Psychology - Social Influence: Dispositional explanations for Obedience Authoritarian personality Flashcards
What are dispositional Factors?
Internal factors
What personality type is associated with high levels of obedience?
Authoritarian personality
What is the cause of Authoritarian personalities?
Strict parents - love is conditional on behaviour which causes resentment but since they can’t express it the emotions are displaced onto scapegoats in later life
What was the aim of Adorno’s study on authoritarian personalities?
To see Caucasians’ unconscious views towards people of other races
What was the method of Adorno’s study?
Adorno sent P’s a series of questionnaires including the F-scale which is a test of racist tendencies (what is believed to be at the heart of authoritarian personalities)
What were Adorno’s findings?
People who scored highly on the F-scale identified more with strong people, belittling the weak and showing reverence to those in authority - correlation with authoritarian personality
What is the conclusion of Adorno’s study?
Individuals with an Authoritarian personality are more likely to be Obedient - Believe society requires strong leaders as they feel uncomfortable with uncertainty
What were the findings when the F-scale was applied to Milgram’s study? (evaluation)
People who were most obedient scored highly on the F-scale suggesting dispositional factors of Authoritarian personalities play a role
What is a methodological issue with the F-scale questions?
May suffer from response Bias where P’s select what they feel is socially desirable thus affecting the DV be reducing the internal validity
