Authoritarianism and Mental Rigidity: The Einstellung Problem Revisited

As with many issues in psychology, after decades of research no consensus was reached regarding the relationship between authoritarianism and mental rigidity. In particular, the literature describing experiments on authoritarianism and Einstellung rigidity left the basic question unresolved. The present study, based on Christie's review of this literature, used his recommendations for improvements in experimental methodology. An experiment with 101 college undergraduates found greater rigidity among high authoritarians only under conditions designed to produce ego involvement. These results were bolstered by the finding that low humanism, as measured by Tomkins's Polarity Scale, also predicted rigidity. The second dimension of polarity theory (normativism) did not predict rigidity. The present findings suggest that the rigidity of authoritarians may result from arousal produced by ego involvement.