Chapter 1.5 - Dispositional explanation for obedience

Question 1

What is the alternative explanation for obedience?

Answer 1

The dispositional explanation

Question 2

What is the dispositional explanation?

Answer 2

Any explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individual’s personality

Question 3

What is the authoritarian personality?

Answer 3

A type of personality that Adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority. Such individuals are also thought to be submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors

Question 4

What are the origins of the authoritarian personality?

Answer 4

It forms in childhood as a result of harsh parenting, typically experiencing strict discipline, expecting absolute loyalty, impossibly high standards and severe criticism of failing(conditional love)

Question 5

What happens to people if they has a harsh childhood?

Answer 5

These negative experiences create hostility and resentment in a child who cannot express them directly to their parents(fear of punishment) and so their fears are displaced onto others who they perceive to be weaker

Question 6

What explanation is the authoritarian personality?

Answer 6

Psychodynamic explanation

Question 7

What was the procedure of Adorno’s research?

Answer 7

• Over 2000 middle-class, white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups were studies
• Several measurement scales were developed include the potential-for-fascism scale

Question 8

What were the findings of Adorno’s research?

Answer 8

• People with authoritarian leanings(scored high on the F-scale) identified with strong people ad were generally contemptuous of the weak
• They were very conscious of their status and showed extreme respect, deference and servility to those of higher status, basis traits of obedience
• Authoritarian people had a cognitive style, black and white thinking
• Had fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups
• Strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice

Question 9

What is an advantage for the dispositional explanation? (research support)

Answer 9

Milgram interviewed a small sample of people who had participated in the original study and had been fully obedient
- They completed the F-scale and these 20 obedient participants scored significantly higher on the overall F-scale than a comparison of 20 disobedient
- This supports Adorno’s view that obedient people show similar characteristics to those with Authoritarian personalities

Question 10

What is a counterpoint for the dispositional explanation? (research support)

Answer 10

When analysing the individual subscales, they found that the obedient participants had a number of characteristics that were unusual for Authoritarians
- Did not glorify their fathers
- Did not experience unusual levels of punishment during their childhood
- Did not have hostile attitudes towards their mothers
Meaning that the link between obedience and authoritarianism is complex

Question 11

What is a limitation for the dispositional explanation? (limited)

Answer 11

Authoritarianism cannot explain obedient behaviour in the majority of a country’s population
- Millions of individuals displayed obedient and anti-Semitic behaviour pre-war Germany despite having differing personalities
- It is unlikely that they all possess an Authoritarian personality
- The social identity theory is much more realistic(majority of Germans identified with the anti-Semitic Nazi state and displaced their anger on the Jews)

Question 12

What is a limitation for the dispositional explanation? (political bias)

Answer 12

The F-scale only measures the tendency towards an extreme right-wing ideology
- The Authoritarian personality is a politically biased interpretation
The theory is not a comprehensive dispositional explanation that accounts for obedience to authority across the whole political spectrum

Question 13

What is the right wing vs left wing ideology in politics?

Answer 13

• The left seeks social justice through redistributive social and economic policies
• The right defends private property and capitalism.

Question 14

What is a limitation of the dispositional explanation? (flawed evidence)

Answer 14

Response bias and social desirability flaws the evidence

Question 15

What is resistance to social influence?

Answer 15

Refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or to obey authority. This ability is influenced by both situational and dispositional factors