Obedience: Personality

Question 1

What is Locus of control?

Answer 1

The perception of control and individual feels they have over their life.

Question 2

What is internal locus of control?

Answer 2

An individuals perception of control is active, they make their own choices and act upon situations to get an outcome.

Question 3

What is external locus of control?

Answer 3

An individuals perception of control is passive, this means they believe their actions are a result of external factors such as luck or fate.

Question 4

Would obedience levels be higher in individuals who have a greater internal or external locus of control?

Answer 4

Individuals with a higher external locus of control are more likely to obey because they believe their behaviour is a result of external factors such as fate or luck, while individuals with high levels of internal locus of control are more likely to be able to make choices in order to resist coercion from others. This is because they feel they are able to actively control their behaviour.

Question 5

What are the traits of an Authoritarian personality?

Answer 5

-Respect for strong authority figures
-Threatened by minority groups
-Traditional values (against social change)

Question 6

What questionnaire was created in order to measure the authoritarian personality?

Answer 6

F-scale

Question 7

Explain the feasibility of the explanation of the authoritarian personality

Answer 7

A follow up study was conducted on 20 obedient and 20 defiant participants of Milgrams experiment.
The participants answered the F-scale questionnaire.
Questions were asked on their childhood and attitudes towards the experimenter in the study.
Results showed that obedient participants were more authoritarian- they were more admirable of the experimenter than defiant participants.
Therefore, Adorno suggested that personality type can affect obedience.