Obedience (dispositional explanations)

Question 1

Outline Adorno et al.’s study

Answer 1

• investigated the causes of the obedient personality in a study of more than 2000 middle-class white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups
• they produced many scales (eg, f-scale)

Question 2

What were his findings

include what he found out about authoritarian personalities

Answer 2

• ppl with authoritarian leanings identified with ‘strong’ ppl, were contemptuous of the weak
• they were also very conscious of their own and others’ status
• showed excessive respect to ppl high in authority than them
• their cognitive style was ‘black and white’
• they had fixed distinct stereotypes
• there was a strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
• they also viewed society as ‘going to the dogs’ and so believed we need strong powerful leaders tk enforce traditional values

Question 3

Give a limitation of Adorno’s theory

Answer 3

• it is clear that another explanation is much more realistic for example in pre-war Germany millions of individuals all displayed obedient and racist behaviour this was despite the fact that they all differed in their personalities

Question 4

what is another limitation of Adorno’s theory

Answer 4

• they measured an impressive amount of variables and found many significant correlations between them
• HOWEVER no matter how strong a correlation between two variables might be it does not follow that one causes the other