4.1.1 DISPOSITIONAL EXPLANATION FOR OBEDIENCE

Question 1

what is the dispositional explanation?

Answer 1

• not all psychologists accept that obedience can be explained by factors of the situation / social structure
• they reason that there must be some importance of the personality (disposition) of the individual

Question 2

who was Adorno?

Answer 2

• he was interested in investigating why Nazi soldiers were so willing to persecute and kill members of minority groups, like Jews during WW2
• he claimed a particular personality type is more likely to obey an authority
• a high level of obedience is basically a psychological disorder

Question 3

what was Adorno’s procedure?

Answer 3

Adorno et al. (1950)
- investigated the causes of an obedient personality in a study
- more than 2000 middle-class white Americans
- studied their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups
- developed an ‘F’ scale (fascists scale) to measure the relationship between a person’s personality type + prejudiced beliefs

Question 4

what were the findings of Adorno’s procedure?

Answer 4

• those who’d scored highly on the ‘F’ scale identified with ‘strong’ ppl and were generally contemptuous of the ‘weak’
• were conscious of their own and others’ status
• high scorers had a particular cognitive style

Question 5

what were some pros of Adorno’s study?

Answer 5

• no grey areas between categories of ppl
• they had fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other ppl
• there was a strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice

Question 6

so what is the authoritarian personality?

Answer 6

• submits to the authority of those in a higher position
• is authoritative towards ppl of lower status
• shows excessive and blind obedience to authority
• conventional and conformist
• suspicious and hostile of strangers
• rigid thinkers, strict obedience to social rules + hierarchies

Question 7

what did Adorno say caused the authoritarian personality?

Answer 7

• very strict upbringing by critical + harsh parents
• the individual in question isn’t able to express hostility towards their parents (for being strict + critical)
• the person would then transfer this aggression/hostility onto safer targets, namely those who are weaker

Question 8

what did the scores on the F test mean?

Answer 8

• high score = high authoritarian personality = more likely to obey orders
• low score = low authoritarian personality = less likely to obey orders

Question 9

what are 3 limitations of Adorno’s study? (research)

Answer 9

1) Christie and Jahoda (1954)
- they argued that the F scale is politically biased, extreme right wing interpretation of the authoritarian personality
- pointed out that extreme left-wing personalities also show high levels of authoritarianism
- evidence of this can be seen in shape of Russian Bolshevism and Chinese Maoism

2) authoritarianism cannot explain why a majority population, like Germany, would be obedient
- post-war Germany millions still showed obedient, racist + fascist behaviour
- despite them must having differed in their individual personalities

3) evidence is flawed by Greenstein (1969)
- stated that it was possible to get a high score just by putting ‘agree’ as your answers
- meaning anyone w a response bias, would be deemed as an authoritarian personality