Dispositional explanation: the authoritarian personality Flashcards
What is the Authoritarian Personality?
A personality type that shows respect for authority and hostility towards lower status individuals
What are people with this personality type like?
- extremely respectful to those in authority
- believe that strong and powerful leaders are needed to enforce traditional values
- are hostile to people of inferior status
What are the origins of the authoritarian personality?
- Formed in childhood from harsh parenting (strict discipline, impossibly high standards, severe criticism of perceived failings)
- Childhood experiences create resentment and hostility in a child
Who researched the authoritarian personality?
Adorno
What did Adorno et al do? (Procedure)
- Measured attitudes towards racial minorities in 2000 middle-class Americans
- Measured the different components that made up the authoritarian personality of each ppt.
What did Adorno et al find?
- Those with an authoritarian personality were conscious of other people’s status and disapproved of those they thought were weak.
- Strong positive correlation between those with an authoritarian personality and prejudice.
What did these findings suggest? (Conclusion)
People with an authoritarian personality tend to be very obedient to authority because they have enormous respect for authority figures. They also show contempt for people they perceive as having inferior social status. They believe that we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values.
What are the strengths of this theory?
- Supporting evidence
What are the limitations of this theory?
- Ignores external causes of obedience
- Cannot explain group obedience.
- Methodological weaknesses
PEEL- Limitation- Ignores external causes of obedience
PEEL- Strength- Supporting evidence
PEEL- Limitation- cannot explain group obedience
PEEL- Limitation- Methodological weaknesses.
