Personality affecting prejudice

Question 1

Authoritarian personality - P1, A01

Answer 1

If an individual has an authoritarian personality, it can explain how personality affects obedience levels.
Adorno suggested that an overly harsh parenting style is claimed to create a personality type that is highly obedient but also prone to displaying prejudice. Children with authoritarian parents cannot express certain feeling due to fear of being punished, so they misplace hostility towards their parents onto something else.
Allport also suggested that people with an authoritarian personality are not necessarily prejudiced, however they may be particularly receptive to political arguments which target their inner fears and insecurities.

Question 2

Right Wing authoritarianism - P2, A01

Answer 2

Altemeyer suggested in 1988 that people with right wing authoritarianism tend to hold prejudiced attitudes towards various groups including women and those who identify as LGBTQ.
When someone has right wing authoritarianism they tend to show authoritarian submission, aggression and conventionalism.
Altemeyer believed right wing authoritarianism develops as a consequence of social learning, not early parental experiences. He says that when children are socialised to believe that the world is dangerous and a threatening place, RWA develops as a reaction to fear and uncertainties.
Individuals with RWA tend to be highly conscientious but closed to new experiences.

Question 3

Strength of Right Wing authoritarianism - P2, A03

Answer 3

One strength is using right wing personality to explain gender as an individual difference affecting prejudice is that there is study evidence supporting this.
Cohrs et al found that right wing personality (+48) and social dominance orientation (+28) were both positively correlated with generalised prejudice.
Also right wing personality was negatively correlated with openness to experience (-22) and social dominance orientation was negatively correlated with agreeableness (-40).
Therefore, this suggest that levels of prejudice can be accurately predicted from peoples personality traits.

Question 4

COUNTER ARGUMENT TO Strength of Right Wing authoritarianism - P2, A03

Answer 4

However, right wing personality and social dominant orientation may not be consistent over time – both interact with social factors making prejudice harder to predict in the real world.
E.g., when Levin primed Jewish participants to think about their social identity within Israel, she found that Ashkenazi Jews showed higher social dominance orientation scores compared with other Jewish groups. However, differences disappeared when the Jewish groups were primed to think about the relationship between Israel and Palestine.
Therefore this shows that social dominance orientation is malleable and social dominance orientation scores can be an effect of prejudice as well as being a cause.

Question 5

Social dominance orientation - P3, A01

Answer 5

Pratto developed the concept of social dominance orientation to describe people who are motivated to seek out ingroup power, dominance and superiority
These type of people prefer hierarchical power over equal distribution of power
Social dominance orientation is more common in men and is thought to develop through exposure to social situations involving high levels of inequality and competition

Question 6

Weakness social dominance orientation - P3, A03

Answer 6

One weakness of using social dominance orientation is that the roles of social norms and situational factors are ignored
Louis noted that right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation scales do not include items which are heavily affected by social attitudes or norms
For example, 72% of their Australian participants strongly disagreed with the statement, ‘The white race is the best race’, but agreed with the exclusion of asylum seekers
Therefore, this shows that it is important to understand social as well as individual factors in order to address the consequences of prejudice effectively

Question 7

Application of research into personality affecting prejudice - P4, A03

Answer 7

One strength of the research into individual differences may help to reduce prejudice
Allport and Altemeyer note that prejudice may be learned through exposure to specific worldviews and prejudicial rhetoric, so regulation of media sources may be beneficial
Also, strategies that challenge the view of the world as dangerous threatening and competitive may help to combat right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation