4a. Dispositional variables affecting obedience

What is a dispositional explanation?

Dispositional explanation= individual’s personality as a cause

Who proposed dispositional explanations?

Adorno and Altermeyer proposed dispositional explanations

What is an Authoritarian personality?

Authoritarian personality= (AP) A type of personality that Adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority. Such individuals are also thought to be submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors.

What is fascism?

Fascism= believe we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values → make AP more likely

What are the origins of AP?

Origins of AP=mostly as a result of harsh parenting: strict discipline, high standards and severe criticism of perceived failings. This creates unexpressed resentment, due to fear of parents, so is displaced to those ‘inferior’ (i.e scapegoating). This is a psychodynamic explanation.

Describe the key study by Adorno et al. (1950)

• aim

• sample

• procedure

• findings

• Aim= to examine the causes of obedient/ APs

• Sample= more than 2000 middle-class, white Americans

• Procedure= developed a series of scales to investigate unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups and potential for fascist views (the F scale questionaire)

• Findings=

  • People with authoritarian leanings (i.e. those who scored high on the F-scale and other measures) identified with ‘strong’ people and were generally contemptuous of the ‘weak’, conscious of status

    • found AP a certain cognitive style (way of perceiving others) in which there was no ‘fuzziness’ between categories of people (i.e. ‘black and white’ thinking). They had fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups. Adorno et al. found a strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice.

Describe briefly right-wing authoritarianism (Altermeyer)

3 concepts of RWA=

• Conventionalism= a tendecy to accept, follow or value tradition

• Authoritarian aggression= a tendency to be hostile to those who are deviant/ disobedient

• Authoritarian submission= a tendency to be deferential (submissive) to established authorities without critical evaluations

Describe the key study of Elms and Milgram (1966)

(Elms and Milgram 1966), interviewed a small sample of people who had participated in the original obedience studies and been fully obedient. They all completed the F-scale questionaire and were interviewed about how they felt about the ‘experimenter’ and the ‘learner’ and their parental relationships.

The more obedient ppts showed higher levels of authoritarianism, tended to favour the ‘experimenter’ over the learner,’ and negative views of their fathers. APs were one of the factors of obedience.