Obedience: Authoritarian personality

• What is the dispositional explanation of obedience?

  It highlights the importance of individual personality
• What is the authoritarian personality?

  A personality type susceptible to obey authority
• Why do some psychologists reject situational explanations for obedience?

  They believe personality factors are more significant
• How did Milgram's findings relate to the authoritarian personality?

  Authoritarian participants gave stronger shocks
• What did Adorno and his colleagues aim to understand regarding the Holocaust?

  They wanted to understand anti-Semitism's origins
• What was the sample size in Adorno's study on authoritarian personality?

  More than 2000 middle-class white Americans
• What does the F-scale measure?

  It measures authoritarian personality traits
• How many questions are on the F-scale?

  30 questions
• What characteristics did Adorno find in people with an authoritarian personality?

  Hostile to lower status, obedient to higher status
• What parenting style contributes to the authoritarian personality?

  Harsh parenting with strict discipline
• What is a strength of the authoritarian personality explanation?

  Research supports the link to obedience
• What is a limitation of Adorno's correlation findings?

  Correlation does not imply causation
• Why is the authoritarian personality explanation considered limited?

  It cannot explain obedience in entire societies
• What does the criticism of the F-scale's methodology suggest?

  It may measure agreement rather than authoritarianism
• What did Greenstein say about the F-scale?

  He called it a 'comedy of methodological errors'
• What is a potential issue with the F-scale's item wording?

  All items are worded in the same direction
• What does a high score on the F-scale indicate?

  It indicates a tendency towards authoritarianism
• How does the authoritarian personality relate to prejudice?

  It is correlated with prejudice against minorities