Individual differences influencing obedience - Authoritarian personality + locus of control

Question 1

What did Milgram not find + what does this show?

Answer 1

Didn’t find 100% obedience rate

Must be something diff abt each ppt that made some more likely to obey and others more likely to be disobedient

Question 2

What are the authoritarian personality traits that Adorno thought of?

Answer 2

• Extreme resoect for authority figures
• View society as being worse now than what it used to be = weaker
• Strong leaders needed to transform society
• Blame others, who they view as ‘weaker’ or as an ‘other’, for issues within society
• Have a black + white mindset, extreme opinions

Question 3

What does Adorno say that authoritarian personality develops from?

Answer 3

Harsh parenting in childhood, which creates anger + fear, causing you to be angry at others in society

Question 5

What research did Adorno do to make this theory?

Answer 5

Created an F-scale (fascism scale), which was used to measure authoritarian traits in ppts

Question 6

What was the sample of Adorno’s research?

Answer 6

Over 2000 middle class white americans

Question 7

What specifically was measured on the scale?

Answer 7

Respect for authority, rigid thinking, intolerance for ambiguity

Ppts read statements such as “Obedience + respect for authority are the most important virtues children should learn” on a likert scale

Question 8

What were ppts also interviewed about and why?

Answer 8

Ppts also interviewed abt their upbringing, political beliefs, + attitudes towards diff social groups

Interviews structured to reveal unconscious bias, including hidden prejudice + attitudes towards authority figures

Question 9

What was the correlational analysis that they did?

Answer 9

Examined the relationship between F-scale scores + ppt’s backgrounds, attitudes, + levels of prejudice

Question 10

What did the researchers find (the results)?

Answer 10

• High F-scale scores correlated with extreme resoect for authority + disdain for thise of lower status
• Authoritarian individuals often riased in strict households
• They were more likely to categorise people into ‘us vs them’ groups, leading to prejudice

Question 11

What did Adorno conclude?

Answer 11

• Authoritarian upbringing (harsh discipline, conditional love, rigid societal roles) causes an authoritarian personality
• People with authoritarian personalities are more likely to be obedient + prejudiced
• Supports dispositional explanation + contrasts with situational explanations like Milgram

Question 12

Why might having an authoritarian personality lead to more obedience?

Answer 12

• Raised to obey, feel criticisee if they don’t
• Hierarchal structures, raised to obey ppl around them
• Fear of consequences
• Good of society, obeying strong authority figures will help everyone in society

Question 13

What is internal locus of control?

Answer 13

Where an individual perceives themselves as being the cause of the events that happen to them

Question 14

What is external locus of control?

Answer 14

Where individuals view themselves as passive observers as the events happen to them, out of their control

Question 15

What are the personality traits of people with high internal locus of control?

Answer 15

• What happens to u is ur responsibility
• Motivated
• Believes in decisions + actions

Question 16

What are the personality traits of people with high external locus of control?

Answer 16

• Believes in fate + luck
• Can’t change what’s going to happen to u
• Gives up easily

Question 17

Why would someone with high internal locus of control be more likely to disobey?

Answer 17

They recognise their responsibility for their own actions so are more likely to take control

Saw this in Burger - People with high locus of control were defiant