"Authoritarian" is a word used casually and commonly in today’s media, politics, and law. Yet, the concept is not well understood by the public.

At its core, authoritarianism is a characteristic of both a person and a regime. As a psychologist, I am much better positioned to comment on authoritarianism as a description of a person; however, many of the qualities of authoritarian persons are shared by governments or regimes as well.

Historically, authoritarianism is thought of as an extreme on the continuum from conservative to liberal. More recent thought argues that right and left have their own distinct versions of the characteristic. A recent survey of university faculty shows some of the negative impacts of both ends of the authoritarian spectrum, ranging from support for censorship by administration to self-censorship due to fear of extremist (mis)use of one’s work.

Decades of psychological science have been devoted to right-wing authoritarian (RWA) beliefs. RWA has many elements: Folks high in the attitudes tend to embrace “traditional” family values, hierarchy, and the status quo, among other social values. They also tend to be supportive of........

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