I N common sense language, the authoritarian is the individual who is concerned with power and toughness and who is prone to resolve conflict in an arbitrary manner. He is seen as having strong and persistent desires that others submit to his outlook. Social psychology in recent years has added the observation that the authoritarian person has another powerful desire of which he is not fully aware. He himself desires to submit to other individuals whom he sees as more powerful. The predisposition of the authoritarian individual to conform to an "authority" is directly relevant to the study of political behavior in a democratic society. The "F" scale developed by the "Berkeley group" was designed specifically as a personality scale to identify "anti-democratic" individuals in a population.2 Any reliable and valid method of analysis of such personality variables is of crucial importance in the study of political propaganda impact, the effectiveness of campaign arguments and appeals, the conditions under which political protest movements are likely to attract support, and a host of similar problems. This paper reports the findings of an attempt to investigate (a) the extent of the authoritarian predispositions in two nation-wide samples and (b) the link between such predispositions and certain types of political behavior and attitudes. In the light of our present knowledge and research techniques, it is neither necessary nor feasible to postulate that we are concerned with authoritarian "personality." To talk about personality implies a comprehensive understanding of the life development of an individual's emotions. Instead, authoritarianism can be seen as a characteristic psychological reaction pattern to a wide variety of social situations. Since it is a characteristic reaction pattern