Obedience: Dispositional explanations Flashcards
Dispositional explanations
Any explanation of behaviour that highlights the
importance of the individual’s personality
Authoritarian personality
a type of personality that Adorno argued was susceptible to obeying people in authority. They are submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors.
Adorno et al 1950 : procedure
Adorno et al. investigated the causes of an obedient personality in a
study of more than 2000 middle – class, white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups. They developed several scales for this including the potential for fascism scale (F-Scale)
(Cultural bias
Class bias)
Adorno et al 1950 : Findings
Those who scored high on the F-scale identified with strong people and were generally contemptuous of the weak. Adorno et al found that authoritarian people had a cognitive style where there was no fuzziness with distinct stereotypes about other groups. There was a strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice.
What characteristics do Authoritarian people have
- Tendency to be especially obedient to authority.
- Extreme respect for authority and submissiveness to it.
- Contempt for people who are inferior
- sexist and racist
- Everything is either right or wrong and they are uncomfortable with uncertainty.
How did Adorno et al believe the Authoritarian Personality type forms?
mostly as a result of harsh parenting featuring extremely strict discipline, an expectation of absolute loyalty, impossibly high standards and severe criticism of perceived failings. Love in this child is also conditional(depends on how they behave)
(psychic determinism)
How does Adorno use the psychodynamic approach to explain authoritarian personality
the child is filled with resentment and hostility that they cannot express towards the parent because they are afraid of the consequences. So these feelings are are displaced onto others who they perceive to be weaker, a scapegoat.
Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA)
Altemeyer identified a cluster of three of the original personality variables that he referred to as right-wing authoritarianism. Altemeyer said that high RWA people possess three important personality characteristics that predispose them to obedience.
What three personality characteristics do RWA people have that allow them to be obedient.
1) conventionalism-adherence to conventional norms and values
2) Authoritarian aggression-aggressive feelings towards people who violate norms.
3) Authoritarian submission- uncritical submission to legitimate authorities
How did Altemeyer test the relationship between RWA and obedience
Participants were ordered to give themselves increasing levels of shock when they made a mistake on a learning task. There was a significant correlation between RWA scores and the level of shocks that the ppt were willing to give themselves. Also there was a big red button which said do not push and at the end of the experiment the experimenter would tell you to push that button as a punishment for not trying. ppt with high RWA didn’t press that button as they did what they were told to do without question
Elms and Milgram study:
Procedure
follow up study using ppt from Milgram’s obedience study. They chose 20 obedient ppt( those who given highest Voltage) and 20 defiant ppt. Each ppt completed a MMPI scale and F-scale to measure their authoritarianism. They were also asked questions about their childhood and and their attitude to the experimenter and learner during Milgram’s study.
Elms and Milgram’s study:
findings
found high levels of authoritarianism among obedient ppt compared to the defiant ppt. Also obedient ppt reported being less close with their fathers during childhood. Obedient ppt saw the authority figure in Milgram’s study as admirable and the learner less admirable. This suggests to Elms and Milgram that the obedient group was higher on the trait of authoritarianism
