Political Bias in the Dogmatism Scale: An Item Analysis.

Although Rokeach (1960) stressed the need for the Dogmatism Scale to be free of any liberal or conservative bias, scores on the scale have tended to be associated to some degree among Americans with a conservative orientation (Granberg & Corrigan, 1972; Hanson, 1983). This could reflect (a) real differences in open mindedness, (b) ideological bias in the Dogmatism Scale, or (c) a combination of both factors. Only three studies, however, have specifically and directly investigated the possibility of ideological bias in the instrument. Simons and Berkowitz (1969) concluded that the scale is free of such bias, whereas Hanson (1984) and Parrott and Brown (1972) have concluded that it is flawed by a conservative bias. The 15-year time span over which the three studies were conducted is a possible explanation for the differing findings. The purpose of the present study was to obtain additional evidence regarding the possibility of ideological bias in the Dogmatism Scale by comparing responses of rightist and leftist authoritarians as groups to individual items of the scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]