Researching Authoritarian Personality with Q Methodology Part II: An Intensive Study

Abstract

In Part II, intensive analysis was conducted with a subject who loaded
highly on both Factor A (authoritarian) and Factor B+ (heterosexual
liberation) in Part I. This study demonstrated the emergence of various
"selves" in relationship to salient other individuals and groups in the
subject's life. Q methodology revealed the discovery of 3 selves
associated with Reisman's ideas concerning the bases of social
conformity (1950; 1952). Finally, an argument is made for adopting the
promising features of Q methodology, to explore the authoritarian
personality within a clinical setting. The more general purpose of the
intensive probes in this study is to demonstrate the advantages of
approaching authoritarianism from a methodological position that has not
yet been explored, despite a 1953 invitation by William Stephenson to
do so.