The Effects of Social Desirability, Intelligence, and Milieu on an American Validation of the Conservatism Scale.

The purpose of this investigation was to validate the Conservatism Scale (C-scale) with American Ss, and in the process, test the effects of conservative milieu, dogmatism, social desirability, and intelligence on C-scale responses. It was expected that the C-scale would be related to both dogmatism and intelligence, but not to social desirability. Ninety-four university students from the southern United States were administered the Conservatism, Rokeach's Dogmatism, Crowne-Marlowe's Social Desirability, and Raven's IQ scales. The results indicate that the C-scale is not contaminated by a social desirability response set. Significant positive correlations were obtained with the dogmatism scale, while intelligence was negatively related in a small, though significant way with conservatism. These results are discussed in terms of test format and mediation processes. That the C-scale was administered in a conservative culture had no effect on the pattern of C-scale responses, and there was no evidence that the expression of social attitudes was in any way divorced from underlying personality structure. The results indicate that the C-scale is a reliable and valid measure and can be satisfactorily used with American samples.