Robert Anthony Altemeyer (born 6 June 1940) is a retired Professor of Psychology at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.right-wing authoritarianism In psychology, the right-wing authoritarian (RWA) is a personality type that describes somebody who is highly submissive to their authority figures, acts aggressively in the name of said authorities, and is conformist in thought and behavior. Th ...

scale, or RWA Scale, as well as the related left-wing authoritarianism scale, or LWA Scale. He first defined the right-wing authoritarian personality in 1981, as a refinement of the

authoritarian personality The authoritarian personality is a personality type characterized by a disposition to treat authority figures with unquestioning obedience and respect. Conceptually, the term ''authoritarian personality'' originated from the writings of Erich Fro ...

theory originally pioneered by

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

researchers

Theodor W. Adorno Theodor W. Adorno ( , ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, psychologist, musicologist, and composer. He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of criti ...

Else Frenkel-Brunswik Else Frenkel-Brunswik (August 18, 1908 in Lemberg – March 31, 1958 in Berkeley, California, USA) was a Polish-Austrian Jewish psychologist. She was forced to leave Poland and later Austria as a result of anti-Jewish persecution. She is bes ...

Daniel Levinson Daniel J. Levinson (May 28, 1920 – April 12, 1994), a psychologist, was one of the founders of the field of positive adult development. Levinson is most well known for his theory of stage-crisis view, however he also made major contributions ...

, and

Nevitt Sanford Nevitt Sanford (1909–1995) was an American professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley and later at Stanford University. A Harvard doctoral student of Gordon Allport, PhD in social psychology and Henry Murray, MD at the ...

. Altemeyer defined the right-wing authoritarian personality as someone who: # is naturally submissive to authority figures that they consider to be legitimate, # acts aggressively in the name of said authority figures, and/or # is very conventional (i.e. conformist) in thought and behavior. He performed extensive research on

authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political '' status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic vot ...

, identifying the psychological makeup of authoritarian followers, and authoritarian leaders. His studies concentrated on who the followers are, how they got that way, how they think, and why they tend to be submissive and aggressive. He also collected data on authoritarianism among North American politicians. He documented his research in several books, most recently written for general audiences in ''The Authoritarians'' at the suggestion of

John W. Dean John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) is an American former attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal ...

. Altemeyer's work is referenced in Dean's 2006 book, ''

Conservatives Without Conscience ''Conservatives without Conscience'' is a book written by John Dean, who served as White House Counsel under U.S. President Richard Nixon and then helped to break the Watergate scandal with his testimony before the United States Senate. The book ...

''."The Hard Right"
(30 July 2006). Review of ''Conservatives without conscience'' by

Nick Gillespie Nicholas John Gillespie (; born August 7, 1963) is an American libertarian journalist who was editor-in-chief of ''Reason'' magazine from 2000 to 2008 and editor-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason TV from 2008 to 2017. Gillespie originally joined ...

. ''The New York Times''. Altemeyer's latest book, ''Authoritarian Nightmare'', co-written by Dean, is a book about U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

and his authoritarian followers.

Awards

Altemeyer was awarded the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

Prize for Behavioral Science Research in 1986.

Personal life

His son,

Rob Altemeyer Rob Altemeyer is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the Manitoba legislature from 2003 to 2019. Altemeyer has long been involved in social justice and environmental issues in the Winnipeg area. He was responsible for implement ...

, was an NDP MLA in the

Manitoba Legislature The Legislature of Manitoba is the legislature of the province of Manitoba, Canada. Today, the legislature is made of two elements: the King of Canada in Right of Manitoba, represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, and the unicameral ...

from 2003 to 2019."Today's NDP: Rob Altemeyer, your MLA for Wolseley"
.

Publications

* * * and several subsequent postscripts: Comment on the 2008 election, Comment on the Tea Party movement and a short comment on Donald Trump. * * * * *

References

External links

The Authoritarians
by Bob Altemeyer
The Authoritarian Specter - Book Review, April 7, 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Altemeyer, Bob Canadian psychologists Canadian agnostics University of Manitoba faculty Carnegie Mellon University alumni 1940 births Living people