dispositional explanations

• authoritarian personality:


  • Adorno (1950) believed that the foundations for an authoritarian personality were laid in early childhood as a result of harsh and strict parenting, which made the child feel that the love of their parents was conditional and dependent upon how they behaved.
  • argued that this then creates resentment within the child as they grow up and, since they cannot express it at the time, the feelings are displaced onto others that are seen as 'weak' or 'inferior', as a form of scapegoating.
• Key study - Adorno (1950):

  • conducted a study using 2,000 m/c, Americans to find out their unconscious views towards other racial groups.
  • The method involved administering questionnaires, including the F-scale, assessing their personality traits and attitudes, as fascism is thought to be at the core of the authoritarian personality.
  • findings: individuals with an authoritarian personality were more likely to be prejudiced, rigid in their thinking, and obedient to authority. found they had a particular cognitive style - strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice.
• what examples of Qs were on the F-scale?

  • ''Obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues children should learn.''
  • ''Homosexuals are hardly better than criminals and ought to be severely punished.''
• what did Adorno conclude?

  • concluded that individuals with an authoritarian personality were more obedient to authority figures and showed an extreme submissiveness and respect.
  • they're also uncomfortable with uncertainty, demonstrating an inflexible attitude. they, therefore, believe that society requires strong leadership to enforce rigid, traditional values.
• evaluation of the authoritarian personality:

  • there is research support - Milgram and Elms (1966) conducted post-experimental interviews with participants who were fully obedient in Milgram's original study, to see if there was a link between high levels of obedience and an authoritarian personality.
  • found that the obedient participants scored higher on the F-scale than the disobedient ones, and displayed more characteristics of the authoritarian personality.
• evaluation of the authoritarian personality:

  • may be individual differences that contribute to the development of the authoritarian personality (e.g. levels of education) - Middendorp and Meleon (1990) found that less-educated people are more likely than well-educated people to display authoritarian characteristics.
• evaluation of authoritarian personality:

  • methodological criticisms - the F-scale suffers from response bias or social desirability. e.g. participants may appear more authoritarian because they believe that their answers are socially 'correct'. this therefore reduces the internal validity of the questionnaire method in determining the degree of authoritarianism.