Authoritarian Personality AO3

• What is a strength of Milgram and Elm’s research regarding obedience?

  There is research support for the link between authoritarianism and obedience.
• What method did Dambrun and Vatiné (2010) use to study obedience?

  They used an immersive virtual environment where participants were in a simulation.
• Why did Dambrun and Vatiné (2010) choose to use a simulation in their study?

  To make the shocks and the victim’s reactions appear more realistic.
• What was the significant finding of Dambrun and Vatiné's study regarding right wing authoritarianism (RWA)?

  There was a significant correlation between participants’ RWA scores and the maximum voltage shock administered.
• What does it imply if participants with higher levels of RWA obeyed the most in the study?

  It suggests that higher authoritarianism is linked to greater obedience.
• What conclusion can be drawn from the research on authoritarianism and obedience?

  • There is a reliable link between authoritarianism and obedience.
  • Higher levels of RWA correlate with increased obedience in experimental settings.
• What did Milgram believe about the evidence for dispositional factors in the authoritarian personality?

  Milgram did not believe the evidence for dispositional factors was strong.
• What happened to obedience levels when both teacher and learner were seated in the same room during Milgram's proximity study?

  Obedience levels fell to 40% as the teacher experienced the learner’s anguish more directly.
• In the touch proximity condition of Milgram's study, what was the obedience rate when the teacher was required to force the learner’s hand onto a shock plate?

  The obedience rate dropped to 30%.
• Why are variations in the social context of the study, such as proximity, significant in Milgram's research on obedience?

  • Variations in social context were the primary cause of differences in obedience levels.
  • Personality variations were not the main factor affecting obedience.
• What conclusion can be drawn about situational factors compared to dispositional factors in affecting obedience based on Milgram's studies?

  Evidence is stronger for situational factors affecting obedience compared to dispositional factors.
• P - A weakness of the link between the authoritarian personality and obedience is

  that there are individual differences such as education

  E - Middendorp and Meloen (1990) has generally found that less-educated people are consistently more authoritarian than the well educated.

  E - This matters because instead of authoritarianism causing obedience, lack of

  education could be responsible for both authoritarianism and obedience.

  L - Therefore, there could be other factors such as education could be causing

  the high RWA score and obedience.