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The relationships between personality and the phenomenon of prejudice have been the concern of several recent investigations (1» 2, 3,14,15) Elsewhere (13) we have presented a general methodological critique of some of these studies (1. 2) One of the personality charactenstics reported to differentiate "the prejudiced" from "the unprejudiced," was that of rigidity (1, p 276) Evidence for this claim was based largely on clinical evaluations, while expenmental validation was said to be furnished by the findings of Rokeach (14) It is with the work of Rdkeach (14, 15) that we shall be concerned m the present report We shall deal not only with Rokeach's hypotheses and findings but also with the methods he employed to study rigidity and with the concept of rigidity which he presented It is hoped that the present critique will highlight some of the methodological and conceptual problems involved in understanding and measunng rigidity Rokeach set forth two hypotheses 1 the rigidity inherent in the ethnocentric person's solution of scx:ial problems is not an isolated phenomenon but is rather an aspect of a general rigidity factor which will manifest itself in solving any problem, social or non-social (IS. p 276)