dispositional explanations of obedience Flashcards
what is the authoritarian personality?
- a dispositional factor that has been linked to higher levels of obedience
- adorno et al (1950) believed it came from harsh and strict parenting in early childhood, making the child believe their parents love is conditional on their behaviour. this creates resentment growing up, since they can’t express this the feelings are displaces onto people seen as ‘weak’ or ‘inferior’
adorno et al (1950) - aim
studied over 2000 middle class white americans to find their unconscious views of other racial groups
adorno et al (1950) - method
- developed the f-scale which measures fascism which is thought to be at the core of authoritarianism, e.g. :
- “obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues children should learn”
- “homosexuals are hardly better than criminals and ought to be severely punished”
- “there is hardly anything lower than a person who does not feel great love, gratitude and respect for his parents”
adorno et al (1950) - results
- those who scored high on the f-scale reported identifying with strong people and showed disrespect to the weak
- they were status conscious and showed more respect to those of higher power
- they also had a specific cognitive style which categorised others into stereotypical categories, creating a strong correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
adorno et al (1950) - conclusion
- those with an authoritarian personality were more obedient to authority and showed respect and submissiveness
- they were uncomfortable with uncertainty, an inflexible attitude
- believe society needs strong leadership to enforce tradition
give a strength of the authoritarian personality
1/1
research support: milgram and elms (1966) did post experiment interviews with milgram’s fully obedient participants and found they scored higher on the f-scale than the disobedient ones. they concluded that the obedient participants in milgrams study showed more characteristics of the authoritarian personality
give a limitation of the authoritarian personality
1/5
individual differences may contribute to the development of the authoritarian personality. for example middendorp and melon (1990) found that less educated people are more likely to display authoritarian characteristics. it may not be authoritarian traits alone that lead to obedience but instead levels of education
give a limitation of the authoritarian personality
2/5
there are methodological traits associated with measures to determine traits. the f-scale may suffer from response bias or social desirability bias where participants respond in a socially acceptable way, they may appear more authoritarian as they think their answers are socially ‘correct’. therefore answers provided mat not be an accurate reflection of authoritarianism, meaning the study may lack internal validity
give a limitation of the authoritarian personality
3/5
the f-scale may represent a political bias. christie and jahoda (1954) argue it only focuses on extreme right wing ideologies, ignoring the role of authoritarianism historically in left wing politics. this raises the issue as to whether the f-scale can account for obedience to authority across the entire diverse political range
give a limitation of the authoritarian personality
4/5
used a biased sample of white, middle class americans, taking an ethnocentric viewpoint. this means the study and the results lack population validity and cannot be generalised to the wider population, we cannot conclude that other groups of people would respond in a similar way. more research is needed to assess other cultures
give a limitation of the authoritarian personality
5/5
since this study was conducted over 70 years ago when societal views were much different, the study lacks temporal validity. people now may be less inclined to be fully obedient towards authority figures. since this is an old study, it cannot accurately be used to explain obedience and authoritarianism in modern life
