The California F-scale is a 1947 personality test, designed by German Californian Theodor W. Adorno and others to measure the "authoritarian personality".[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] The existence of this correlation could possibly affect the way in which the F-scale accurately measures the authoritarian personality syndrome.[2] The F-scale has two principal purposes: it aims to measure prejudice and anti-democratic tendencies at the personality level.[3]
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.[citation needed]
The scale specifically examines the following personality dimensions:
F-scale tests measure not only the subject's overall level of stress but also their willingness to cooperate in the testing process.[4]
Research in the late 1960s focused on police and the detection of authoritarianism.
According to data presented by Baljeet Ahmed Muhammad, a hypothesis was formed proposing that brighter people are capable of penetrating the significance of the F-scale, helping them react in a more "suitable" fashion. Hence, because the F-scale can be faked, it cannot be considered as an indirect measure.[3] In the course of the Minnesota Adoption Study it was found that "the F-scale scores were negatively correlated with WAIS vocabulary [an IQ test] (−0.42) and showed the same pattern of family correlations".[5]
The scale has attracted a great deal of criticism, since it is ideological and associates societal processes with personality characteristics.[6]
Among the criticisms of the F-scale is its sensitivity to respondents with acquiescent response styles due to being worded so that agreement always indicated an authoritarian response. A number of related scales such as the Wilson–Patterson Conservatism Scale and the Balanced F-scale have been created in an attempt to fix the shortcomings of the F-scale. Bob Altemeyer's Right-wing authoritarianism Scale is the most frequently used, contemporary descendant of the F-scale.[citation needed]
Another criticism of the test is the assumption that users with a high score are unsophisticated and may lack social intelligence. According to Kelman and Barclay (1963), the experience of the participant is reflected on the test score; i.e., they may not be able to see the obvious pattern and motives recurring in the test and be ignorant of it.