DISPOSITIONAL FACTORS (AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY)

Question 1

high obedience is pathological

Answer 1

adorno et al belived that unquestoning obedince is a pthological disorder, and tried to find its causes in indv personality

Question 2

extreme respect for authorirty an contempt for those inferior

Answer 2

• concluded ppl with an authotarian person are especially obedience to authortity
• have extaggered respect for authority ad submissive to it
• They were very conscious of their own and others’ status, and had a cognitive style where there was no
  fuzziness between categories of people, with fixed distinctive stereotypes of other groups.

Question 3

originates in childhood (overly strict parents)

Answer 3

• Adorno proposed the AP, and
  suggested it was formed in childhood due to harsh upbringing, For example, expectations of loyalty, high standards, and severe criticism of failings.
• it is also characterised by unconditional love - parents love depends entirely on how their child behaves

Question 4

hostility is displaced onto inferiors

Answer 4

• these cause resentment and hositlity in the child, but they cannot express these feelings directly against their parents because they fear reprisal
• so the feelings are displaced onto others who are weaker this is scapegoating. this is the psychodynamic explanation

Question 5

Adorno et al

Answer 5

• investiaged americans attitudes towards ethnic groups of more than 200 middle class white americans
• F-Scale scale (rated on scale 1 to 6 where 6 = strongly agree)
• “obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues for children to learn”
• “there is hardly anything lower than a person who doesnt feel great love, gratitude and resp for parents”

Question 6

adrono findings

Answer 6

• authotarians who scored high on the F-scale scale identified with “strong” ppl and were contempous of the weak.
• they were consious of their own status, showing excess respect and deference of those higher status

Question 7

Adorno conslusion

Answer 7

• authotarian ppl has cognitive style whete there was no “fuzziness” between categoruies of ppl, with fixed and distinctive sterotypes.

Question 8

one strength is there is evidence authoritarians are obedient

Answer 8

• One strength of AP is that there is supporting research.
• For example, Adorno et al found people with AP are more likely to obey. Similarly, Milgram and Elms conducted follow up interviews and found that fully obedient participants scored high on the F-Scale and had less relationship with their father during childhood.
• This is an advantage as it increases validity of the theory, and shows a clear link between high F-Scale score, and poor relationships with parents. Yet, there is not a causal relationship as there may be a third variable- this being the level of education, as people with no education lack knowledge about political/current issues- and so are uninformed and arrogant

Question 9

better exp

Answer 9

• One limitation of the AP is that there is a better explanation of why people may obey.
• For example, Tajfel proposed the social identity theory idea that people identify themselves as belonging to a particular social group.
• We favour our own group (in group) over any group to which we do not belong (out group) We maximise the similarities within the group, and the differences between our group and others, For example, provide norms.
• This can explain the obedience of the Nazi’s as they all had similar attributes within the group, so they wanted to eliminate anyone who wasn’t similar to them (Jews).
• This is an advantage as it provides a better explanation of why people obey

Question 10

another limitation is that its Determinstic

Answer 10

• One limitation of the AP is that it’s extremely deterministic. For example, it assumes that just because
  you have a harsh upbringing you will definitely have the AP and obey- this is very deterministic .
• Also, it doesn’t account for those who had good upbringing in a loving family but still develop the AP.
• Furthermore, if the AP is Caused by traumatic childhood relations with parents this cannot explain the behaviour of the Nazi soldier as it’s highly unlikely that every Nazi had the same upbringing by the parents.
• This is a disadvantage as it’s a very limited explanation and can’t explain all instances of obedience.

Question 11

• lacks internal validity

Answer 11

• One limitation with the AP is that it lacks internal validity.This is because Adorno’s F-scale isn’t actually measuring what it’s supposed to be measuring, it’s rather measuring political views.
• Also, some psychologists have argued that it measures people’s tendency to agree to everything (acquiescence bias) rather than the person having AP.
• This is a disadvantage as the results could be representing alternative factors (e.g. political views) rather than obedience.
• Thus decreases the validity of the theory