Social Influence- dispositional explanation of obedience Flashcards
(8 cards)
What was the aims of Adorno’s study?
-find out why the Nazi soldiers were willing to persecute and kill others
-if a particular personality type leads to more obedience
-is an excessive level of obedience is a psychological disorder
What was Adorno’s procedure?
-investigated the causes of obedience with 2000 middle class Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups
-developed the f-scale to measure the relationship between a persons personality type and prejudiced beliefs
-it measures if they have an authoritarian personality
What was Adorno’s findings?
-those who has scored highly on the f-scale identified with ‘strong’ people and were disapproving of the ‘weak’
-they were very conscious of their own and other status
-high scores had a particular cognitive style
-there was no ‘grey areas’ between categories
-they had fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups
-there was a strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
What is the authoritarian personality?
-provides an explanation for why some people require little pressure to obey
-submissive and have extreme respect for authority
-contempt for people they perceive as having inferior social status
-conventional attitudes towards sex, race and gender
-believe we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values
-everything is either right or wrong
What are the origins of the authoritarian personality?
-a harsh and punitive up brining with little love and much punishment
-strict disiple and expecations of absolute loyalty, conditional love
-leads to a resentment and hostility in the child who cannot express their feelings towards their parents because they fear punishment
-they have fear of their parents as well as hatred for them
-their fear is displaced onto others who are seen as weaker -scapegoating
What is a strength?
What is a limitation?
What is a second limitation?
