An Authority Behavior Inventory

This article describes the development and validation of an Authority Behavior Inventory (ABI) to assess acceptance of authority. Each of the 24 items on the self-report ABI correlated significantly with corresponding peer ratings. In two studies (n = 200 and n = 150), the ABI was shown to have high internal consistency and high degrees of concurrent validity. Validity was assessed by means of correlations with the General Attitude Towards Institutional Authority Scale (Rigby, 1982, 1984a) using a student and a nonstudent sample; and, among nonstudents, with ratings of attitude to authority provided independently by both the subjects and their raters. In addition, the ABI discriminated significantly between matched subjects judged by peers as differing in attitude to authority, and between supporters of two Australian political parties differing in conservatism.