dispositinal explanations Flashcards
what are dispositional explanations
any explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individual’s personality
what is an authoritarian personality?
a type of personality that Adorno argued was especially susceptible to obey people in authority, these individuals are thought of to be submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors
describe Adorno’s procedure of obedience
Adorno investigated the cause of an obedient personality in a study with more than 2000 white middle class Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups, using several scales including the potential for fascism scale (f scale) which is still used to measure authoritarian personality
findings of adorno’s research
those with authoritarian personality and scored high on the F scale and other measures identified as strong and were quite contemptuous of the weak, conscious of their own thoughts and showed excessive respect to those of a higher status. those with an authoritarian personality had a cognitive style where there was a distinct difference between categories of people and often stereotyped people.
when do authoritarian personality types arise?
it is concluded that it is formed during childhood massively dependent on the parenting style, eg. extreme discipline. it is the parents love that determines the outcome of the child.
what is social support?
the presence of people who resist the pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same, these people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible
what is the locus of control?
the locus of control refers to a person’s perception of personal control over their own behaviour, measured on a scale of high internal to high external.
having an internal locus of control means the individual believes their life is determined by their own decisions and efforts whereas having external locus of control mean they believe that their life is determined by fate, luck and external factors.
internal locus of control
people who have an internal locus of control are more likely to resist social pressures if it doesn’t fit in with their own beliefs so they are less dependent on others.
research support
Twenge performed a meta analysis and found that young Americans increasingly believed their lives are controlled by outside forces rather than their own behaviour and also research concluded shows that men are more likely to have an internal locus of control than women are
