Factors affecting obedience and dissent: Individual differences (personality factors and gender) Flashcards
define dissent
having opinions that differ from those held by others - in terms of obedience, it refers to refusing to carry out orders (disobedience)
define resistance
ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or to obey an authority
define personality
an individual’s characteristic, coherent and relatively stable set of behaviours, attitudes, interests and capabilities
define gender
a person’s sense of their maleness or femaleness
who came up with the authoritarian personality ?
Theodor Adorno et al. (1950) explained high levels of obedience (and prejudice, but that’s in a different deck) in terms of a person’s disposition and called this the authoritarian personality
what type of parenting style did Adorno believed led to authoritarian personality ?
a harsh parenting style
what characteristics did Adorno believe a harsh parenting style led children to develop (3) ?
1) toughness
2) destructiveness
3) cynicism
how did Adorno measure ‘authoritarinism’ ?
using the F-scale (F for fascism)
where did Adorno believe a harsh parenting style was rife and when ?
rife in germany in the first part of the 20th century - meaning that adult Germans had personalities that were submissive to authority but harsh to those seen as subordinate to themselves
what type of parenting did Adorno believe would lead to a generation of adults that would typically score low on a F-scale test ?
a parenting style that centred around unconditional love and more permissive
what is someone who scores lower on a F-scale test more likely to do ?
they are more likely to show resistance and defy what they perceive to be destructive orders
what did Julian Rotter (1966) propose ?
internal and external locus of control
what does it mean to have an internal locus of control ?
the person takes greater responsibility for their actions as they believe they are in control of what they do and what happens to them
what does it mean to have an external locus of control ?
the person take less responsibility for their actions and feel that what happened to them is governed by other people and by chance factors
what are ‘internals’ more likely to show ?
more likely to show dissent and defy orders
what are ‘externals’ more likely to show ?
more likely to show obedience
what did Frederick Miller (1975) do to demonstrate the difference between ‘internals’ and ‘externals’ ?
Miller conducted a study where a high or low status experimenter told ppts to grasp live electric wires
what were the findings from Frederick Miller (1975) ?
‘externals’ obeyed the high status experimenter more than the low status experimenter, while ‘internals’ were unaffected by the status
what is the gender debate in terms of obedience ?
there is evidence that there is a difference in the level of obedience between males and females, however, there is a lack of agreement between which gender is more obedient
what study supports the theory that women are more obedient than men ?
Sheridan and King (1972)
what did Sheridan and King (1972) do ?
the ppts were ordered to give real electric shocks to a live puppy
what were the findings of Sheridan and King (1972) ?
- 100% of female ppts were fully obedient compared with only 54% of the males
- the ladies showed grave distress such as sobbing
- the males in this study were more defiant when asked to shock a puppy than the males of Milgram’s study when they were asked to shock a human
what study supports the theory that men are more obedient than women ?
Kilham and Mann (1974)
what did Kilham and Mann (1974) do ?
replicated Milgram’s study in Australia
what were the findings of Kilham and Mann (1974) ?
- general level of obedience was as low as 28%
- 40% of males were obedient
- 16% of females were obedient
what study supports moral reasoning ?
Gilligan (1982)
what did Gilligan (1982) suggest ?
suggested that moral decision-making is guided by differing principles in men and women
what is the ‘ethic of justice’ ?
The ethics of justice is characterized by fairness and equality, rational decision-making based on universal rules and principles, and autonomous, impartial and objective decision-making.
who is the ‘ethic of justice’ principle more commonly seen in ?
males
what did Giligan claim about females ?
he claimed that females use the ‘ethic of care’ to guide their decision making
what does the ‘ethic of care’ mean ?
this principle relates to interpersonal relationships and nurturing and supporting those in need
in terms of destructive obedience, what can be assumed about gender difference in level of obedience ?
one might expect males to be more obedient due to their feelings of obligation to an authority figure - females may be less obedient due to their desire to support the person being harmed
what happened in Milgram’s study in terms of destructive obedience ?
males were more swayed by the apparent scientific goals of the research, which was supposedly for the ‘greater good’ - females may have been more concerned about the learner.
what is the supporting evidence for authoritarianism ?
elms and milgram (1966) used F-scale with ppts from one of milgram’s studies, testing 20 fully obedient ppt and 20 who weren’t
what did elms and milligram (1966) find ?
obedient ppts scored higher on the F-scale test and also reported other characteristics of the authoritarian personality, such as less closeness to their fathers
what do the findings from elms and milgram (1966) suggest ?
suggests that obedience is related to the personality characteristic of authoritarianism
what is the competing argument to the supporting evidence to authoritarianism ?
we cannot claim that there is a casual relationship between childhood experiences and authoritarianism/obedience because these are correlations.
what did Hyman and Sheatsley (1954) propose (part of competing argument for authoritarianism) ?
obedience and authoritarian personality may be caused by a lower level of education
what is a weakness for locus of control ?
it does not predict defiance - Grete schurz (1985)
what did Grete Schurz (1985) do ?
in a task similar to Milgram’s original study, he instructed Austrian ppts to give painful doses of ultrasound to a female student
what were the findings for Grete Schurz (1985) ?
the ppts who were fully obedient did not differ significantly from those ppts who resisted in terms of their scores on a questionnaire measuring locus of control
what does Grete Schurz (1985) suggest ?
suggests that personality may have little impact on obedience
what is an application of this research ?
the research can be applied to the field of Human Resources - some jobs require higher (or lower) levels of obedience - some jobs require workers to follow strict procedures that wouldn’t suit those who aren’t obedient - to select the right people, HR may use a scale assessing LOC
what is a strength of Giligan’s research ?
a strength of Giligan’s explanation is support from qualitative research (Giligan and Attanucci 1988)
what did Giligan and Attanucci (1988) do ?
male and female ppts were interviewed about real-life moral dilemmas
what were the findings of Giligan and Attanucci (1988) ?
though most ppts used both ethic of justice and care in their moral reasoning - males favoured a justice orientation and women favoured a care orientation - these gender differences were highly significant
what does Giligan and Attanucci (1988) suggest ?
suggests that there are quite important gender differences in moral orientations which may well affect decision-making in situations relating to destructive obedience
what is a weakness of gender differences ?
many studies find no gender differences
what did Thomas Blass (1999) do ?
summarised the findings of nine milgram-style studies that included both male and female ppts
what did Thomas Blass (1999) find ?
in all but one case there was not significant gender difference in the observed levels of obedience
what does Thomas Blass (1999) suggest ?
suggests that gender does not affect obedience
