Dispositional Explanations*

Question 1

Authoritarian personality

Answer 1

Adorno-personality susceptible to obeying people in authority
Submissive to those in higher status and dismissive of inferiors
Caused by cruel harsh parenting

Question 2

Adorno et al - aim

Answer 2

Understand anti-Semitism.
Conducted a study using 2000 middle-class white Americans to find out their unconscious view towards other racial groups

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

The questionnaire was developed including the F scale which measures fascist tendencies
Examples of questions include : obedience and respectful authority are most important virtues children should learn, homosexuals are hardly voted than criminals and ought to be severely punished

Question 4

Findings

Answer 4

People with high authoritarian learnings identified with strong people and contentious of the weak
They show excessive respect to those empower and were status conscious regarding themselves and others
Strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice

Question 5

Conclusion

Answer 5

Extremely obedient to authority
Uncomfortable with uncertainty -either right or wrong
Society requires strong leadership to enforce traditional values

Question 6

Origin of authoritarian personality

Answer 6

Childhood-hash parenting-strict discipline-high standards-severe criticism-causes resentment-can’t show fear so they displace it onto others
Conditional love from parents -won’t love you if you do something wrong

Question 7

Research support-Milgram and elms

Answer 7

Post experiment interviews with participants in milligrams study.
Obedient participants scored higher on the scale compared to disobedient participants
Obedient participants displayed more characteristics of the authoritarian personality

Question 8

Limitation-individual differences

Answer 8

Less educated are more likely to display authoritarian personality than educated
Shows level of education lead to obedience as well as authoritarian personality

Question 9

Political bias-Christie and Jahoda

Answer 9

The F-scale only measures extreme right wing ideologies-can’t account for obedience across the whole political scale.

Question 10

Methodological criticisms

Answer 10

With measures to determine authoritarian personality traits
Fscale suffers from response bias or social desirability-provide socially acceptable answers
Reduces internal validity as their answers are the socially correct

Question 11

Issues and debates

Answer 11

Adorno high authoritarianism was similar to suffering from a psychological disorder
It’s determined by our socialisation experiences and a result of free will