Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
dispositional explanations for obedience - Coggle Diagram
dispositional explanations for obedience
the authoritarian personality
is the type of personality that Adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people of authority. such individuals are thought to be submissive to those of a higher status and dismissive of inferiors
characteristics
obedience to authority - extreme respect and submissiveness
contempt for people they perceive as inferior
highly conventional attitudes towards sex, race and gender
thinks society has a need for strong and powerful leaders
inflexible in their outlook - everything is either right or wrong
the F-scale (potential for fascism scale) was a questionnaire designed to measure how authoritarian a person is. participants rate their agreement with each item on a 6 point scale (1 strongly disagree to 6 strongly agree). the questionnaire contains statements such as "every person should have complete faith in some supernatural power whose decisions he obeys without question"
key study
procedure - Adorno et al investigated the causes of the obedient personality in a study of more than 2,000 middle class white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups. they developed several scales to investigate this including the F-scale
findings - people who scored highly on the f-scale identified with strong people and were generally contemptuous of the weak. they were very conscious of their own and other's status, showing excessive respect, deference and servility to those of a higher status. authoritarian people had a cognitive style where they had fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups
there was a strong correlation between authoritarianism and predjudice
Adorno concluded that authoritarian personality develops in childhood as a result of harsh parenting, typically strict discipline, expectations of absolute loyalty, impossibly high standards and severe criticisms of failings. The condition of love, the parents love and affection depends on how the child behaves. this experience creates resentment and hostility.
evaluation
strength - there is evidence to support the link between authoritarian personality and obedience. Milgram and Elms conducted interviews with a small sample of fully obedient participants who scored highly on the f-scale. this shows that it is clear that there is a link between authoritarian personality and obedience
limitation - this is a limited explanation for obedience. in pre- war germany, millions of individuals displayed obedient, racist and anti-semitic behaviour. it seems unlikely that they could all possess an authoritarian personality. it is clear that an alternative explanation is more accurate, social identity and majority.
limitation - there are methodological problems with the f-scale. it is possible to get a high score for authoritarianism just by ticking the same boxes down one side of the page. these methodological errors suggest that the data collected is meaningless and the concept of an authoritarian personality lacks validity.
limitation - the use of correlational evidence to support this explanation is weak. Adorno and his colleagues measured a range of variables and found many significant correlations, authoritarianism was strongly correlated with measures of prejudice against minority groups. This suggests that authoritarianism is not fully linked with obedience but rather prejudice.
limitation - situational factors provide better explanations for obedience, for example agentic state.