Dispositional explanations of obedience

• Who is considered the mastermind behind the organization of the Holocaust?

  Adolf Eichmann
• What was Adolf Eichmann's role in the Holocaust?

  SS officer who planned sending groups to death camps
• Which death camps did Adolf Eichmann plan to send people to?

  Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka
• What does a situational explanation of behaviour focus on?

  Influence from the environment
• What does a dispositional explanation of behaviour focus on?

  Internal characteristics within the individual’s personality
• What kind of parenting leads to authoritarian personality?

  Strict or rigid parenting
• Which traits are associated with an authoritarian personality?

  Conformist, conventional, dogmatic
• How do people with an authoritarian personality behave towards people of perceived higher status?

  Obedient/servile
• What does the 'F' scale measure?

  Authoritarian personality traits
• What kind of political system does someone who scores highly on the 'F' scale believe in?

  Totalitarian state rule by a dictator
• How does someone who scores highly on the 'F' scale treat people?

  Harshly
• In what year was Adorno investigating the causes of why Nazi soldiers persecuted minority groups?

  1950
• What was Adorno investigating the causes of?

  Why Nazi soldiers persecuted minority groups
• What did Adorno claim about a particular personality type?

  More likely to obey an authority
• What did Adorno claim a high level of obedience to be?

  A psychological disorder
• How many participants were in Adorno's study?

  More than 2000
• What was the demographic of Adorno's study participants?

  Middle-class, white Americans
• What was the purpose of Adorno's study?

  Investigate attitudes towards racial groups
• What did the 'F' scale measure in Adorno's study?

  Personality types and prejudiced beliefs
• According to Adorno's findings, what did high scorers on the 'F' scale identify with?

  'Strong' people
• How did high scorers on the 'F' scale generally view the 'weak'?

  Contemptuously
• What were high scorers on the 'F' scale very conscious of?

  Their own and others’ status
• According to Adorno, what kind of cognitive style did high scorers on the 'F' scale have?

  No 'grey areas' between categories
• What did high scorers on the 'F' scale have about other groups?

  Fixed and distinctive stereotypes
• What was the correlation between authoritarianism and prejudiced attitudes in Adorno's findings?

  Strong positive correlation
• What are the main characteristics of an authoritarian personality?

  • Tendency to be especially obedient to authority
  • Contempt for those they see as lower rank
  • Conventional attitude towards sex, race, and gender
  • Inflexible in their outlook
  • Uncomfortable with uncertainty
• How do people with an authoritarian personality treat authority figures?

  Respect and submissive
• What type of attitudes do authoritarian personalities have?

  Conventional
• How do people with an authoritarian personality view those they consider of lower rank?

  With contempt
• How flexible are people with authoritarian personalities in their outlook?

  Inflexible
• How comfortable are people with authoritarian personalities with uncertainty?

  Uncomfortable
• What is the origin of the authoritarian personality?

  Formed in childhood from harsh parenting
• What are the characteristics of harsh parenting that contribute to an authoritarian personality?

  Strict, discipline, expectation of loyalty
• What is conditional love?

  Love dependent on meeting expectations
• What is the psychodynamic explanation for the creation of an authoritarian personality?

  Displacing resentment onto weaker scapegoats
• According to Milgram, which situational variations affect obedience?

  Proximity, location and uniform
• What are the social psychological explanations for obedience?

  Legitimate authority, destructive authority, agentic state
• Which of the following is a social psychological explanation?

  Self image
• Which of the following is a social psychological explanation?

  Binding factors
• Which of the following is a social psychological explanation?

  Gradual commitment