Explanations of obedience Flashcards
What is a dispositional explanation of obedience?
Authoritarian personality
If someone has an authoritarian personality, what characteristics will they have?
- An exaggerated respect for authority
- Rigid ‘black and white’ beliefs in conventional values
- General hostility towards other groups
- Belief in stereotypes
- Submissive attitude towards authority figures
Why are people with an authoritarian personality so obedient?
Adorno et al claimed that these individuals were treated harshly as children, causing them to feel hostile towards their parents.
The hostility is unconscious, the child seems to idealise his/her parents and then in later life, they act submissively towards authority figures, and displace their hostility on to minority groups in the form of prejudice. This is known as scapegoating.
These characteristics of the authoritarian personality make people especially likely to obey the orders of an authority figure.
What are the 3 situational explanations of obedience?
- Gradual commitment
- Legitimate authority
- Agentic state
