15. Obedience: Dispositional Explanations AO3

Question 1

Name two weakness of the authoritarian personality explanations

Answer 1

1. F-scale is politically biased

2. Much of the research uses correlations

Question 2

Why is the F-scale politically biased?

Answer 2

Researchers suggest it aims to measure tendency towards extreme right wing ideology - but right and left wing authoritarianism both insist on complete obedience to political authority

Question 3

What does the F-scale being biased suggest about adornos theory

Answer 3

Is not a comprehensive dispositional explanation of obedience to authority - doesn’t explain obedience to left wing authoritarianism - politically biased

Question 4

Discuss the correlations in adornos research

Answer 4

Adorno measures many variables - found significant correlations between them - e.g. Authoritarianism correlated with prejudice against minority groups

Question 5

Why is the fact much if the research is correlational an issue

Answer 5

No matter how strong a correlation between variable is -doesn’t mean that one causes other - he therefore can’t claim harsh parenting style caused development of authoritarian personality

Question 6

Name one strength of authoritarian personality

Answer 6

Support for link between AP and obedience

Question 7

Name a piece of supporting evidence for the link between authoritarian personality and obedience

Answer 7

Elms and Milgram interviews fully obedient participants - all scored highly on the F-scale

Question 8

What may be an issue with elms and Milgram’s interviews

Answer 8

This is just a correlation between measured variables - cannot conclude from this that AP causes obedience - a third factor may be involved

Question 9

What is the third factor that may be involved in the link between AP and obedience

Answer 9

Both obedience and AP may be caused by a lower level of education