Dispositional explanation for obedience: the authoritarian personality Flashcards
What are the characteristics of Adorno’s Authoritarian personality
The authoritarian personality has been associated with its high levels of obedience
What is the name of the questionnaire made to measure levels of the Authoritarian personality
The F scale
List 5 Authoritarian beliefs
- Extreme respect for authority
- Believe you are superior to others, thus treat those society regards as inferior, with hatred
- Believe society is ‘going to the dogs’ - and strong leadership is needed to enforce traditional values
- No grey areas in morality
- Right wing/conservative
What are some authoritarian characteristics
They are very obedient to those they consider to be above them in the hierarchy
Attempt to control those they consider to be beneath them
Who first proposed the authoritarian personality
It was first proposed by Fromm (1921) as an attempt to explain those holding right-wing conservative views and those submissive to authority and domination of minorities.
What does a dispositional explanation propose
It proposes that the individuals traits an characteristics are the main factors in the obedience displayed by them
What are 3 things that shape the authoritarian personality
- Strict dogmatic parents who are emotionally distant
- The parents used harsh physical punishments for disobedience, instilling the child with the need to follow authority
- Conditional love
What are 4 authoritarian beliefs/values
- Extreme respect for authority
- Believe you are superior to others, thus treat those society regards as inferior, with hatred
- Believes society is ‘going to the dogs’ and strong leadership is needed to correct that
- Right wing/conservative, no grey areas in morality
What are some authoritarian characteristics
- Extreme respect tor authority
- Strong belief in the need of power and toughness
- Absolute obedience
- Intolerant of minorities
- Ethnocentric (believes that their culture is greater than others)
- Conventional attitudes to sex, race and gender
What are the 9 dimensions of the authoritarian personality measured by the F scale
Conventionalism
Authoritarian submission
Authoritarian aggression
Anti-intraception
Superstition and streotypy
Power and toughness
Destructiveness and cynicism
Projectivity
Sex
What study fully supports the authoritarian personality
Elms and Milgram (1966)
Found that obedient participants in Milgram’s study scored significantly higher on the F scale than the less obedient participants.
What study neither supports or contradicts the authoritarian personality
Zillmer et al (1995)
Reported that 16 Nazi criminals scored highly on three of the F scale dimensions.
What fully contradicts the authoritarian personality
- There is difficulty establishing a cause and effect link between the AP and obedience because it lacks internal validity
- There is researcher bias presuming that the authoritarian personality is limited to right wing individuals - Conway devised a scale to measure views in left wing individuals and found they are just as likely to display authoritarian traits.
