authoritarian personality

What is a dispositional explanation?

A dispositional explanation highlights internal personality traits (disposition) as the cause of obedience, rather than external factors.

What is the Authoritarian Personality (AP)?

A personality type that shows extreme respect for authority, submission to superiors, and contempt for inferiors.

How does AP relate to obedience?

People with AP are more likely to obey authority due to their rigid thinking, need for order, and belief in strong leadership.

What are the origins of the Authoritarian Personality?

Harsh, critical parenting causes hostility, which is displaced onto weaker groups (scapegoating), leading to obedience and prejudice.

What was Adorno et al.'s research procedure?

Studied 2000+ white, middle-class Americans using the F-scale to measure unconscious attitudes about authority and prejudice.

What did Adorno et al. find?

High F-scale scorers showed high respect for authority, fixed stereotypes, status consciousness, and contempt for the weak.

How does Leon’s boss show authoritarian traits?

Situational: open-plan pressure; Social hierarchy: submissive to seniors, harsh to juniors; Dispositional: possible AP traits.

How can we explain Caleb’s grandad’s attitudes?

Displays AP traits: black-and-white thinking, admiration for authority, traditional views, possibly shaped by strict parenting.

What is the F-scale?

A questionnaire developed by Adorno et al. to measure fascist and authoritarian tendencies.

Strength of the AP explanation?

Milgram & Elms (1966) found obedient participants scored higher on the F-scale than disobedient ones.

Limitation: subscale contradictions

Milgram's obedient participants lacked key AP traits—e.g., they didn’t glorify fathers or show unusual childhood punishment.

Limitation: political bias

The F-scale only measures extreme right-wing views and ignores left-wing authoritarianism (e.g., Maoism).

Limitation: limited explanation

AP can't explain mass obedience in historical events (e.g., Nazi Germany), where not everyone could have AP.

Limitation: flawed evidence

The F-scale has response bias—agreeing with all items results in a high score regardless of actual personality.