The Altruistic Personality

Almost fifty years ago Theodor Adorno and his colleagues published The Authoritarian Personality. It was a big success. On the basis of hundreds of case studies it purported to prove that people had dramatically different personality structures. At one end of the spectrum were conservative and religious types who tended toward “fascism.” That is the authoritarian personality. At the other end of the spectrum were fiercely independent folk who insisted on thinking for themselves and were wondrously tolerant. These were “genuine liberals.” It all had to do, Adorno explained, with how successfully these individuals had worked out their Oedipal problems. Many people believed this theory, especially those who thought of themselves as genuine liberals.

The Oliners and their colleagues studied a set of hard cases that put theories to the test: people who, in Germany and German-occupied territories, rescued Jews from the Holocaust. Those who did so voluntarily, without hope of reward and at great risk to themselves and their families, display altruistic personalities. Although they were only a small fraction of the population, there were probably hundreds of thousands of such people. Most of them were engaged in rescue operations for two to five years, hiding Jews and helping them to escape. The stories of thousands of “righteous gentiles” are documented by the Israeli Holocaust memorial Yad va-Shem, and the Oliner study interviews seven hundred such rescuers in depth. Because the authors know their findings will be controverted, they are almost painfully rigorous in displaying their methodology and demonstrating how every piece of evidence and every alternative explanation has been carefully taken into account. (Fortunately, the graphs and sociologese are confined to a long appendix, so they do not get in the way of the argument or the very readable story.)

RJ

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Richard John Neuhaus

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Almost fifty years ago Theodor Adorno and his colleagues published The Authoritarian Personality. It was a big success. On the basis of hundreds of case studies it purported to prove that people had dramatically different personality structures. At one end of the spectrum were conservative and religious types who tended toward “fascism.” That is the authoritarian personality. At the other end of the spectrum were fiercely independent folk who insisted on thinking for themselves and were wondrously tolerant. These were “genuine liberals.” It all had to do, Adorno explained, with how successfully these individuals had worked out their Oedipal problems. Many people believed this theory, especially those who thought of themselves as genuine liberals.

The Oliners and their colleagues studied a set of hard cases that put theories to the test: people who, in Germany and German-occupied territories, rescued Jews from the Holocaust. Those who did so voluntarily, without hope of reward and at great risk to themselves and their families, display altruistic personalities. Although they were only a small fraction of the population, there were probably hundreds of thousands of such people. Most of them were engaged in rescue operations for two to five years, hiding Jews and helping them to escape. The stories of thousands of “righteous gentiles” are documented by the Israeli Holocaust memorial Yad va-Shem, and the Oliner study interviews seven hundred such rescuers in depth. Because the authors know their findings will be controverted, they are almost painfully rigorous in displaying their methodology and demonstrating how every piece of evidence and every alternative explanation has been carefully taken into account. (Fortunately, the graphs and sociologese are confined to a long appendix, so they do not get in the way of the argument or the very readable story.)