Psychological Reports, 1975, 36, 670. @ Psychological Reports 1975
DOGMATISM A N D MISANTHROPY DAVID J. HANSON State University of Neru York, College at Potsdaml
In distinguishing Letween open and closed mindedness, Rokeach (1960, pp. 62-63) assumed that the more closed minded the individual, "the more will the world be seen as threatening." H e continued that "On the other hand, the world is seen to be a more friendly place by the relatively open person." While this distinction has been investigated (Lee & Ehrlich, 1971), belief about others was measured by a set of items which had not been subjected to any tests of validity. In the present study, Troldahl and Powell's (1965) 20-item form of the Dogmatism Scale was administered along with Rosenberg's (1959) five-item Misanthropy Scale to 148 sociology students at State University College at Potsdam. A total of 135 complete and usable returns were obtained. The Pearsonian correlation coefficient between dogmatism and misanthropy was calculated and the resulting value ( r = .17, df = 133, p < .O5) supports Rokeach's distinction. However, when a dogmatism scale item manifestly tapping misanthropy ("Most people just don't give a 'damn' for others") was omitted from the analysis, the correlation ( r = .14, df = 133) failed to reach a significant magnitude. These data are therefore interpreted as failing to support Rokeach's distinction. REFERENCES
LEE. D. E.,8: EHRLICH, H. J. Belief about self and others: a test of the dogmatism
theory. Psychological Reports, 1971, 2 8 , 919-922. ROKEACH.M. T h e ofien and closed mind. New York: Basic Books. 1960. ROSENBERG.M. Misanthropy and political ideology. American Sociological Review, 1956, 21, 690-695. TROLDAHL,V. C., 81 POWELL. F. A. A short-form dogmatism scale for use in field studies. Social Forces, 1965, 44, 211-214. Accepted April 2, 1975.
'Department of Sociology.
DOGMATISM A N D MISANTHROPY DAVID J. HANSON State University of Neru York, College at Potsdaml
In distinguishing Letween open and closed mindedness, Rokeach (1960, pp. 62-63) assumed that the more closed minded the individual, "the more will the world be seen as threatening." H e continued that "On the other hand, the world is seen to be a more friendly place by the relatively open person." While this distinction has been investigated (Lee & Ehrlich, 1971), belief about others was measured by a set of items which had not been subjected to any tests of validity. In the present study, Troldahl and Powell's (1965) 20-item form of the Dogmatism Scale was administered along with Rosenberg's (1959) five-item Misanthropy Scale to 148 sociology students at State University College at Potsdam. A total of 135 complete and usable returns were obtained. The Pearsonian correlation coefficient between dogmatism and misanthropy was calculated and the resulting value ( r = .17, df = 133, p < .O5) supports Rokeach's distinction. However, when a dogmatism scale item manifestly tapping misanthropy ("Most people just don't give a 'damn' for others") was omitted from the analysis, the correlation ( r = .14, df = 133) failed to reach a significant magnitude. These data are therefore interpreted as failing to support Rokeach's distinction. REFERENCES
LEE. D. E.,8: EHRLICH, H. J. Belief about self and others: a test of the dogmatism
theory. Psychological Reports, 1971, 2 8 , 919-922. ROKEACH.M. T h e ofien and closed mind. New York: Basic Books. 1960. ROSENBERG.M. Misanthropy and political ideology. American Sociological Review, 1956, 21, 690-695. TROLDAHL,V. C., 81 POWELL. F. A. A short-form dogmatism scale for use in field studies. Social Forces, 1965, 44, 211-214. Accepted April 2, 1975.
'Department of Sociology.
