Dispositional explanations

• The authoritarian personality

  • shaped in early childhood as a result of strict parenting
  • a collection of personality traits
  • measured using the potential for fascism scale (F-scale) where those who scored more highly were more obedient
• Authoritarian characteristics:

  • rigid obedience to authority figures
  • submissive to authority
  • conventional attitudes towards sex, race and gender
  • hostile to those of a lower status
  • belief in strong leaders to enforce traditional values (love of country and religion)
• Strength: supporting evidence from Elms & Milgram (1966). They found that participants in Milgram's study who were highly obedient were significantly more authoritarian on the F-scale than disobedient participants. This means that there is a link between authoritarian personality type and obedience.
• Limitation: Issues with establishing cause and effect as it is only a correlation between authoritarian personality traits and obedient behaviour. This means that it is impossible to draw the conclusion that authoritarian personality causes obedience.
• Limitation: Validity of the F-scale has been criticised for every item being worded in the same 'direction'. A high score for authoritarianism can be achieved by ticking the same line of boxes down one side of the page. This means that the F-scale could be measuring the tendency to agree to everything and not a personality type.
• Limitation: Contradicted by other explanations for obedience, such as situational factors. For example, proximity or location may have a greater influence on obedience. This means that the authoritarian personality may not be the most valid explanation for obedience.