Authoritarian personality

Who proposed the idea of a dispositional explanation of obedience?

Adorno

What is the common name for the dispositional explanation for obedience?

Authoritarian personality

What are the characteristics of someone with an authoritarian personality?

• Extreme respect for authority & show contempt towards those of lower social status

• Very conventional views about sex, race, gender & believe that we need strong & powerful leaders to enforce traditional values

• Very inflexible in their outlook & believe in right or wrong with no grey areas

When is this type of personality believed to stem from & how?

In childhood, with those who have been brought up in a household based on strict discipline, conditional love & severe criticism of past failings

According to the theory, the child experiences what feeling towards the parent?

Resentment & hostility

What defence mechanism is used by the child who cannot express their feelings?

Displacement

Who are the feelings displaced onto?

Those who are perceived as weaker, in a process known as scapegoating

How has the authoritarian personality been investigated?

Using a questionnaire called the F-scale

What does the F-scale test?

People’s unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups

How many people were tested using the F-scale?

More than 2,000 middle-class white American males

What were the findings from the F-scale results?

There was a positive correlation between the F-scale & prejudice

Those who showed an authoritarian personality were more likely to display what behaviours?

• Identify with strong people

• Show contempt to the weak

• Show respect to those in high status

What did Milgram’s participants with high scores on the F-scale do?

They gave more powerful electric shocks to another person when urged by an authority figure than low scorers

Discuss the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience (16 marks)

Write your AO1 paragraph

• The authoritarian personality was proposed by Adorno which is based on the idea that obedience is the result of dispositional factors - people have a particular personality that make them more likely to obey.

• These people possess extreme respect for authority (those above them in the social hierarchy) & show contempt towards those of a lower social status. They have very conventional views about sex, race & gender & believe we need strong & powerful leaders to enforce traditional values. They are very inflexible in their outlook & believe in right or wrong with no grey areas.

• This type of personality is believed to stem from childhood with those who have been brought up in a household based on strict discipline, conditional love & severe criticism of past failings. According to the psychodynamic explanation, the child experiences resentment & hostility towards the parent but cannot express this so instead, the feelings are displaced (defence mechanism) onto those who are perceived as weaker, in a process known as scapegoating.

• Adorno investigated the authoritarian personality using a questionnaire, called the F-Scale, which tested people’s unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups. More than 2,000 middle-class white American males were tested & it was found there was a positive correlation between the F-scale & prejudice.

Discuss the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience (16 marks)

Write your strength AO3 PEEL (Milgram & Elms)

• Point: One strength of the authoritarian personality is that research evidence has shown a correlation between authoritarianism & obedience.

• Evidence: For example, Milgram & Elms found higher obedience levels in 20 obedience participants in Milgram’s study compared with 20 disobedient participants, with those scoring higher on the F-scale more likely to administer the maximum 450V.

• Explain: This was further supported by open-ended questions where participants were asked about their relationship with their parents, the experimenter & the learner - obedient participants reported less close relationships with their fathers during childhood & more admiration for the experimenter.

• Link: Overall, this increases the validity of Adorno’s theory, as this suggests certain personality traits lead to people being more likely to obey authority figures.

Discuss the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience (16 marks)

Write your limitation AO3 PEEL (situational variables)

• Point: One limitation of the authoritarian personality is that it fails to consider situational variables that may also explain obedience.

• Evidence: For example, when Milgram’s study was changed from Yale University to a rundown office, obedience decreased from 65% to 47.5% & when a ‘random member of the public’ played the experimenter, obedience decreased to 20%.

• Explain: This suggests that situational variables (e.g. location, proximity & uniform) lead to differences in obedience rates.

• Link: Therefore, this suggests situational variables may be a better predictor for obedience than the authoritarian personality.

Discuss the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience (16 marks)

Write your limitation AO3 PEEL (Nazi Germany)

• Point: One limitation of the authoritarian personality is that it cannot explain situations where whole populations obey an authority figure.

• Evidence: For example, in the case of Nazi Germany, it is unlikely the entire German population had an authoritarian personality, explaining why millions displayed obedient, racist & anti-Semitic behaviour.

• Explain: This is problematic as it means the dispositional explanation only offers a limited explanation for obedience.

• Link: Overall, this suggests that social identity is a better theory, which proposes that the majority of the German people identified with the anti-Semitic Nazi state & scapegoated the ‘outgroup’ of Jews.