dispositional explanation for obedience

Question 1

authoritarianism

Answer 1

• the enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom
• people who obtain an authoritian personality are more likely to be obedient to those who hold more power over them

Question 2

who proposed the authoritarism personality

Answer 2

adorno et al

Question 3

how does external locus of control link to this explaination

Answer 3

• high external locus of control more likely to follow orders and be more obedient than internal locus of control as externals believe that they have less control over their behaviour and life

Question 4

why did Adorno propose that authoritarian parenting style caused an AP?

Answer 4

• our parents obtain status and respect over us in which in childhood forms of strict parenting and being highly disciplined results in obeying authority figures in adolsence
• parents who nurture AP only provide conditional love when the child behaves exactly how the parent expects them to

Question 5

why did adorno propose the AP explaination

Answer 5

Adorno wanted to attempt to explain the behaviour of the nazi’s and the level of anti-semitism and racism during the 1950’s (WW2)

Question 6

how can AP be characteristed

Answer 6

people with AP are likely to display:
- respect for authority figures
- rigid beliefs/attitudes
- strong beliefs in the justice system
- obtain right-wing political values
- demonstrate agressive behaviour towards those who are inferior to them such as black people (german attitudes)

Question 7

what was the aim of Adorno’s study?

Answer 7

he conducted a study using over 2000 middle class, Caucasian Americans to find out their unconscious views towards other racial groups

Question 8

what was the procedure in adorno’s study

Answer 8

he gave participants an f-scale questionnaire which asked participants attitudes towards:
-obedience and respect being the most important virtures for children to learn
- suffering and punishment helps people learn important things
- those who do not demonstrate love and grattitude for their parents are the lowest of people

Question 9

what were the findings of adorno’s study

Answer 9

• those who scored highly on the f-scale were indentified as authoritian and condemmed those who they deemed weak and inferior class
• they were consious of status and demonstrated high levels of obedience without thought
• AP’s had an cognitive style that does not blur the lines between categories of people
• there was also a strong postive correlation between AP and prejudice