Authoritarians at risk: A re-examination of authoritarianism from the perspective of prospect theory

This dissertation introduces the theory of general authoritarianism. The theory of general authoritarianism sees authoritarianism as an integrated part of general human behavior, and also agrees that there are indeed some people who are more prone to authoritarianism. From the perspective of prospect theory, general authoritarianism theory expects that authoritarianism is correlated with the level of risk orientation. Authoritarians are the ones who make more risk-taking decisions in a loss-frame, and their decisions in a gain-frame are more risk-averse than non-authoritarians. General authoritarianism theory is not only interested in the individual traits that constitute authoritarianism, but also views the problem as interaction between social environment and individuals.;This dissertation approaches the puzzle of authoritarianism and risk orientations from the macro level. The United States and South Korea are selected to represent a gain frame and a loss frame, respectively, and information from a total of 3,737 Koreans and 641 Americans has been gathered through a web survey. Statistical analysis of the data proves that the level of authoritarianism is indeed influenced by risk frames and risk orientations.