AO1:
Authoritarian personality:
● Adorno created the F-scale to look at the authoritarian personality.
● People with this ‘authoritarian personality’ have an extreme respect for authority and are very obedient to those with po
● Adorno found that children brought up by strict parents, who used harsh, physical punishment, grew to be obedient. As th
a strong respect for authority.
● People with an authoritarian personality look down on individuals who do not have any power over them. They tend to se
AO3:
Reductionist Deterministic
P A weakness of the authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience is P A weakness of the authoritarian pe
that it can be considered as reductionist. that it can be considered determin
E This is because the explanation oversimplifies the complex behaviour of E This is because it assumes that all
obedience down to one factor, which is personality. In fact there may be other strict upbringing and does not take
factors, which contribute to an individual being obedient to authority figures, may affect obedience such as free
such as the legitimacy of the authority figure, the location, proximity and so on. upbringing do not always grow up
E This is a weakness as it means that our understanding of having an authoritarian authority figures.
personality and how it causes an individual to become obedient is incomplete. E This is a weakness as the theory is
L This therefore reduces the validity of the dispositional explanation of obedience. are other mediating factors, which
L This therefore decreases the validi
Authoritarian personality:
● Adorno created the F-scale to look at the authoritarian personality.
● People with this ‘authoritarian personality’ have an extreme respect for authority and are very obedient to those with po
● Adorno found that children brought up by strict parents, who used harsh, physical punishment, grew to be obedient. As th
a strong respect for authority.
● People with an authoritarian personality look down on individuals who do not have any power over them. They tend to se
AO3:
Reductionist Deterministic
P A weakness of the authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience is P A weakness of the authoritarian pe
that it can be considered as reductionist. that it can be considered determin
E This is because the explanation oversimplifies the complex behaviour of E This is because it assumes that all
obedience down to one factor, which is personality. In fact there may be other strict upbringing and does not take
factors, which contribute to an individual being obedient to authority figures, may affect obedience such as free
such as the legitimacy of the authority figure, the location, proximity and so on. upbringing do not always grow up
E This is a weakness as it means that our understanding of having an authoritarian authority figures.
personality and how it causes an individual to become obedient is incomplete. E This is a weakness as the theory is
L This therefore reduces the validity of the dispositional explanation of obedience. are other mediating factors, which
L This therefore decreases the validi
