recommended reading: Bob Altemeyer's "The Authoritarians"

[0rganism]

a complete online edition: http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

For those who want to know, The Authoritarians explains what many of us witnessed tonight from a psychologist's perspective, backed with some very interesting experimental evidence.

[anigbrowl]

1. K & R! Everyone interested in political psychology should read this book!

I'm glad I'm not the only fan. Set aside an afternoon or evening and read it carefully. You will learn a LOT about how the reptilian er Republican brain works. I wish I could rec this post twice, please follow up on the great link the OP has offered.

[0rganism]

2. yeppers, I'm not usually a psych reader, but this book is solid

Someone on DU rec'd this book to me a couple years back, and I'm eternally grateful. It's an entertaining read that answers a lot of questions with the results of actual research and enables further understanding of (for me) a difficult topic.

[azul]

3. From studies to prevent another Hitler from coming to power.

After WWII investigations were done to determine how so many people were led astray by Nazis. Why many people were susceptible, and how to prevent another disaster of authoritarian followers going off the deep end were studied.

And a generation later, the lesson has been turned on its head, just like studying waterboarding to prepare agents and soldiers in case some crazy regime decides to torture its prisoners.

The training manual for defense has become offensive in character in the wrong hands.

Emotion and group membership can overcome reason and conscience in many people's actions. 9/11/01 pretty much proves the US is eminently susceptible.