dispositional explanation for obedience:authoritarian personality

Question 1

strength:there is research support

Answer 1

E:Milgram and Elms conducted interviews after participants completed the Milgram procedure and found a positive correlation between scores on the F-scale and obedience, meaning people who scored highly were more likely to obey.
E:This supports authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience as it is to be expected to see a positive correlation. This makes sense, given that a key trait of authoritarian personality is unquestioning respect for an authority figure which could lead to obeying the destructive orders of an experimenter.nevertheless, it must be noted that the findings of Milgram and Elm’s research are correlational meaning psychologists are unable to establish whether or not authoritarian personality traits cause obedience.we only know that the two factors are linked.
L:this study provides support for the claim that authoritarian personality is a dispositional explanation for obedience yet there are still issues with correlational research.

Question 2

limitation:issues with research behind authoritarian personality as an expl for obedience.

Answer 2

E:Authoritarian personality is determined by the F-scale. every time you agreed with a view, the score would increase.
E:it’s possible that people may have been product of acquiescent bias. which means they were biased to agree with the statements even if they did not agree with the content, making it difficult to establish whether someone scored highly as a result of having an authoritarian personality or because they like to agree.
L:if supporting research is flawed, then authoritarian personality cannot be completely trusted as an explanation for obedience.