Dispositional explanation of obedience - authoritarian personality

Question 1

Adorno’s research

Answer 1

Developed the California F-Scale:

• Questionnaire
• Included statements like ‘Rules are there to be followed, not changed’ and other opinions related to an authoritarian personality
• Ppts asked to rank how highly they agreed with the statements
• Ppts who scored highly on the F-scale had an authoritarian personality
• These people tended to have been raised using an authoritarian parenting style, including the use of physical punishment and emphasis on obedience

Question 2

What are the characteristics of an Authoritarian Personality?

Answer 2

• Obeyed authority
• Enforced strict adherence to social rules and hierarchies
• They obeyed those ‘superior’ to them
• They believed that those ‘inferior’ to them should obey them

Question 3

What was the procedure of Elms and Milgram’s research?

Answer 3

Used ppts from Milgram’s baseline study
-20 ‘obedient’ ppts
-20 ‘defiant’ ppts

All ppts completed an F-scale (measured authoritarian personality) and an MMPI scale (measured a range of different personality types)

Ppts were also asked a range of open-ended questions about their childhoods and their attitudes towards the shock study

Question 4

Origins of Authoritarian Personality

Answer 4

Raised by a strict authoritarian parenting style

-Physical punishment

-Strong emphasis on obedience, which was then acquired through learning and imitation

Question 5

What were the findings of Elms and Milgram’s study?

Answer 5

There was minimal difference between the two groups in the MMPI scale results

HIGHER levels of authoritarian personality in the ‘obedient’ ppts

‘obedient’ ppts reported being less close with their fathers in childhood

The ‘obedient’ ppts admired the authority figure in the shock study, and looked down upon the ‘learners’

Question 6

AO3 -

Difference in obedient ppts and the causes (origins) of Authoritarian Personality

Answer 6

Some ‘obedient’ ppts reported close relationships with their father

They also didn’t all report having a strict household in childhood

This therefore highlights issues with the causes of an Authoritarian Personality, as the results were not consistent with the defined causes (origins)

Question 7

AO3 -

Education and the authoritarian personality

Answer 7

Less educated ppts were consistently more likely to have an Authoritarian Personality than well educated ppts

Less educated ppts were much more obedient than well educated ones

Suggests that obedience could be caused by poor education, which may lead to the conclusion that the ppts have an Authoritarian Personality, when in fact they don’t

Question 8

AO3 -

Social desirability bias in the F-Scale

Answer 8

In the F-Scale ppts may have selected answers which they thought were more socially desirable and correct

-rather than what they actually believed themselves

Reduces the accuracy and validity of the results

Question 9

AO3 -

Proximity, Uniform, Location

Answer 9

It is hard to distinguish between obedience caused by these three variables, and obedience caused by an Authoritarian Personality

They act as extraneous variables