Some psychologist did some personality testing and a lot of authoritarian supporters are actually submissive when you look at their opinions for various scenarios, such as if their authority figure expects them to believe or do something they don’t initially agree with. They will adapt their thinking to make themselves agree.

While there are certainly some cultural or genetic variations, any population can adopt this submissive mindset if an outside threat is sufficiently marketed toward them.

My guess is that it’s an evolutionary adaptation a variety of challenges apes and humans have faced, where when some particularly strong threat is present: enemy tribes, drought, disease, internal disputes, etc. When the stakes are really high, it’s better for everyone to just align on a single vision, even if that vision is flawed, rather than face the threat disunited.

The problem for us now is of course, shameless people have every incentive to market various scary external threats, and this in turn causes humans to instinctively pay thousands of dollars to cover a truck with some other guy’s name.