4.1.1 - The Dispositonal Explanation

Question 1

What is the dispositional explanation

Answer 1

• not all psychologists accept that obedience can be explained by factors of the situation or social structure (like Milgrams variations / the agentic state)
• They reason that there must be some importance of the personality (disposition) of the individual as to whether they will obey or not

Question 2

Who studies dispositional explanations of obedience

Answer 2

Adorno (1950)
- f scale

Question 3

What were the aims of Adorno

Answer 3

was interested in investigating why Nazi soldiers were so willing to persecute and kill members of minority groups, such as Jews during wwII ; could be blamed on a personality trait?

• he claimed a particular personality type is more likely
  to obey an authority
• A high level of obedience is basically a psychological
  disorder

Question 4

What was Adorno’s procedure

Answer 4

• ppts were 2000 middle class, white americans
• studies their unconscious attitudes towards other social groups
• he developed an f-scale to measure the relationship between a persons personality type and their prejudiced beliefs

Question 5

What were Adornos findings

Answer 5

• those who scores highly on the f-scale identifies with “strong” people and generally viewed the “weak” as worthless
• they were more conscious of their own and others status’
• high scorers also had a specific cognitive style including an authoritarian personality

Question 6

What are the features of an authoritarian personality

Answer 6

• submits to those in a higher position to them
• is authorities towards people of a lower status
• showed excessive blind obedience to authority
• suspicious and hostile of strangers
• rigid thinkers( have strict obedience to social rules)

A high score on the f-scale = high authoritarian personality

Question 7

What is the link between authoritarianism and prejudice

Answer 7

There is a strong correlation between an authoritarian personality and prejudice believes , so therefore are more likely to conform/ bey orders

Question 8

What are the causes of an authoritarian personality

Answer 8

• Very strict upbringing with harsh parents
• individuals could not express hostility towards their parents
• these individuals therefor transfer this aggression onto safer targets ( the people that they view as weaker than the in society)

Question 9

Adorno A03- politically biased

Answer 9

• the f scale doesn’t explain left wing behaviour
• the test is targeted at right wing behaviour
• has been suggested that left wing authoritarian personalities exist ( rely on gov/social structure)
• the explanation isn’t generalisable as it doesn’t account for all types of people
• low external validity

Question 10

Adorno A03 - questionnaire

Answer 10

• ppts could change their answers due to social desirability bias
• the questions are all one directional ( towards an authoritarian personality) so is liable to acquiescence bias
• low internal validity

Question 11

Adorno A03 - correlation nor causation

Answer 11

• a correlation doesn’t mean that there is a direct relationship between two variables, there are many other external factors that could affect the results (eg: poor education, bad friendships)
• Adorno interviewed ppts about their family lives, this interview could have been subject to researcher bias

Question 12

Adorno A03- Research support

Answer 12

Milgram and Elms(1966)
- conducted interviews on a sample of fully obedient ppts after their study
- many of these pots also scored highly on the f scale
- supports a link between authoritarian personality and obedience
- increases validity of adornos study and findings