dispositional explanations for obedience: the authoritarian personality

Question 1

what did adorno et al believe obedience is due to? why does this criticise milgram? (2)

Answer 1

● the individuals themselves (their personalities)

● which criticises milgram as he believed obedience was due to external, situational factors (such as location)

Question 2

what did adorno et al conclude about people with an authoritarian personality? (4)

Answer 2

● they are especially obedient to authority:

● they have exaggerated respect for authority figures and are submissive to perceived authority figures

● they express contempt for people they perceive as inferior

● they follow orders and view ‘other groups’ as responsible for societies problems

Question 3

when does the authoritarian personality form?

Answer 3

in childhood through harsh parenting

Question 4

what is the harsh parenting involved in forming an authoritarian personality characterised by? (5)

Answer 4

● extremely strict discipline

● expectations of absolute loyalty

● impossibly high standards

● severe criticism

● conditional love (parents place conditions on their love for their children)

Question 5

how does harsh parenting lead to the authoritarian personality? (3)

Answer 5

● creates resentment towards parents

● but they can not express their feelings directly as they fear punishment

● therefore, they displace these feelings on those they see as inferior or weaker

Question 6

what does dispositional explanation mean?

Answer 6

any explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individuals personality (internal factors)

Question 7

what was the aim of adorno et al’s study? (2)

Answer 7

● to investigate unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups

● of more than 2000 middle class white americans

Question 8

what was the procedure of adorno et al’s study (2)

Answer 8

● several scales were invented including the f scale (potential for fascism scale)

● participants had to rate a series of statements from 1 to 6 where 6 = strongly agree

Question 9

what were the findings of adorno et al’s study

Answer 9

● authoritarians (who scored high on the f scale) identified with ‘strong’ people and had contempt for the weak

● they showed excessive respect and obedience to those of a higher status

● authoritarians also showed fix and distinctive stereotypes (prejudices) about other groups