Dispositional Explanation

Question 1

what do not all psychologists accept about obedience?

Answer 1

that it can be fully explained by factors in the situations or social strucute

Question 2

what explanations are there for obedience?

Answer 2

several dispositional explanations of obedience - but the most influential concerns Authoritarian Personality

Question 3

define dispositional explanation

Answer 3

any explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individual’s personality (their disposition)

these explanations are often contrasted with situational explanations

Question 4

define authoritarian personality

Answer 4

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 + dismissive inferiors

Question 5

what can lead to AP?

Answer 5

constantly harsh and critical parenting can lead to the development of AP when the child becomes an adult

Question 6

similar to Milgram, what did Adorno want to understand?

Answer 6

the antisemitism of the holocaust

Question 7

what did Adorno and his colleagues research lead to?

Answer 7

very different conclusions from Milgram

Question 8

what did Adorno + his colleagues believe?

Answer 8

that a high level of obedience was basically a psychological disorder (pathological)

Question 9

what did they believe about the disorder?

Answer 9

that it lie in the personality of the individual rather than in the situation - it is a dispositional explanation

Question 10

what did Adorno argue about people with AP?

Answer 10

that they show extreme respect for (and submissiveness ) authority

Question 11

how do AP people view society?

Answer 11

as ‘weaker’ than it once was - so believe we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values such as love of country and family

Question 12

what do both of these characteristics make AP people more likely to do?

Answer 12

obey orders from a source of authority

Question 13

what do AP people show contempt for?

Answer 13

those of an inferior social status

fuelled by their inflexible outlook on the world - for them , there are no grey areas

everything is either right or wrong - they are uncomfortable with uncertainty

Question 14

so people who are ‘other’ (belonging to a different ethnic group) means what to AP?

Answer 14

responsible for the ills of society

they are often targets for AP people who are likely to obey orders from authority figures, even when such orders are destructive (as in Nazi Germany )

Question 15

when does Adorno believe AP type is formed?

Answer 15

in childhood , mostly as a result of harsh parenting

Question 16

what is typically involved in this parenting style?

Answer 16

extremely strict discipline

an expectation of absolute loyalty

impossible high standards

severe criticism of perceived failings

parents give conditional love - which means that their love an affection for their child depends on how they behave

Question 17

what did Adorno argue about these childhood experiences?

Answer 17

they create resentment + hostility in a child but the child cannot express these feelings directly against their parents because they fear punishment

Question 18

so what is happening?

Answer 18

their fears are displaced onto others who perceive to be weaker , in a process known as scapegoating

Question 19

therefore, what does this explain?

Answer 19

the hatred toward people who are considered to be socially inferior or belong to other social groups

a central feature of obedience to a higher authority

this is a psychodynamic explanation

Question 20

what did Adorno 1950 base their theory on?

Answer 20

research data

Question 21

explain the procedure 1950s ?

Answer 21

Adorno studied more than 2000 middle class, white Americans and their unconscious attitudes toward other ethnic groups

Question 22

what did the researchers develop?

Answer 22

several measurement scales: including potential-for-fascism scale (F-scale)

Question 23

what is the F-scale used to measure ?

Answer 23

Authoritarian Personality

Question 24

what are two examples of findings from the F-Scale ?

Answer 24

‘obedience and respect for authority are most important virtues for children to learn’

‘there is hardly anything lower than a person who does not feel great, love, gratitude and respect for their parents’

Question 25

what did people with authoritarian leanings identify with?

Answer 25

‘strong’ people and were generally contemptuous of the ‘weak’

Question 26

what are AP people conscious of ?

Answer 26

their status and of others and showed extreme respect , deference and servility to those of a higher status

these traits are the basis of obedience

Question 27

what did Adorno find about the cognitive style?

Answer 27

that AP people had a certain cognitive style - a way of perceiving others

in which there was no ‘fuzziness’ between categories of people (eg ‘black and white thinking’)

Question 28

what did AP people also have?

Answer 28

distinct and fixed stereotypes about other groups

Question 29

what did Adorno find?

Answer 29

a strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice

Question 30

what is a strength of Adorno?

Answer 30

evidence from Milgram supports the Authoritarian personality

Question 31

what did Milgram and Alan Elms 1966 do ?

Answer 31

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

they all completed the f-scale and other measures as part of the interview

Question 32

what was found from these 20 obedient participants?

Answer 32

they scored significantly higher on the overall f-scale than a comparison group of 20 disobedient participants

Question 33

how were the two groups different?

Answer 33

in terms of Authoritarianism

Question 34

what do these findings suggest?

Answer 34

it supports Adorno’s view that obedient people may well show similar characteristics to people who have an authoritarian personality

Question 35

what was found when the researcher analysed the individual subscales of the f-scale?

Answer 35

they found that obedient participants had a number of characteristics that were unusual for authoritarians

e.g.- unlike authoritarians , Milgram’s obedient participants generally did not glorify their fathers , did not experience unusual levels of punishment in childhood and did not have particularly hostile attitudes toward their mother

Question 36

what does this mean?

Answer 36

the link between obedience and authoritarianism is complex

the obedient participants were unlike authoritarians in so many ways that authoritarianism in unlikely to be a useful predictor of obedience

Question 37

what is a limitation?

Answer 37

authoritarianism can’t explain obedient behaviour in the majority of a country’s population

Question 38

give an example of this?

Answer 38

in pre-war Germany, millions of individuals displayed obedient and antisemitic behaviour

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

it seems unlikely that they could all possess an AP

Question 39

what is an alterative view?

Answer 39

that the majority of the german people identified with the antisemitic nazi state - and scapegoated the outgroup of jews

a social identity theory approach

Question 40

therefore, what can be suggested ?

Answer 40

Adorno’s theory is limited because an alternative explanation is much more realistic

Question 41

what is another limitation >

Answer 41

the F-scale only measures the tendency toward an extreme form of right wing ideology

Question 42

what did Christie and Jahoda 1954 argue?

Answer 42

that the F-scale is a politically biased interpretation of AP

they point put the reality of left wing authoritarianism in the shape of Russia Bolshevism or Chinese Maoism

Question 43

how do extreme right wing and left wing ideologies have a lot in common?

Answer 43

they both emphasise the importance of compete obedience to political authority

Question 44

what does this mean?

Answer 44

that Adorno’s theory is not a comprehensive dispositional explanation that accounts for obedience across the whole political spectrum

Question 45

on the positive side, what has the f-scale provided an explanation of ?

Answer 45

it has provided the basis of an explanation of obedience based on AP

Question 46

but what does Greenstein 1969 call the F-scale?

Answer 46

‘a comedy of methodological errors’

because of the seriously flawed scale

for instance, it is possible to get a high score, just by selecting agree

this means that anyone with this response bias is assessed as having authoritarian personality