Conformity: Dispositional Explanationsw

Question 1

What is the authoritarian personality

Answer 1

• type of personality that adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority
• such individuals thought to be submissive to those of higher status + dismissive of inferiors

Question 2

Outline the aim of Adorno’s study

Answer 2

• adorno et al wanted to understand the anti-semitism of the holocaust
• they believed high levels of obedience was basically a psychological disorder

Question 3

Outline the procedure of Adorno’s study

Answer 3

• sample - over 2000 middle class, white Americans
• studied individuals unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups
• they developed several scales to measure this include the F-scale (potential for Fascism scale) used to measure authoritarian personality today

Question 4

Outline the findings of Adorno’s study

Answer 4

• people with authoritarian learnings (those who scored high on the F scale) identified with ‘strong’ people and were dismissive of ‘weak’ people
• they were very conscious of their own and others status
• had a cognitive style - no ‘fuzziness’ between categories of people, with fixed and distinct stereotypes.

Question 5

What are authoritarian characteristics

Answer 5

• people with an authoritarian personality were especially obedient towards authority
• they had highly conventional studies towards sex, race and gender
• they believe we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce transitional values in society: family, religion etc

Question 6

Outline the origin of the authoritarian personality

Answer 6

• Adorno et al concluded the authoritarian personality type forms in childhood as a result of harsh parenting
• the parenting style identified is characterised by strict discipline,impossibly high standards etc
• these experiences create hostility and resentment in the child, but that they cannot express these directly to the parent so these fears are displaced onto others perceived to be weaker

Question 7

What are the three evaluation points for the authoritarian personality

Answer 7

• research support
• only provides a limited explanation
  -political bias

Question 8

Outline ‘research support’ as an evaluation point for the authoritarian personality

Answer 8

-Milgram and elms - conducted interviews with individuals who scored highly on the F-scale
- they found a correlation between obedience and the authoritarian personality
- they concluded there may be a third factor involved linking these two, such as a lower level of education

Question 9

Outline ‘only provides a limited explanation’ as an evaluation point for the authoritarian personality

Answer 9

• focuses on the individual personality so cannot account for behaviour in the majority of a country
• e.g. pre-war Germany- million displayed racist, anti semitic behaviour despite the fact they all had different personalities
• it is unlikely they all posed an ‘authoritarian personality’ and so it is possible that ‘social identity’ may better explain obedience

Question 10

Outline ‘political bias ’ as an evaluation point for the authoritarian personality

Answer 10

• the F scale measures the tendency towards an extreme form of right wing ideology
• Christie and jahoda - argued this is a politically based interpretation of authoritarian personality
• this is a limitation as it cannot provide a comprehensive dispositional explanation that can account for obedience to authority across the whole political spectrum