F-scale (personality test)

The California F-scale is a 1947 personality test, designed by German Theodor W. Adorno and others to measure the "authoritarian personality". The "F" stands for "fascist". The F-scale measures responses on several different components of authoritarianism, such as conventionalism, authoritarian aggression, superstition and stereotypy, power and "toughness", destructiveness and cynicism, projectivity, and sex. Scores acquired from the F-scale could be directly associated with background components, educational level, and intellectual capacity. It is an indirect type of test that ensures the result would not be due to the individual's fake responses; this is possible because the purpose of the measurement and which attitude is being measured are initially concealed from the participants. The existence of this correlation could possibly affect the way in which the F-scale accurately measures the authoritarian personality syndrome. The F-scale has two principal purposes: it aims to measure prejudice and anti-democratic tendencies at the personality level.

For other uses, see F scale.

The purpose of the F-scale is to measure an antidemocratic personality structure, usually defined by authoritarianism. A score of above 80 on the F-scale test indicates that the subject may be suffering from severe psychopathology. Patients who suffer from repeated episodes of disorders usually get a higher F-scale score than those who have acute disorders. Research has not found any correlation between F-scale scores and educational level.

The scale specifically examines the following personality dimensions:

  • Conventionalism: conformity to the traditional societal norms and values of the middle class
  • Authoritarian submission: a passive notion towards adhering to conventional norms and values
  • Authoritarian aggression: punishing and condemning individuals who don't adhere to conventional values
  • Religion and Ethics
  • Superstition and Stereotypy
  • Power and "Toughness"
  • Anti-intraception: "rejection of all inwardness, of the subjective, the imaginative, the tender-minded, and of self-criticism"
  • Destructiveness and Cynicism: generalized hostility, vilification of the human
  • Projectivity: the disposition to believe that wild and dangerous things go on in the world; the projection outwards of unconscious emotional impulses
  • Sex: exaggerated concern with sexual "goings-on"

F-scale tests measure not only the subject's overall level of stress but also their willingness to cooperate in the testing process.

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