7 - Obedience: Dispositional Factors Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

What is disposition?

A

Personality

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What is the dispositional explanation for obedience?

A

Some individuals have an authoritarian personality, whereby they are very obedient/submissive towards authority, and dismissive of their ‘inferiors’

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Who proposed the dispositional explanation for authority?

A

Adorno

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

How did Adorno + Milgram’s views on obedience differ

A

Milgram - Believed that obedience was dependent on circumstance (situation + social-psychological factors)

Adorno - Believed that obedience was dependent on individual (dispositional factors)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What are some qualities of the authoritarian personality?

A
  • High respect for + willingness to obey superior authority
  • Contemptuous + dismissive towards those they view as inferior in social status
  • Unchanging conventional attitudes towards race + gender
  • Clear view of society in a strict social hierarchy
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Who did research into dispositional explanations for obedience (the authoritarian personality)? When?

A

Adorno (1950)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Outline Adorno’s 1950 research into dispositional explanations for obedience (the authoritarian personality)

A

Aim:
- To investigate whether obedience to authority (in events such as the Holocaust) was a result of dispositional or situational factors
Procedure:
- Over 2000 white white American men
- Measured extent of authoritarian personality and unconscious prejudices in ppts using the ‘F scale’
Findings:
- Average F scale score: 3.84
- Men scored higher than women
Conclusions:
- Authoritarian individuals identify with the ‘strong’ and are very contemptuous towards the ‘weak’
- They see society in a strict social hierarchy + are very conscious of their own position/social status

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

How does the ‘F scale’ relate to obedience levels?

A

Milgram + Elms (1966)

  • Found positive correlation between high score on F-scale (authoritarian personality) + high obedience in Milgram’s baseline study
  • Concluded authoritarian people are most likely to obey those above them + expect obedience from those below them
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

How did Adorno propose people develop an authoritarian personality?

A

An authoritarian personality is developed from strict parenting…

  • Strict parenting causes child to have RESENTMENT + HOSTILE FEELINGS towards parents that they cannot express
  • These feelings are DISPLACED onto those perceived to be inferior/weaker in society, in process of SCAPEGOATING, so they expect great submission from these inferiors
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What are characteristics of strict parenting (according to Adorno)?

A
  • Expect obedience + loyalty
  • Have impossibly high standards
  • Severely criticise perceived failures
  • Conditional love
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is conditional love?

A

Love dependent on behaviour

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What approach did Adorno use in his explanation of the origin of the authoritarian personality?

A

Psychodynamic approach

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What are some issues with the F-Scale?

A

Methodology

  • Greenstien (1969) is critical of method
  • Scale worded in same direction
  • May be ACQUIESCENCE BIAS (tendency to say yes in a self-report questionnaire)

Unrepresentative sample

  • 2000 white, US males in 1950
  • Lacks population validity + temporal validity
  • Hard to generalise findings to everyone forever

Political bias

  • Christie + Jahoda (1954) argue F scale only measures extreme right wing fascism
  • Although these people are obedient, there are authoritarian, obedient people across the political spectrum
  • Left wing authoritarianism exists (e.g. obedience to Mao in China) but is not accounted for on the scale
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Give 2 positive evaluation points for the dispositional explanation for obedience

A

Research support
- Milgram + Elm’s 1966 research supports idea that there is a positive correlation between high obedience + authoritarian traits

Holds people accountable
- Doesn’t blame situation, as Mandel (1998) argued situational + social-psychological factors did

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Give 2 negative evaluation points for the dispositional explanation for obedience

A

Uses correlations not causation

  • Milgram + Elm’s (1966) found correlation between obedience + authoritarian personality
  • Adorno found correlation between strict parenting + authoritarian personality
  • So, the explanation for obedience and explanation for developing authoritarian traits cannot be proved through cause-effect
  • May be a third intervening factor that is real explanation for obedience

Alternative explanations

  • Millions of Germans obeyed in Holocaust
  • All had different personalities
  • Can’t all have had authoritarian personalities
  • Must be other explanations for obedience that play a role (e.g. situational + social-psychological factors)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly