Many print and digital media platforms have reported and discussed the recent study by Pew Research Centre. This article is not about WHAT are the findings of the study, which had been already discussed extensively by many, rather this article attempts to analyse WHY Indians have pro authoritarian preferences (the reasons). We attempt to Understand the determinants of this collective Psyche by analysing various psychological studies and correlate them with a few empirical studies/ surveys available. Insecurity and Paternalism: Evolutionary Psychology explains why people tend to embrace religiosity and subject themselves to be ruled by a powerful figure. Carl Jung in his study on Collective Unconscious explains that there are certain inborn traits which are shared by all Humans through evolutionary experience. One such trait is fear, which causes insecurity among the people and pushes them to look for a parental figure, a redeemer, a demi God who protects them. This is evident in the modern Indian society where people search for strong and glorious historical figures like Chatrapati Shivaji, Raja Raja Chola, Maharana Pratap and many such. People keep looking for the likes of the above personalities among the current political leaders. Various studies on Paternalism shows that people tend to not mind the infringement of their personal liberties and in fact sometimes it is consensual, thereby expecting an authoritarian benevolence in exchange. Lack of Knowledge and reasoning: A well-informed people are found to be quite resistant to rhetoric by demagogues. It is essential for the people not only to be informed but to be rightly informed. Now one should know, in the era of digital media and highly penetrated mass media, what really stops people from being informed India’s preference for authoritarianism cannot be understood without studying this phenomenon. Jerry Burger in his famous experiment (2009) attempted to study why people tend to follow authoritarian leaders. In which he found that among many other reasons, lack of reliable source of knowledge and with only the one-sided information left the participants to conform more with the authoritarian leader. For people to make a rational decision, they should have access……
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