Dispositional factors ( obedience)

Question 1

A01- Dispositional factors leading to increased obidience

Answer 1

• The idea that there may be internal explanations e.g personality and individual reasons why somebody may choose to obey, does an individuals obedient behaviour emerge only under specific conditions or wether its responded to a specific personality pattern
• Authoritarian personality is used to explain why types of people might need very little pressure in order to obey,easily submissive under authority and may also be imhenrentley dominating of people with a lower status with the hierarnhcy, or towards members of out groups
• F scale ( Adorno et al 1950) is used to measure different components that make up the authoritarian personality using statements which people either A or D with.People who were more obidient were higher on this F scale
• Characteristics of an authoritarian personality include strong ridgid thinkers, people who enforce strict adherence to social rules
• RWA xon - People who are brought up in authoritarian familes learn these characteristics with a strong emphasis on obedience through learning and imitation and insitute this as a social norm

Question 2

A01 - Key study for dispositional factors

Answer 2

• Elms and Milgram (1966)
  Selected 20 obedient participants from a previous study ( those who continued to deliver the highest shock levels) and 20 defiant participants ( those who refrained from delivering extreme shock levels)
• Each participant carried out F scale and MMPI scale measure A personality
  -Asked a series of open ended questions about familly etc
  -Findings - Higher levels of AP in those who were obedient, they tended to be less close with their fathers, and saw figure of authority in experiment more admirable, not the case in defiant participants

Question 3

Supporting evidence for the AP/ obedience link A03 1

Answer 3

• Several studies have shown authoritarian participants are more obedient, however there has been suspicion about wether these participants truly believed they were dealing real electric shocks
  -Dambrun and Vatine (2010) overcame this problem by using an immersive virtual enviroment where an actor taking the role of the learner was filmed recorded and displayed on computer, participants were informed this was all a simulation, however participants still responded as if this was real, and there was a clear and significant link between RWA and highest V shock given.
• Higher RWA meant they obeyed the most confirming the link between authoritarism and obedience

Question 4

Limitations in evidence for these factors (A03) by

Answer 4

• Milgram showed variation in the social context of the study e.g proximity and locations were the primary cause of differences in participants levels of obedience and not personalities
• Relying on AP explanations is insufficient as it lacks flexibility to account for these variations

Question 5

Supporting evidence for dispositional factors in increasing obedience
(A03)

Answer 5

-Elms and Milgrams research also presented some important differences in the characteristics of the AP and characteristics of obedient participants
- When E and M asked participants about their upbringing many of the fully obedient participants reported having a very good relationship with their parents, rather than having grown up in the overly strict family envrioment assisted with the Ap
- shows large majority who delivered shocks were brpught up in a strict enviroment with a punitive father

Question 6

Education limitation

Answer 6

• Research e.g Middedndop amd meolen 1990 generally found that less educated people are more authoritarian than more educated people
• also found lower levels of obedience are lined to higher levels of education, suggests that instead of A causing obedience, lack of education can be responsible for authortisism
  As a result any casaul relationsahip between a and o is