Adorno

• Studies on authoritarianism inevitably reach back to Theodor Adorno's 1950 landmark study, "The Authoritarian Personality." It identifies nine traits -- conventionality, submissiveness, aggression, subjectivity, superstitiousness, toughness, cynicism, the tendency to project unconscious emotional responses onto the world and concerns about sex.These traits are said to manifest as a latent conflict involving the repression of minority social groups, political dissidents and those considered morally deviant. However, some theorists characterize authoritarianism as more a disposition that translates to groups than an individual personality type.
  
  

Society

• Authoritarianism's obsession with conformity instills fear in people who are subject to those in authority. It is often associated with non-democratic forms of government, but it also plays out in democratic governments. One model likens liberalism and conservatism to family schematics, with conservatism resembling a "strict father morality." In this configuration, obedience to proscribed ideals of morality is paramount and those who fail to meet those values are deemed anarchic, lazy and a general threat to the general social fabric. Police officers who adhere to these values are more likely to be authoritarian in their policing styles.
  
  

Attitudes

• Research on police behavior has reflected different results over time. Police reform movements emerging from the turbulent period of the 1960s gave rise to the theory of a monolithic "authoritarian police personality" which suggested that police attitudes influenced behavior. Somewhat counterintuitively, however, more recent research disavows this correlation showing only a weak connection. The research has focused on officers' attitudes but researchers suggest that more study needs to be done on citizens' responses toward officers' attitudes.
  
  

Experience

• One study examined the role experience plays in assessing authoritarian policing styles. The study recognizes the authoritarian police attitude as a stereotype that some officers my exhibit, but overall it is inaccurate. The study concludes that experienced and inexperienced police officers are generally psychologically healthy and don't display particularly high levels of authoritarian traits. However, inexperienced officers have scored higher on tests for antisocial behavior and lower on tests of emotional reactions to stress.