Obedience: Dispositional Explanations
A01 - KNOWLEDGE
Describe and evaluate dispositional factors A03
that- EVALUATION
have been shown to affect
obedience to authority
- Adorno et al investigated the causes of - Milgram and Elms conducted
the obedient personality in a study of interviews with a small sample of fully
more than 2000 middle class, white obedient Ps, who scored highly on the
Americans and their unconscious F-scale, believing that there might be a
attitudes towards other racial groups. link between obedience and
They used the F-scale to measure authoritarian personality. However,
authoritarian personality. this link is merely a correlation
- Findings were that people with between two measured variables and
authoritarian leanings identified with this makes it impossible to draw the
‘strong’ people. They were very conclusion that authoritarian
conscious of their own and others' personality causes obedience on the
status, showing excessive respect, basis of this result. It may be that a
deference and servility to those of third factor is involved and perhaps
higher status. Adorno et al found that both obedience and authoritarian
authoritarian people had a cognitive personality are associated with a lower
style where there was no 'fuzziness' level of education and aren't directly
between categories of people, with linked with each other at all.
fixed and distinctive stereotypes about - Any explanation of obedience in terms
other groups. There was a strong of individual personality will find it hard
positive correlation between to explain obedient behaviour in the
authoritarianism and prejudice . majority of a country's population. E.g.,
- Adorno concluded that people with an in pre-war Germany, millions of
authoritarian personality have a individuals all displayed obedient,
tendency to be especially obedient to racist and anti-Semitic behaviour. This
authority. They have an extreme was despite the fact that they must
respect for authority and have differed in their personalities in all
submissiveness to it. They show sorts of ways and it seems extremely
contempt for people they perceive as unlikely that they could all possess an
having inferior social status, and have authoritarian personality. This is a
highly conventional attitudes towards limitation of Adorno's theory as it is
sex, race and gender. They also believe clear that an alternative explanation is
we need strong and powerful leaders much more realistic, and that social
to enforce traditional values such as identity explains obedience,
love of country, religion and family.
People with an authoritarian
personality are inflexible in their
outlook and there are no 'grey areas'
for them. Everything is either right or
wrong and they are very
uncomfortable with uncertainty.
- Adorno et al sought to identify the - The F-scale measures the tendency
origin of the authoritarian personality towards an extreme form of right-wing
A01 - KNOWLEDGE
Describe and evaluate dispositional factors A03
that- EVALUATION
have been shown to affect
obedience to authority
- Adorno et al investigated the causes of - Milgram and Elms conducted
the obedient personality in a study of interviews with a small sample of fully
more than 2000 middle class, white obedient Ps, who scored highly on the
Americans and their unconscious F-scale, believing that there might be a
attitudes towards other racial groups. link between obedience and
They used the F-scale to measure authoritarian personality. However,
authoritarian personality. this link is merely a correlation
- Findings were that people with between two measured variables and
authoritarian leanings identified with this makes it impossible to draw the
‘strong’ people. They were very conclusion that authoritarian
conscious of their own and others' personality causes obedience on the
status, showing excessive respect, basis of this result. It may be that a
deference and servility to those of third factor is involved and perhaps
higher status. Adorno et al found that both obedience and authoritarian
authoritarian people had a cognitive personality are associated with a lower
style where there was no 'fuzziness' level of education and aren't directly
between categories of people, with linked with each other at all.
fixed and distinctive stereotypes about - Any explanation of obedience in terms
other groups. There was a strong of individual personality will find it hard
positive correlation between to explain obedient behaviour in the
authoritarianism and prejudice . majority of a country's population. E.g.,
- Adorno concluded that people with an in pre-war Germany, millions of
authoritarian personality have a individuals all displayed obedient,
tendency to be especially obedient to racist and anti-Semitic behaviour. This
authority. They have an extreme was despite the fact that they must
respect for authority and have differed in their personalities in all
submissiveness to it. They show sorts of ways and it seems extremely
contempt for people they perceive as unlikely that they could all possess an
having inferior social status, and have authoritarian personality. This is a
highly conventional attitudes towards limitation of Adorno's theory as it is
sex, race and gender. They also believe clear that an alternative explanation is
we need strong and powerful leaders much more realistic, and that social
to enforce traditional values such as identity explains obedience,
love of country, religion and family.
People with an authoritarian
personality are inflexible in their
outlook and there are no 'grey areas'
for them. Everything is either right or
wrong and they are very
uncomfortable with uncertainty.
- Adorno et al sought to identify the - The F-scale measures the tendency
origin of the authoritarian personality towards an extreme form of right-wing
