Dispositional explanation

Question 1

Authoritarian personality

Answer 1

A type of personality that Adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority.

Question 2

Authoritarian personality and obedience

Answer 2

Adorno argued that people with an AP show extreme respect for authority. Such people view society as weaker than it once was, so believe we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce trad values such as love of country and family.

People with an AP also show contempt for those of inferior social status. This is fuelled by their inflexible outlook on the world.- Everything for them is either right or wrong and they are uncomfortable with uncertainty. Therefore people who are other are responsible for the ills of the world.

Question 3

Origins of the AP

Answer 3

Adorno believed that the AP type forms in childhood as a result of harsh parenting. This style features extremely strict discipline, an explanation of absolute loyalty, high standards and severe criticism of failings. Parents give conditional love- their affection depends on how her or she behaves (i will love you if). Adorno argued that these childhood experiences create resentment in a child. But the child cannot express these feelings against their parents because of punishment. So these fears are displaced onto those who they see as “weaker” in a process called scapegoating. -PSYCHODYNAMIC EXPLANATION

Question 4

Adorno’s research

Answer 4

PROCEDURE: studied more than 2000 middle class white Americans and their attitudes towards other ethnic groups. The researchers developed several measurement scales, including the F-scale- used to measure AP. Two examples of items from the F-scale are obedience and respect for authority. These are most important for children to learn, and there is hardly anything lower than a person who does not feel great, love, gratitude and respect for his parents.

FINDINGS: People with Authoritarian leanings identified with strong people and were generally contemptuous of the weak. They were very conscious of status and showed extreme respect to those of higher statuses.

Question 5

STRENGTH- RESEARCH SUPPORT

Answer 5

Elms and Milgram found obedient males in previous Milgram studies scored higher on the F-scale than disobedient males suggesting that they had APs. They trusted the professor and dehumanised the learner.

Question 6

WEAKNESS-FLAWED EVIDENCE

Answer 6

The F-scale is criticised as a measurement for the AP as it suffers from acquiescence bias- people tend to agree to the questions as it was written in a way that agreeing to all the questions would inflate the scores.