Just_Ed
10 kW
I submit this not for the hardliners (followers) here, but for those that haven't yet or won't learn about Trump ...the man.
How Authoritarians Leaders Get Away with It
The one psychological move that frees followers from doubt.
An article in Psychology Today by Jeremy E. Sherman Ph.D., MPP
Reprinted here with permission. Maybe it will provide insight into why Trump supporters are more adamant in their support for 'the man' than the party he purports to represent.
Experimental psychologist Bob Altemeyer spent his entire career studying authoritarians, both the leaders and the followers. In 1998, he wrote:
“Wanna-be tyrants in a democracy are just comical figures on soapboxes when they have no following. So the real…threat lay coiled in parts of the population itself…ready someday to catapult the next Hitler to power with their votes.”
His and other’s research yields this list of conclusions about authoritarian followers whether they follow tyrants on the left, right, religious, spiritual, whatever:
They are highly ethnocentric, highly inclined to see the world as their in-group versus everyone else. Because they are so committed to their in-group, they are very zealous in its cause.
1. They are highly fearful of a dangerous world. Their parents taught them, more than parents usually do, that the world is dangerous. They may also be genetically predisposed to experiencing stronger fear than most people do.
2. They are highly self-righteous. They believe they are the “good people” and this unlocks a lot of hostile impulses against those they consider bad.
3. They are aggressive. Given the chance to attack someone with the approval of an authority, they will lower the boom.
4. Their beliefs are a mass of contradictions. They have highly compartmentalized minds, in which opposite beliefs exist side-by-side in adjacent boxes. As a result, their thinking is full of double-standards.
5. They reason poorly. If they like the conclusion of an argument, they don’t pay much attention to whether the evidence is valid or the argument is consistent.
6. They are highly dogmatic. Because they have gotten their beliefs mainly from the authorities in their lives, rather than think things out for themselves, they have no real defense when facts or events indicate they are wrong. So they just dig in their heels and refuse to change.
7. They are very dependent on social reinforcement of their beliefs. They think they are right because almost everyone they know, almost every news broadcast they see, almost every radio commentator they listen to, tells them they are. That is, they screen out the sources that will suggest that they are wrong.
8. Because they severely limit their exposure to different people and ideas, they vastly overestimate the extent to which other people agree with them. And thinking they are “the moral majority” supports their attacks on the “evil minorities” they see in the country.
9. They are easily duped by manipulators who pretend to espouse their causes when all the con-artists really want is personal gain.
10. They are largely blind to themselves. They have little self-understanding and insight into why they think and do what they do.
If you have read this far, I applaud you. Anyone that can get past the hype, and see's the fine print in things, can readily see how accurate the author's conclusions are.
Our nation is being ripped apart from within.[/b] It is difficult to witness the downward turn the American society has taken in the last four years. It is difficult to find a reason for how one individual can cause so much turmoil. But the current mood of America falls directly on two such individuals. Derek Chauvin and Donald J Trump. Derek Chauvin's decision to murder George Floyd in full view of the world, thus causing protests and rioting lasting weeks. Donald J Trump four year assault on American democracy.
How Authoritarians Leaders Get Away with It
The one psychological move that frees followers from doubt.
An article in Psychology Today by Jeremy E. Sherman Ph.D., MPP
Reprinted here with permission. Maybe it will provide insight into why Trump supporters are more adamant in their support for 'the man' than the party he purports to represent.
Experimental psychologist Bob Altemeyer spent his entire career studying authoritarians, both the leaders and the followers. In 1998, he wrote:
“Wanna-be tyrants in a democracy are just comical figures on soapboxes when they have no following. So the real…threat lay coiled in parts of the population itself…ready someday to catapult the next Hitler to power with their votes.”
His and other’s research yields this list of conclusions about authoritarian followers whether they follow tyrants on the left, right, religious, spiritual, whatever:
They are highly ethnocentric, highly inclined to see the world as their in-group versus everyone else. Because they are so committed to their in-group, they are very zealous in its cause.
1. They are highly fearful of a dangerous world. Their parents taught them, more than parents usually do, that the world is dangerous. They may also be genetically predisposed to experiencing stronger fear than most people do.
2. They are highly self-righteous. They believe they are the “good people” and this unlocks a lot of hostile impulses against those they consider bad.
3. They are aggressive. Given the chance to attack someone with the approval of an authority, they will lower the boom.
4. Their beliefs are a mass of contradictions. They have highly compartmentalized minds, in which opposite beliefs exist side-by-side in adjacent boxes. As a result, their thinking is full of double-standards.
5. They reason poorly. If they like the conclusion of an argument, they don’t pay much attention to whether the evidence is valid or the argument is consistent.
6. They are highly dogmatic. Because they have gotten their beliefs mainly from the authorities in their lives, rather than think things out for themselves, they have no real defense when facts or events indicate they are wrong. So they just dig in their heels and refuse to change.
7. They are very dependent on social reinforcement of their beliefs. They think they are right because almost everyone they know, almost every news broadcast they see, almost every radio commentator they listen to, tells them they are. That is, they screen out the sources that will suggest that they are wrong.
8. Because they severely limit their exposure to different people and ideas, they vastly overestimate the extent to which other people agree with them. And thinking they are “the moral majority” supports their attacks on the “evil minorities” they see in the country.
9. They are easily duped by manipulators who pretend to espouse their causes when all the con-artists really want is personal gain.
10. They are largely blind to themselves. They have little self-understanding and insight into why they think and do what they do.
If you have read this far, I applaud you. Anyone that can get past the hype, and see's the fine print in things, can readily see how accurate the author's conclusions are.
Our nation is being ripped apart from within.[/b] It is difficult to witness the downward turn the American society has taken in the last four years. It is difficult to find a reason for how one individual can cause so much turmoil. But the current mood of America falls directly on two such individuals. Derek Chauvin and Donald J Trump. Derek Chauvin's decision to murder George Floyd in full view of the world, thus causing protests and rioting lasting weeks. Donald J Trump four year assault on American democracy.
