PSYCH 2B03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Erich Fromm, Antisemitism, Bob Altemeyer
11 Apr 2014
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Purposes for measuring traits: to predict behavior, to understand behavior. Some traits have seemed so important that a major amount of effort has been put to assess them. Researchers take long lists of traits that correlate with the specific behavior and then seek to explain the pattern of correlations. Ex: a researcher interested in the behavior of self-control might measure how long a child can wait for a reward and measure up to 100 traits in each child. But with this freedom came a frightening degree of responsibility, which according to fromm many individuals fear and seek to escape it by turning their will over to an external authority. In turn, such individuals enjoy giving orders to those below them in the hierarchy, fromm coined the term authoritarian character to describe these personalities. Berkley group of psychologists attempted to understand the difference between authoritarians and nonauthoritarians, appointed to search for the cause of anti-
