The Relation between Liberal and Conservative Attitudes in College Students, and Other Factors

Convergent-discriminant validation and factor analysis of five scales of liberalism-conservatism.

“…The F scale (29 items) was used mainly because of previous research reporting a positive relationship between authoritarianism and indexes of conservatism (e.g., Adorno et al, 1950;Gump, 1953;Milton, 1952). Inclusion of the SCAT measures was prompted by studies indicating a negative relationship between intelligence and conservatism (e.g., Adorno et al, 1950;Allport, 1929;Eysenck, 1954;Harris, Remmers, & Ellison, 1932). Measures of intelligence, social desirability bias, and acquiescence bias have been strongly recommended as standards for the assessment of discriminant validity (D. T. Campbell, 1960).…”

Signed versus unsigned attitude questionnaires.

“…"In order to depersonalize the study," Bain wrote, "each student was given a number." Similarly, attitudinal studies by Dodd,* Garrison and Mann, 8 Harris, Remmers and Ellison,' Moore and Garrison, 11 Smith, 14 Uhrbrock, 16 and Gray, 8 made use of or recommended anonymous questionnaires. This list is not complete but it serves to illustrate a rather widespread conviction.…”

Character and personality tests.

“…He found (33) that a course on the Negro served to build more favorable attitudes. Liberals, in a study by Harris, Remmers and Ellison (56) were more intelligent, more apt to be males, tended to differ from patterns in politics, had more social science training, and were less interested in religion. Moore and Garrison (105) agreed in finding higher scholarship among liberals than among radicals.…”