Obedience: Dispositional Explanation

Question 1

What type of leader do people with an authoritarian personality think we need?

Answer 1

Strong leaders

Question 2

How do people with an authoritarian personality behave towards those inferior in the social hierarchy?

Answer 2

They are dismissive and disrespectful.

Question 3

Describe the views someone with an authoritarian personality is likely to hold.

Answer 3

Traditional, old fashioned views.

Question 4

Give examples of things people with an authoritarian personality may dislike.

Answer 4

Anything different to themselves, such as people of other races, religions etc

Question 5

Which approach is used to explain the authoritarian personality?

Answer 5

Psychodynamic

Question 6

When and why does the authoritarian personality start to develop?

Answer 6

In childhood due to harsh parenting and conditional love.

Question 7

Explain what happens to personality when the child becomes resentful of their parents.

Answer 7

They feel unable to display anger towards their parents as they fear punishment, so they displace their anger onto people they perceive as inferior.

Question 8

What was the aim of Adorno’s research?

Answer 8

To look at the relationship (correlation) between disposition (personality) and obedience.

Question 9

How many middle class white Americans took part in Adorno’s study?

Answer 9

2000

Question 10

Name the questionnaire used in Adorno’s study.

Answer 10

F scale test

Question 11

What does the F scale test measure?

Answer 11

Potential for fascism.

Question 12

What do higher scores on the F scale test tell us?

Answer 12

A higher score on the test means the more obedient you are, and the more likely you are to have an authoritarian personality.

Question 13

Who are people with high F scale scores most likely to identify with?

Answer 13

Authority figures and those of higher status.

Question 14

Describe the style of thinking people with an authoritarian personality typically hold.

Answer 14

They think in black and white when it comes to certain types of people - they either like them or they don’t as a result of their skin colour, beliefs etc

Question 15

Explain the strength of their being research support from Milgram and Elm for authoritarian personality.
The research evidence demonstrates a correlation between…
Who did Milgram and Elm assess using the F scale test?
What did they find?

Answer 15

This research evidence demonstrates that people with certain dispositional characteristics are more likely to be obedient. Milgram and Elms assessed the personality of a number of PPTs from Milgram’s original study. They found that individuals who scored highly on tests of authoritarianism demonstrated higher levels of obedience, therefore validating the claim that authoritarian personality leads to greater obedience.

Question 16

Explain the limitation of research being correlational.
Give an example of a 3rd variable that could influence findings.

Answer 16

The research has simply established a relationship between 2 variables. This means we cannot be fully sure that authoritarian personality leads to obedience. For example, there could e third factors that influence disposition, such as lower education levels, suggested by Hyman and Sheatsley.

Question 17

Explain the limitation of methodological issues within supporting research.
What type of research method is the F scale test?
How can this research method lead to acquiescence bias?

Answer 17

The F scale test uses a questionnaire, which is flawed since people may not complete them properly. For example, this was argued by Greenstein, who said that all questions were worded in the same direction, meaning that a person could get a high score on the test by selecting the same box in a line down the page. People who agree with all answers are not necessarily authoritarian, but may have a tendency to agree with everything, which is called acquiescence bias. This means that evidence about authoritarianism may not be accurate to reflect actual personalities.

Question 18

Explain the limitation of dispositional theories of obedience being incomplete.
We cannot assume that all obedient people have an…
This is because of s__________ f_________.
What could a more complete theory look like?

Answer 18

Focusing purely on dispositional factors offers an incomplete explanation of obedience. It seems unlikely that all people who are obedient, for example, have an authoritarian personality. Research seems to confirm this as it has indicated that people who score highly on tests of authoritarianism do not show high levels of obedience. This means there are other reasons for obedience, such as situational factors. A more complete explanation of obedience would recognise both situational and dispositional factors in an interactionist theory