Bob Altemeyer

Robert Anthony Altemeyer (6 June 1940 – 7 February 2024) was a Canadian psychologist who was the professor of psychology at the University of Manitoba. Altemeyer developed the right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) scale

Altemeyer defined right-wing authoritarianism in 1981 as a refinement of the authoritarian personality theory pioneered by University of California, Berkeley researchers Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson, and Nevitt Sanford. According to Altemeyer, a right-wing authoritarian is someone who:

is naturally submissive to authority figures that they consider to be legitimate, acts aggressively in the name of said authority figures, and/or is very conventional (i.e. conformist) in thought and behavior.

Altemeyer reported his research in several books, most recently for general audiences in The Authoritarians, written at the suggestion of John W. Dean. Altemeyer's work is referenced in Dean's 2006 book, Conservatives Without Conscience. Altemeyer's last book, Authoritarian Nightmare, co-written by Dean, is a book about U.S. president Donald Trump and his authoritarian followers.

Personal life and death His son, Rob Altemeyer, was an NDP MLA in the Manitoba Legislature from 2003 to 2019.

Altemeyer died on 7 February 2024, at the age of 83.

Awards Altemeyer was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science Prize for Behavioral Science Research in 1986.

Books

and several subsequent postscripts: Comment on the 2008 election, Comment on the Tea Party movement and a short comment on Donald Trump.