ao1 dispositional explanations

• the authoritarian personality


  people with the authoritarian personality type are very obedient to authority and have a lot of respect for members of authority but disrespect those of an inferior social status to themselves.

  develops during childhood due to harsh parenting.

  it is a psychodynamic explanation as the harsh parenting creates resentment in the children which they displace onto those who they perceive to be weaker.
• adorno


  adorno tested the authoritarian personality on the f-scale which is a questionnaire where participants rated themselves on a scale of 1-6 based on how they agreed with a statement

  those who scored highly on the f- scale were labelled as authoritarians and adorno interviewed them
• adorno et al procedure

  developed several measurement scales including f- scale to test facism

  2,000 middle class white Americans tested
• adorno et al findings

  people who scored highly:

  identified with 'strong' people and were generally contemptuous of the weak

  they were concious of status and showed extreme respect, deference and servility to those of higher status

  had fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups

  positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice.