Authoritarian Personality Content

Question 1

What is an authoritarian personality?

Answer 1

A distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority

Question 2

What are characteristics of an authoritarian personality?

Answer 2

. Especially obedient to authority without question
. Show a high level of being submissive to authority figure
. Very aware of hierarchy of society, knowing their status and are aware of others place in society
- judge based on place in society
. Look down on people ‘lower’ than them in society
. Highly conventional attitudes towards sex, race and gender
. Very inflexible/rigid and stubborn
. View what happens in society as being important to uphold their traditional values e.g need powerful leaders to have rigid values

Question 3

What did Adorno believe about personality?

Answer 3

It forms in childhood as a result of harsh parenting/upbringing
In their harsh upbringing environment, individuals begin to show hate and fear towards father as they resent their harsh upbringing, but can’t express these feelings onto their consequences, so as the child gets older they begin to scapegoat: displace hate of parents onto people they perceive as weaker

Question 4

What are features of harsh parenting?

Answer 4

. Strict discipline
. Criticise failures
. High expectations

These parents only show CONDITIONAL LOVE

Question 5

How are the different components of authoritarian personality measured?

Answer 5

The ‘F’ scale by Adorno et al (1950)

Question 6

What explanation for obedience is the authoritarian personality?

Answer 6

Dispositional: about our personality, our internal characteristics

Question 7

How did Altemeyer (1881) refine the concept of the authoritarian personality?

Answer 7

Identified a cluster of three of the original personality traits that he called right-wing authoritarianism (RWA)

Question 8

Which 3 personality traits did Altemeyer say high-RWA people possess?

Answer 8

. Conventionalism - follows traditional norms and values
. Authoritarian aggression - aggressive feelings towards people who violate the conventional norms
. Authoritarian submission - uncritical submission to legitimate authorities

Question 9

What does the ‘F’ in the F-scale stand for?

Answer 9

Fascist

Question 10

What did Adorno et al find about parenting and authoritarian personalities From his F-scale results?

Answer 10

. People who scored high on the F scale had grown up with a particularly authoritarian family, with a strong emphasis on obedience which they then learnt through learning and imitation (social learning theory)

Question 11

How many took part in the F-scale and what did it test?

Answer 11

2000 white-middle class Americans
Tested unconscious attitudes towards statements such as ‘Rules are there to follow, not to change’ to measure different components of the authoritarian personality

Question 12

What did Adorno’s F scale study find about how people with an authoritarian personality view people?

Answer 12

People who scored highly identified with ‘strong’ people and looked down on the ‘weak’
. Conscious of own social status and others
. Showed respect and admiration to higher social positions
. Had fixed stereotypes on certain groups in society

Strong correlation between authoritarian personality and prejudice

Question 13

What is the major debate over where the obedient behaviours emerged from in Milgram’s study?

Answer 13

Situational vs Dispositional factors

Question 14

Which research supports the F-scale as an explanation for obedience?

Answer 14

Elms and Milgram

Question 15

Who took part in the Elms and Milgram study?

Answer 15

‘20’ obedient participants and 20 defiant participants from Milgram’s original study 2 months after the experiment

Question 16

What was the procedure of the Elms and Milgram study?

Answer 16

. Each participant completed an MMPI scale and the California F scale to measure levels of authoritarianism
. Participants also asked open-ended questions about the relationships with their parents during childhood and their attitude to the ‘experimenter’ and the ‘learner’ during the participation in Milgram’s study

Question 17

What were the findings of Elms and Milgram’s study (1966)?

Answer 17

. Little difference between obedient and defiant participants on MMPI variables
. Higher levels of authoritarianism in those classed as obedient
. Obedient participants reported being less close to their fathers during childhood and spoke of them negatively
. Obedient participants saw the authority figure as more admirable in Milgram’s study than the learner

Conclusion: the obedient group in Milgram’s study possessed a higher level of authoritarianism