Dispositional Explanation for Obedience (Authoritarian Personality)

Question 1

What type of obedience is the authoritarian personality?

Answer 1

It is a Dispositional explanation for obedience

Question 2

What did Adorno propose in 1950?

Answer 2

A Dispositional explanation for obedience - people’s personalities determine their behaviour

Question 3

What is obedience?

Answer 3

A type of social influence which causes a person to act in response to an order from a figure with perceived authority

Question 4

What collection of traits did Adorno say that people with an Authoritarian Personality have?

Answer 4

Service towards people of higher status
Hostile to people of lower status
Preoccupied with power
Inflexible with beleifs and values
Conformist and Conventional (rule following)
Categorise people as “us” or “them”
Dogmatic (don’t like to be confused)

Question 5

What did how did Adorno suggest people developed the authoritarian personality?

Answer 5

Harsh disciple from parents - physical punishment
Can’t take anger out on parents due to fear so act submissive towards them which extends to all authority figures

Creates feelings of hostility directed to weaker others that can’t fight back

Question 6

What did Adorno develop?

Answer 6

A questionnaire called the F Scale

Question 7

What is the F scale?

Answer 7

A questionnaire which finds if you have an authoritarian per personality

Question 8

How did Adorno test his F scale?

Answer 8

Tested 2000+ middle-class white Americans and their attitudes towards other racial groups

Found correlation between high score on F Scale and having an Authoritarian Personality

Question 9

What were the general questions in the F Scale?

Answer 9

How much they agree with statements

Question 10

What are the Strengths of the Authoritarian Personality?

Answer 10

RS1 - Elms & Milgram (1966) - pps from Milgram’s experiment

RS2 - Millger (1975) - holding a wire

RS3 - Altemeyer (1981) - shock themselves

Question 11

What did Elms & Milgram’s study involve?

Answer 11

Chose 20 obedient and disobedient participants from Milgram’s earlier experiment

Found that obedient participants scored higher on F Scale - suggesting authoritarian personality

NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE IN MMPI SCALE (general personality quiz)

Question 12

What did Miller’s Study (1975) involve?

Answer 12

Asking participants to hold electric wiring while completing a test

More obedient participants had higher score on F Scale = authoritarian personality

Question 13

What did Altemeyer’s study (1981) involve?

Answer 13

Asked participants to shock themselves whenever they made a mistake on a learning task

Those who were obedient score higher on F Scale = authoritarian personality

Question 14

What are the weaknesses of the Authoritarian Personality?

Answer 14

Limited explanation - (social identity theory better in some cases)

Methodological problems

Question 15

How does the Authoritarian Personality have limited explanation?

Answer 15

Doesn’t explain why a whole population such as Germany is obedient - don’t all have an authoritarian personality

Social Identity Theory can explain it better

Question 16

How can Social Identity Theory explain the holocaust better than Authoritarian Personality?

Answer 16

Germans identified with anti-Semitic Nazis and killed the Jews.
Not everyone has an authoritarian personality
Makes the Social Identity Theory a more relevant explanation

Question 17

How were there methodological problems with the authoritarian personality?

Answer 17

Questions on F Scale are worded in same direction - easy to get a higher score

Questions are closed - can’t explain answers

Adorno interviewed participants after knowing their scores - maybe interviewer bias

Questions validity of authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience