Dispositional Explanation AO1

Question 1

What is the authoritarian personality?

Answer 1

a personality that provides an explanation as to why people obey with little pressure to do so

Question 2

What is the F - scale?

Answer 2

a scaloe used identify an authoritarian personality

Question 3

Describe Aldorno’s F - scale procedure.

Answer 3

• studied 2000 white middle class americans and their unconsious biases towards other racial groups
• they then developes measurement scales (F-scale for example) to measure the authoritarian personality
• an example of items in the F-scale were ‘Rules are there for people to follow, not change.’

Question 4

Explain the findings of Adorno et al’s study using the F-scale.

Answer 4

• he found that people with authoritarian leanings identified with strong people who were generally comtempteous of the weak
• they were consious of their own status and greatly respected those of a higher status
• they were hostile to those of an inferior status and obedient to those with a higher one
• they were also raised in an authoritarian parenting style

Question 5

Explain Elms and Milgram’s procedure on authoritarian personalities.

Answer 5

• 20 fully obedient and 20 non-fully obedient participants from milgram’s original study completed the F-scale
• they were also asked about their relationship with their parents and their attitude towards the ‘experimentor’ and ‘learner’

Question 6

Explain Elms and Milgram’s findings from their experiment on authoritarian personalities.

Answer 6

• higher levels of authoritarianism in those who were fully obedient
• obedient participants said they were less close to their fathers and described them negatively