Explanations for obedience: dispositional factors
Dispositional explanation = internal explanation i.e personality factors/individual
reasons why someone obeys.
the authoritarian
personality
Someone with an
authoritarian
personality has
extreme respect
for authority and
has a strong belief
in the need for
Characteristics of the authoritarian personality
o People are obedient to and respect authority
o They don’t care for those of a lower status
o They believe we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values
o They are inflexible with outlook as they are scared about uncertainty
Adorno
Adorno believed
that this type of
personality was
the result of a
strict upbringing A03
by parents who Evaluation
were likely to use
harsh physical research support
punishments. This Milgram did interviews with previous obedient participants
leads to the child from his study and found that they were high on the F-scale.
feeling angry and Due to this he believed there was a link between obedience
hostile towards and authortarian personality.
Low ecological validity
The Authoritarian Personality has little ecological validity because it cannot explain many
real-life examples of mass obedience. For example, it is very unlikely that the whole German
population during Nazi occupation had an Authoritarian Personality, but rather many shared
the same struggles in life and displaced their fear about the future onto a perceived ‘inferior’
group of people, through the process of scapegoating. This means that such a theory is a
limited explanation for some examples of obedience.
Doesn’t take all factors into account
Research has indicated that less-educated people are more authoritarian than the well-
educated. Milgram found that participants with lower levels of education tended to be more
obedient than those with higher levels of education. This suggests that instead of
authoritarianism causing obedience, lack of education can be responsible for both
authoritarianism and obedience. Further research carried out by Elms & Milgram shows that
Dispositional explanation = internal explanation i.e personality factors/individual
reasons why someone obeys.
the authoritarian
personality
Someone with an
authoritarian
personality has
extreme respect
for authority and
has a strong belief
in the need for
Characteristics of the authoritarian personality
o People are obedient to and respect authority
o They don’t care for those of a lower status
o They believe we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values
o They are inflexible with outlook as they are scared about uncertainty
Adorno
Adorno believed
that this type of
personality was
the result of a
strict upbringing A03
by parents who Evaluation
were likely to use
harsh physical research support
punishments. This Milgram did interviews with previous obedient participants
leads to the child from his study and found that they were high on the F-scale.
feeling angry and Due to this he believed there was a link between obedience
hostile towards and authortarian personality.
Low ecological validity
The Authoritarian Personality has little ecological validity because it cannot explain many
real-life examples of mass obedience. For example, it is very unlikely that the whole German
population during Nazi occupation had an Authoritarian Personality, but rather many shared
the same struggles in life and displaced their fear about the future onto a perceived ‘inferior’
group of people, through the process of scapegoating. This means that such a theory is a
limited explanation for some examples of obedience.
Doesn’t take all factors into account
Research has indicated that less-educated people are more authoritarian than the well-
educated. Milgram found that participants with lower levels of education tended to be more
obedient than those with higher levels of education. This suggests that instead of
authoritarianism causing obedience, lack of education can be responsible for both
authoritarianism and obedience. Further research carried out by Elms & Milgram shows that
