Authoritarian personality

Question 1

what did adorno et al want to research

Answer 1

drew a very different conclusion to Milgram

believed that a high level of obedience was basically a psychological disorder

causes of this disorder lie in the personality of the individual rather than the situation they’re in - dispositional explanation

Question 2

Authoritarian personality in relation to obedience

Answer 2

Adorno argued that people with authoritarian personality show an extreme respect for authority

view society as weaker and so believe we need strong powerful leaders to enforce traditional values

everything is either right or wrong and they are very uncomfortable with uncertainty

likely to obey orders from authority figures even when such orders are destructive

Question 3

origins of the authoritarian personality

Answer 3

Adorno et al believed the authoritarian personality forms in the childhood mostly as a result of harsh parenting

this parenting style typically features strict discipline expectation of absolute loyalty impossible highs standards

parents give conditional love - their love and affection depends on the child’s behaviour

Adorno argued that these childhood experiences create resentment and hostility in the child

child cannot express feelings to parents as they fear punishment

their fears are displaced onto others who they see as weaker

explains the hatred towards people considered to be socially inferior

psychodynamic explanation

Question 4

Procedure of adorno et als research

Answer 4

studied more than 20000 middle class white Americans

unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups

researchers developed several measurement scales including the potential for fascism scale

scale was used to measure authoritarian personality

Question 5

Findings of adorno et als research

Answer 5

people with authoritarian leanings identified with strong people and were generally looking down on the weak

very conscious of status and showed extreme respect deference and severity to those of higher status - basis of obedience

also found that authoritarian people have a certain cognitive style

found strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice

Question 6

strength of theory

Answer 6

research support

evidence from Milgram supporting the authoritarian personality

Milgram and Elms

interviewed a small sample of people who had participated in the original obedience studies and been fully obedient

all completed the f scale

obedient participants scored significantly higher than disobedient

supports adornos view that obedient people may well show similar characteristics to people who have an authoritarian personality

Question 7

limitation of the theory

Answer 7

limited explanation

authoritarianism cannot explain obedient behaviour in the majority of countries population

pre war Germany - millions of people displayed obedient and anti sematic behaviour

despite the fact that they must have differed in their personalities in all sorts of ways

seems extrmely unlikely they could all possess an authoritarian personality

alternative view - majority of German people identified with the antisemewitc Nazi state

adornos theory is limited because an alternative explanation is much more realistic

Question 8

limitation of the theory

Answer 8

political bias

f- scale only measures the tendency towards an extreme form of right and wrong ideology

Christine and Jahoda argued that the Fscale is a politically biased interpretation of authoritarian personality

point out reality of left wing authorities in the shape of Russian Bolsherism or chinese Maoism

extreme right wing and left wing ideologies have a lot in common

example- emphasise the importance of complete obedience to political authority

means adornos theory is not a comprehensive dispositional explanation that accounts for obedience to authority across the whole policital spectrum