dispositional explanation

• what is the authoritarian personality?


  show an extreme respect for authority and view society as weaker than it was so need powerful leaders to enforce traditional values.

  show contempt for inferior social status.

  everything is either right or wrong and therefore people who belong to ethnic minorities are responsible.

  'other' people are a convenient target for authoritarians
• what are the origins of the authoritarian personality?


  Adorno believed that it forms in childhood as a result of harsh parenting.

  features strict discipline, expectation of loyalty, high standards and criticism of failings.

  give conditional love

  these experiences create resentment and hostility in the child so their fears are displaced onto others they perceive as weaker.

  explains hatred towards people who they consider to be inferior

  is a psychodynamic explanation
• Explain the procedure of Adorno's 1950 research?


  2000 middle class white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other ehtnic groups

  several measurement scales including potential for facism (F-scale)

  eg 'obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues for a child to learn' and 'there is hardly anything lower than a person who doesn't feel great love, gratitude and respect for their parents'
• Describe the findings of Adorno's research?


  people with authoritarian personality identify with 'strong' people and were generally contemptuous of the 'weak'.

  Were very conscious of status and showed extreme respect for those of higher status

  had a certain cognitive style, black and white thinking,

  they had fixed stereotypes of groups

  found strong correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
• give one strength and counterargument?


  research support

  Milgram and Elms interviewed a small sample that participated in original obedience fully obedient

  they completed f scale and they scored higher on the f scale than disobedient participants

  counterargument= obedient participants had characteristics that were unusual for authoritarians

  means link between obedience and authoritarianism is complex
• give one limitation?


  can't explain obedience in majority of a country's population

  in pre war germany many people displayed obedient and anti sematic beaviour despite having different personalities

  unlikely they all had authoritarian personality

  another theory is social identity theory

  Adorno's theory is limited
• give one limitation?


  f-scale only measures tendency towards extreme right wing ideology

  Christie and Jahoda argued f - scale is politically based and point out reality of left wing authoritariansim in Russia

  right wing and left wing have lots in common as both emphasise importance of complete obedience to political authority

  Adorno's theory is no a comprehensive dispositional explanation