608–15. doi:10.1037/h0048738. PMID 14084770.
  4. Cohn, Thomas S. (1952). "Is the F scale indirect?". The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 47 (3): 732. doi:10.1037/h0062297. PMID 12980781.
  5. Cukrowicz, Kelly C.; Reardon, Maureen Lyons; Donohue, Keith F.; Joiner, Thomas E. (2004). "MMPI-2 F Scale as a Predictor of Acute Versus Chronic Disorder Classification". Assessment. 11 (2): 145–51. doi:10.1177/1073191104264961. PMID 15171462.
  6. Scarr, Sandra; Weinberg, Richard A. (1983). "The Minnesota Adoption Studies: Genetic Differences and Malleability". Child Development. 54 (2): 260–267. doi:10.2307/1129689. JSTOR 1129689.
  7. Spielberger, Charles (2004). Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology. pp. 251–5. doi:10.1016/B0-12-657410-3/00028-3. ISBN 978-0-12-657410-4.

Further reading
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