A01

• Outline the dispositional explanation for obedience

  The perception of obedience as caused by internal characteristics of individuals
• Define authoritarian personality

  A type of personality which predisposes an individual to obedience
• State four likely traits of somebody with an authoritarian personality

  1. Respect and obedience to authority

  2. Dismissive to those they deem inferior

  3. 'Black and white' thinking

  4. Need strong leaders to promote traditional values
• Describe the origins of the authoritarian personality

  - Forms during childhood and stems from strict disciplinarian parenting - experienced conditional love, had impossibly high standards placed upon them, expectation to be completely loyal

  - These experiences create hostility and despair in the child, who cannot express these feelings to their parents (through fear of punishment) - instead these emotions are displaced on the 'weak' (known as 'scapegoating')
• What is the F-scale?

  Questionnaire assessing nine personality dimensions linked to authoritarian personality
• State who developed the F-scale, include the year it was developed

  Adorno et al. (1950)
• Name and describe a study which shows support for the authoritarian personality leading to obedience

  Elms and Milgram (1966):

  - 'Obedient' and 'disobedient' participants from Milgram's original shock experiment were issued with F-scale

  - Higher levels of authoritarianism were found amongst 'obedient' participants
• Describe an issue with Elms and Milgram's study

  It is correlational - does not show a causal link between obedience and authoritarian personality
• Outline why the authoritarian personality known as a dispositional explanation for obedience

  It focuses on an individual's personality traits (disposition) which could lead to obedience
• Outline one methodological issue with the F-scale

  It is a questionnaire based on level of agreement or disagreement which can lead to acquiescence bias