Social Influence - Dispositional Explanations - Obedience Flashcards
1
Q
what are dispositional explanations
A
- explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individual’s personality
2
Q
What is the authoritarian personality
A
- personality susceptible to obeying people in authority
- submissive of higher status and dismissive of inferiors
- always a right or wrong
- don’t like uncertainty
- view society as weak and need powerful leaders
3
Q
how does the authoritarian personality develop
A
- harsh parenting
- conditional love from parents
- create resentment and hostility in a child
- child’s fears are displaced onto others who they perceive to be weaker
4
Q
what was Adorno et al research
A
- studied 2000+ middle class white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards racial groups
- developed the F-scale to measure this
- people with authoritarian leading and high on the F-scale identified with strong people + conscious of their own status and respect for those with higher status
- fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups
5
Q
what is the F- scale
A
- measure attitudes of the authoritarian personality
- conventionalism - obedience and respect are the most important values a child learns
- authoritarian aggression - sex crimes on children deserve more than imprisonment
- power and toughness - people divided into strong and weak
6
Q
why does the authoritarian personality have political bias
A
- F- scale measure right wing ideology
7
Q
why is the authoritarian personality a limited explanation
A
- cannot explain obedient behaviour in the majority of a country’s population
- pre war Germany many displayed obedient and racist behaviour
- unlikely they all possessed an authoritarian personality
8
Q
what is the supporting evidence for the authoritarian personality
A
- Elms and Milgram 1966
- interviewed people who were fully obedient in original study
- all completed the F - Scale
- 20 obedient participants scored higher than disobedient participants
- supports Adorno’s view that obedient people may show similar characteristics to people who have an Authoritarian personality
