Obedience: Dispositional explanation

Question 1

what is a dispositional explanation

Answer 1

Any explanation that highlights the importance of the individual’s personality

Question 2

authoritarian personality

Answer 2

People with AP show an extreme respect for people in authority and believe we need strong leaders to enforce traditional values. People with AP also show contempt for those of inferior social status, fuelled by their inflexible outlook on the world. Adorno argued that people with authoritarian personality are especially susceptible to obeying people in authority

Question 3

origins of the authoritarian personality

Answer 3

Adorno believed that the AP forms in childhood, as a result of harsh parenting. This parenting features: strict discipline, high standards, severe criticism of failings and parents give conditional love. These experiences create resentment and hostility in a child and their fears are displaced onto others who are perceived to be weaker – this is known as scapegoating.

Question 4

Adorno et al.’s research

Answer 4

Adorno studied over 2000 middle-class white American’s and their unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups. The F-scale was used to measure authoritarian personality. People with authoritarian learnings scored higher on the F-scale. These people identified with ‘strong’ people ,were contemptuous of the weak and showed extreme respect to those of higher status. Adorno et al also found a positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice.

Question 5

Evaluation of dispositional explanation (brief)

Answer 5

strength - support from Milgram HOWEVER AP is complex
weakness - limited explanation
weakness - F-scale shows political bias, Christie and Jahoda

Question 6

strength of dispositional explanation

Answer 6

There is evidence from Milgram supporting the authoritarian personality. Elms and Milgram interviewed people in the original obedience study that had been fully obedient. They all completed the F-scale as part of the interview. These 20 obedient participants scored significantly higher than a comparison group of 20 disobedient participants. This finding supports Adorno et al.’s view that obedient people show similar characteristics to people who have an authoritarian personality, thus increasing our confidence in Adorno’s theory. HOWEVER, many of Milgram’s obedient participants did not glorify their fathers and didn’t experience unusual levels of punishment in childhood. Therefore, this means the link between obedience and authoritarian personality is complex and not as simple as originally suggested.

Question 7

weakness of dispositional explanation

Answer 7

the AP is a limited explanation as it cannot explain obedience in the majority of the population’s behaviour. For example, in pre-war Germany millions of individuals displayed obedient and antisemitic behaviour. However, it seems unlikely that this behaviour is due to all the individuals possessing an AP. An alternate explanation is that the majority of German people identified with the antisemitic Nazi state, this a social identity theory approach. Therefore, Adorno’s theory is limited as an alternate explanation is far more plausible.

the F-scale shows political bias. The F-scale only measures the tendency towards an extreme form of right-wing ideology. Christie and Jahoda point out the reality of left-wing authoritarianism in the shape of Chinese Maoism. In fact extreme left and extreme right wing ideologies both emphasise the importance of complete obedience to political authority. Therefore, this means that Adorno’s theory isn’t a comprehensive dispositional explanation that accounts for obedience to authority across the whole political spectrum.