Dispositional explanations - obedience Flashcards
What is meant by dispositional factors
and what is one of these types effecting obedience
The importance of personality types effecting obedience
Authoritarian personality
What did Adorno et al argue
People with authoritarian personality show extreme respect and submissiveness to authority. They also believe society is ‘weak’ and we need strong powerful leaders
These characteristics make them more likely to obey
What is the Authoritarian personality
How is it measured
Adorno argued these people are thought to be submissive of those of higher status and dismissive on inferiors
F scale (questionnaire)
What is said to be the origin of the Authoritarian personality
Based on Freud’s idea that the adult personality is determined by childhood experiences
- A very disciplined upbringing: Parents (particularly the father) are harsh and show little love and issues severe punishments
- Unconscious hostility: The children have very high opinions but unconsciously feel aggressive towards them
- Displacement: The hostility is displaced (moved onto) safer targets, namely those who are weaker and so are unable to hurt them
- Prejudice: This leads to prejudice views and discriminatory behaviour
What was the procedure and findings of Adornos experiment
. Procedure - Adorno et al. studied more than 2000 middle-class white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards racial groups. An F scale was used (tests authoritarian personality) it asked questions such as ‘Obedience and respect for authority are important virtues for children to learn.
. Findings - People with Authoritarian leanings (higher on the F scale) identified with ‘strong people and where discriminatory of the weak and where conscious of their own
These are traits of basic obedience showing people with this personality trait may be more likely to obey
How would you evaluate the dispositional explanations of obedience
- research support
- Limited explanation
How would you evaluate the dispositional explanations of obedience
(Research support)
Elms and Milgram conducted a follow up study to Adornos research. They used 20 obedient participants from the original experiment and 20 disobedient participants. Each participant completed a personality scale (MMPI) and the F scale. They were also interviewed and asked questions on their upbringing and attitudes towards authority figure
Strengths - Higher levels of authoritarianism among obedient participants than disobedient
- Obedient participants reported the authority figure was more admirable than a less skilled learner etc
Weaknesses - Little difference between obedient and disobedient participants on the MMPI scale (personality scores)
How would you evaluate the dispositional explanations of obedience
(Limited explanation- cannot explain obedience in a whole population)
Adorno’s theory cannot explain obedient behaviour in a whole population
For example, in pre-war Germany, Millions displaced obedient, racist and anti-sematic behaviour despite that they all must have had different personalities in many ways it seems extremely unlikely that all could possess an authoritarian personality
An alternative view is that the majority of the German people identified with the anti-semantic Nazi state a social identity approach
Therefore Adornos theory is limited because an alternative explanation is much more realistic.
