Dispositional Explanation

• What is a dispositional explanation?

  Any explanation that highlights the importance of the individuals personality
• What is the authoritarian personality?

  • A type of personality that is believed to be especially susceptible to obeying people in authority.
  • These people are also thought to be submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors
• Who suggested the Authoritarian personality?

  Adorno et al
• Where does the authoritarian personality originate from?

  • Childhood, through harsh parenting, extremely strict discipline, expectation of absolute loyalty.
  • Also categorised by conditional love
• How did Adorno et al investigate the authoritarian personality?

  • Investigates unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups with 2000 white middle class Americans.
  • The F-scale was produced.
  • Authoritarians scored high on the F-scale.
  • They had fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups
• Strength of The authoritarian personality:

  • Research Support that Authoritarians are obedient
  • Milgram and Elms conducted interviews a with fully obedient participants who scored high on the F-Scale, correlation between obedience and Authoritarian personality
• Limitation of Authoritarian Personality:

  Can't explain a whole countries behaviour - e.g. Pre War Germany, millions displayed obedient, racist and anti-Semitic behaviour, it is impossible to generalise an entire country, could be something else causing obedience
• Limitation of F-Scale:

  • Politically biased,
  • Christie and Jahoda suggest it aims towards extreme right-wing ideology, but left-wing authoritarianism also insists on complete obedience to political authority
  • Therefore Adornos theory is not a comprehensive explanation as is doesn’t explain left-wing