AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY AND LoC

What is Authoritarian Personality?

A dispositional explanation, which suggests obedient behaviour is due to internal traits such as personality type, rather than external/situational factors.

how does one develop AP?

traits developed from strict/rigid parenting resulting in complete submission to authority

traits of AP

conformity, dogmatic, respect for authority, conservative, harsh to lower status groups

what is used to measure AP

f-scale, created by Adorno. F stands for fascist

limitations of AP theory

biased; does not count for other extremist leftist groups, and only focuses on primarily right wing extremist groups, and is therefore politically biased. The F scale lack internal validity because it does not count for the scope of possible answers and does not take into consideration, social pressure and its effect.

Locus of control definition.

The degree to which people believe they have control over the outcome of the events in their lives

Internal locus meaning

If someone has a high internal locus, this means that they believe they have control over what happens in their life and means that they often take accountability for their actions and are very self-sufficient

High external locus of control meaning

If someone has a high external locus of control, this means that they believe that their fate lies in the hands of external factors, such as luck. These people tend to be very passive and do not take responsibility for their actions.

How does LOC relate to social influence?

People with a higher internal locus of control will resist social pressures and are more likely to stick to their own judgement. People with a higher external locus of control are more likely to submit to social pressure and conform to the majority, therefore exhibiting compliance.