Authoritarianism and punitiveness

Authoritarianism has become an increasingly relevant phenomenon in recent years as many countries have experienced an expansion of authoritarian rule and an increase in democratic backsliding. For these reasons, it is important to further understand authoritarianism and its related phenomenon. In this dissertation, I investigated whether authoritarians (RWA for Republicans, LWA for Democrats) are more punitive towards people from the opposing side of the political aisle, whether this occurs because they engage in vilification of these political opponents, and whether they choose to punish people in ways that infringe on their democratic rights. Study 1 assessed correlational relationships between authoritarianism, political vilification of the opposing political party, support for infringing on democratic rights of the opposing political party, support for partisan violence, and affective polarization. In the Republican sample, most of the effects were related to RWA but were predicted more so by strength of political identity. It is possible that outcomes are more related to partisanship bias than authoritarianism in that sample. However, in the Democrat sample, LWA predicted most of the effects above and beyond strength of political identity. Study 2 used a minor political and criminal transgression to investigate the relationship between authoritarianism, vilification of the transgressor, punitiveness towards the transgressor, and support for infringing on democratic rights because of the transgression. While authoritarianism was an important predictor for most of the outcomes of interest in both Republican and Democrat samples, the transgressor’s political party was also an important predictor for Democrats high on LWA but not so much for Republicans high on RWA. In addition, political vilification was found to mediate the relationship between authoritarianism and punishment in both samples. Study 3 used a minor political, but non-criminal, transgression to investigate the relationship between authoritarianism, vilification of the transgressor, punitiveness towards the transgressor, and support for infringing on democratic rights of the transgressor. Authoritarianism was once again an important predictor for many of the outcomes of interest in both Republican and Democrat samples. In addition, the transgressor's political party was once again an important predictor for Democrats, but this time, it was also an important predictor for Republicans. Political vilification was also found to mediate the relationship between authoritarianism and punishment in the Republican sample. These studies together provide more information about some of the contexts in which authoritarians are more punitive, and about who they are more punitive towards.