Psychological Reporrs, 1975, 37, 1041-1042. @ Psychological Reports 1975
IN PURSUIT OF A DOGMATISM FACTOR: DEROGATION OR ALIENATION? MARION STEININGER Rutgers University Carnden College of Arts and Sciences Summary.-159 high school students, 125 introductory psychology students, and 59 senior psychology majors answered a questionnaire measuring dogmatism and derogation of others. Derogation was correlated with total dogmatism among the high school and introductory psychology students, and among all groups with 2 of the 6 dogmatism factors measured, "alienation" and belief in one truth. rs were low. Agreiment with the items expressing mainly "aloneness" was the same among groups, while agreement with the mainly "derogatory" items tended to decrease with age and/or exposure to psychology. The dogrnatism factor of "alienation" should more accurately be called "derogation and aloneness," since it seems to measure the related tendencies to derogate others and feel alone. Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale (Rokeach, 1960) includes five items (the world is n lonely place; people don't give a "damn" for others; people don't know what's good for them; people don't know what's going on; ideas aren't worth the paper they are printed on) which were thought to mcasure "alienation" or "alienation-isolation" in several factor analytic investigations (Kerlinger & Rokeach, 1966; Parrott, 1971; Pedhazur, 1971; Vacchiano, et al., 1967; Warr, et nl., 1969) but Steininger and ksser (1974) questioned this interpretation: ( 1 ) the contents of these items seemed minimally related to what is usually called "alienation;" and ( 2 ) this factor was positively correlated with "belief in one truth" in the four samples which they studied. It therefore seemed that these items might be measuring a derogatory attitude, especially, perhaps, toward those who don't know "the rruth." This study explored the nature of this dogmatism factor. Three groups (159 high school juniors and seniors, 125 introductory psychology students, and 59 senior psychology majors) anonymously answered a 74-item questionnaire which included a 15-item dogmatism scale (Steininger & Lesser, 1974) and three "derogation" items ("If you want people to do things for you, flatter them;" "Most people are basically lazy;" "Most people are basically stupid"). Response alternatives were agree or disagree "a little" or "a lot," or "don't know." Table 1 shows the percents of students in the three groups who agreed with the "alienation" and "derogation" items. The first two "alienation" items, which convey a sense of aloneness or isolation, were answered similarly by all three groups (neither chi square was significant). In contrast, the last three "alienation" items, whose content suggests "derogation," discriminated significantly among these groups, as did also two of the "derogation" items (though in opposite directions). Because the "flamer" item might have seemed "factual" rather than "derogatory" to psychology seniors steeped in reinforcement principles, a "derogation" mean was calculated for each student based only on the responses to the "lazy" and "stupid" items ("strongly agree" = 5; "strongly disagree" = 1 ) . These "derogation" scores were then correlated with scores on total dogmatism and six dogmatism factors (belief in one truth, belief in a cause, "alienation," virtuous self-denial, self-proselptization, and authoritarianism). "Derogation" and total dogmatism were correlared at a low magnitude among the .002) and the introductory psychology high school students ( T = 3 3 , df = 157, $J
IN PURSUIT OF A DOGMATISM FACTOR: DEROGATION OR ALIENATION? MARION STEININGER Rutgers University Carnden College of Arts and Sciences Summary.-159 high school students, 125 introductory psychology students, and 59 senior psychology majors answered a questionnaire measuring dogmatism and derogation of others. Derogation was correlated with total dogmatism among the high school and introductory psychology students, and among all groups with 2 of the 6 dogmatism factors measured, "alienation" and belief in one truth. rs were low. Agreiment with the items expressing mainly "aloneness" was the same among groups, while agreement with the mainly "derogatory" items tended to decrease with age and/or exposure to psychology. The dogrnatism factor of "alienation" should more accurately be called "derogation and aloneness," since it seems to measure the related tendencies to derogate others and feel alone. Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale (Rokeach, 1960) includes five items (the world is n lonely place; people don't give a "damn" for others; people don't know what's good for them; people don't know what's going on; ideas aren't worth the paper they are printed on) which were thought to mcasure "alienation" or "alienation-isolation" in several factor analytic investigations (Kerlinger & Rokeach, 1966; Parrott, 1971; Pedhazur, 1971; Vacchiano, et al., 1967; Warr, et nl., 1969) but Steininger and ksser (1974) questioned this interpretation: ( 1 ) the contents of these items seemed minimally related to what is usually called "alienation;" and ( 2 ) this factor was positively correlated with "belief in one truth" in the four samples which they studied. It therefore seemed that these items might be measuring a derogatory attitude, especially, perhaps, toward those who don't know "the rruth." This study explored the nature of this dogmatism factor. Three groups (159 high school juniors and seniors, 125 introductory psychology students, and 59 senior psychology majors) anonymously answered a 74-item questionnaire which included a 15-item dogmatism scale (Steininger & Lesser, 1974) and three "derogation" items ("If you want people to do things for you, flatter them;" "Most people are basically lazy;" "Most people are basically stupid"). Response alternatives were agree or disagree "a little" or "a lot," or "don't know." Table 1 shows the percents of students in the three groups who agreed with the "alienation" and "derogation" items. The first two "alienation" items, which convey a sense of aloneness or isolation, were answered similarly by all three groups (neither chi square was significant). In contrast, the last three "alienation" items, whose content suggests "derogation," discriminated significantly among these groups, as did also two of the "derogation" items (though in opposite directions). Because the "flamer" item might have seemed "factual" rather than "derogatory" to psychology seniors steeped in reinforcement principles, a "derogation" mean was calculated for each student based only on the responses to the "lazy" and "stupid" items ("strongly agree" = 5; "strongly disagree" = 1 ) . These "derogation" scores were then correlated with scores on total dogmatism and six dogmatism factors (belief in one truth, belief in a cause, "alienation," virtuous self-denial, self-proselptization, and authoritarianism). "Derogation" and total dogmatism were correlared at a low magnitude among the .002) and the introductory psychology high school students ( T = 3 3 , df = 157, $J
