prejudice: authoritarian personality

Question 1

How can the Authoritarian personality be applied to prejudice?

Answer 1

People with this personality type are often hostile to minority groups and those who don’t conform to authority - causing prejudice towards them.

Question 2

How does the childhood of those with an Authoritarian personality correlate with prejudice?

Answer 2

Individuals with a strict upbringing were unable to express their hostility towards their parents for fear of punishment and so it was differed to minority groups (a safer target).

Question 3

strength PEE and CA
- supporting evidence

Answer 3

a strength of this theory is the supporting evidence from Adorno. He found that those who scored highly on the F-scale shared traits of hostility towards minorities. therefore, this supports the idea of an authoritarian personality leading to prejudice.
however Adorno has low validity. this is because The information on ppts’ childhood was drawn from their own recollections (retrospective data) and was self-report. therefore, there are elements of subjectivity and social desirability which reduce authenticity.

Question 4

strength PEE
- application

Answer 4

a strength of this theory is that it has applications. for example, it states that prejudice occurs due to having trait of hostility towards minorities due to childhood. therefore, it is useful at identifying an explanation for prejudice so can help to find a solution targeting changing personality or authoritarian people’s attitudes towards minorities

Question 5

weakness PEE
- criticism

Answer 5

a weakness of the theory is that the attitudes could be described as outdated or old fashioned. for example, Adorno’s study took place in the 1950s and societal values have changed since then. therefore, it won’t be as applicable to modern day prejudi and so less credible of an explanation for prejudice now