dispositional explanation for obedience Flashcards
Who studied the relationship between personality and obedience?
Adorno
What was the aim of Adorno’s study?
to investigate the relationship between personality/ disposition and obedience and the causes of this
What was the procedure of Adorno’s study?
2000 middle class white americans
What was the sample of Adorno’s study?
-research obtained through s questionnaire
-data measured using the ‘F-Scale’
-correlational research
What is the F-scale?
-a scale that measured how much of an ‘Authoritarian Personality’ someone has
What are the characteristics of an authoritarian personality?
-identification with ‘strong’ people and general contempt towards the weak
-very conscious of status amd extreme respect tpwards those of a higher status
-black and white thinking
-fixed distinctive stereotypes about other groups
-a strong correlation with prejudice
If a person has an authoritarian personality are they more or less likely to obey?
More likely
How does the Authoritarian Personality Develop?
-in childhood
-mostly as a result of harsh parenting- strict discipline, an expectation of absolute loyalty, impossibly high standrads, severe criticism of perceived failings and conditional love
-adorno argued these experiences created resentment and hostility but the child cannot express these to parents so they are displaced onto those seen as weaker
-this explains hatred towards ‘social inferiors’
What are the limitations of the dispositional explanations for obedience?
-correlation isnt causation
-incomplete theories
-methodological problems
What are the strengths of the dispositional explanations for obedience?
-research evidence
Explain the limitation of dispositional explanations for obedience that theories are incomplete?
-focusing purely on dispositional factors offers an incomplete explanation of obedience
-it seems unlikely that all people who are obedient have, for example, an authoritarian personality
-research has indicated that people who show obedience do not always have an authoritarian personality.
-Furthermore, some people who score highly on tests of authoritarianism do not show high levels of obedience
-a more complete explanation of obedience would recognize both situational and dispositional factors in an interactionist theory.
Explain the limitation of dispositional explanations for obedience that correlation isnt causation?
-Reserach only establishes a correlation, not a cause and effect
-Research has only established a correlation between personality factors such as authoritarianism and acts of obedience, however this does not mean that one thing (personality) necessarily causes the other (obedience)
Explain the limitation of dispositional explanations for obedience that there are methodological problems?
-dispositional explanations such as the authoritarian personality are based on measuring personality with questionnaires like the F scale, however these may be flawed
-Greenstein argues that the F-scale is a ‘comedy of methodological errors’-items are all worded in the same direction so it is possible to get a high score simply by ticking all the same line of boxes down the page
-people that agree with the items may be ‘acquiesers’- have a tendency to agree on everything
-This means that any evidence may not be accurate or reflect actual personalities, therefore support for dispositional explanations is lacking in validity
Explain the strength for dispositional explanations for obedience that there is research evidence?
-Milgram and Elms assessed the personality of a number of the participants involved in Milgrams studies
-They found that individuals that scored highly on tests of authoritarianism demonstrated higher levels of obedience.
-This validates the claim that an authoritarian personality leads to greater levels of obedience
