Rokeach (1951). however, said that high and low prejudices are a discernible phenomenon and are not just indications of apathy. The highly prejudiced person thinking about given groups is more frequently rooted in the concrete individual objects comprising such groups. By contrast, the low-prejudiced person’s thinking should be more frequently in terms of the abstract principals for which the given group stands. The high-prejudiced individual thinks of concrete objects, e.g. Catholic, Protestant, Fascist, or Communist; the low prejudiced individual thinks of abstractions, e.g. Catholicism, Protestantism, Fascism, or Communism.
Opinionation
Rokeach was not satisfied with this definitive study of Dogmatism. While he was concerned. with interpersonal relationship as an aspect of the closed-minded individual’s rejection of other people, he also wanted to examine the other end. What the people who hold the beliefs with which he does agree. Rokeach called this new component of general intolerance or close-mindedness Opinionation. Rokeach presents an “Opinionation Scale” in his book, Open and Closed Mind.
He differentiates between “opinionated rejection” and “opinionated acceptance”. The former refers to a class o:f statements made by a speaker which imply that the speaker rejects a particular belief and at the same time the people who accept it. For example, one questionnaire statement reads: “Only a simple-minded fool would say that God exists”. The opionation acceptance category refers to a class of’ statements implying that the speaker believes something and, along with this, accepts others who believe it too. For example: “Any intelligent person will tell you God exists.”
In the Opinionation Scale, like in the Dogmatism Scale, Rokeach tried to remove ideological biases. Since every opinionated statement must end up with same sort of content, Rokeach didn’t attempt to remove ideology, per se . but rather attempted to obtain a “balanced·content”. Half of the items were worded in such a way that agreement with them indicated left or Liberal opinionation. The other half were worded in such a way that agreement with them indicated right or conservative opinionatlon. Six more variables were measured when Rokeach formulated this scale: (1) Total opinionation, (2) Left opinionation, (3) Right opinionation, (4) Opinionated rejection, (5) Opinionated acceptance, and ( 6} Conservatism-liberalism (right minus left opinionation). Scores on the Opinionation Scale were subsequently frequently found to be significantly correlated with scores on the E and F scales as well as the D scale.
Rokeach’s Limitation
In summary, Rokeach criticizes the authoritarian studies for their neglect of the distinguishable factor, rigidity, which he believes is highly correlated with authoritarianism and intolerance; and for their dual E and F scale and their neglect of leftwing authoritarianism. As a consequent of recognition of these latter inadequacies, Rokeach ran studies in which he sought to prove that there is a relationship between rigidity and authoritarianism, though possibly only in an ego-involved situation. He created Dogmatism and Opinionation scales to replace the E scales. and outmoded” F.
Rokeach’s theory of rigidity as well as dogmatism was soon highly regarded in psychological circles and consequently influenced evolving concepts regarding authoritarian perspectives and practices. Rokeach’s major theoretical statements and experimental findings have rather firmly stood the test of time. One important criticism (or at least limitation) can be offered. Rokeach lacks a statement about the origins of dogmatism, opinionation, and rigidity.
