Frenkel-Brunswik’s intolerance of ambiguity investigates rigid responses to uncertain or contradictory materials in personality and perception. Not every dislike of indecision constitutes the same trait.
The research explores relations between closing complexity into fixed categories and emotional or perceptual orientations. Interviews and experimental materials belong to its historical research program.
Connections with prejudice do not mean every experience of uncertainty produces authoritarian politics. A scale result and an explanation of someone’s entire political conduct are different claims. Sampling and measurement conditions remain relevant.
The entry makes Frenkel-Brunswik’s contribution visible within collective research. It explains a research history rather than supplying an insult or a tool for remote personality diagnosis.