Tendency to authoritarianism in student youth with different levels of expression of guilt

Abstract

The article presents the results of study of the tendency to authoritarianism in student youth with different levels of guilt. Guilt is the phenomenological-motivational process, the essence of which is to anticipate the harm that individual caused to himself by violating internalized standards of social behavior; authoritarianism can be interpreted as a complex sociopsychological phenomenon that reflects readiness for uncritical subordination to rigid values within the hierarchical structure of the social environment, as well as the rejection of any deviant changes. That study involved 100 students of Donetsk National University. The psychodiagnostic complex consisted of such questionnaires as R. Altmeier’s «Scale of Right Authoritarianism» (adaptation by N. Dyakova); the questionnaire to determine the orientation to social dominance of Jim Sidanius and Felicia Pratto (adaptation by O. R. Agadullina); «F»-scale, created by T. Adorno, E. Frenkel-Brunswick, D. Levinson, N. Sanford (adaptation of D. M. Denisova); questionnaire to determine the level of guilt, created by W. Jones, A. Schratter and K. Kugler (adaptation I. Belik). The obtained empirical data allowed to divide the respondents into groups with low, medium and high levels of guilt and to evaluate further the results in the form of a comparative analysis of indicators among the six subgroups studied. It was found that representatives of student youth with different levels of guilt have differences in the manifestation of authoritarianism, because the least prone to authoritarian behavior were respondents with a high level of guilt. The results of that study can be used by psychologists, social workers and educators during the process of developing trainings and lecture programs dedicated to the prevention of the problem of authoritarianism in the youth environment.