evaluation

• evaluation - authoritarian personality

  There is evidence to support the authoritarian personality being a cause of obedience. Milgram found that the most obedient participants in his study were those who had the authoritarian personality.
• evaluation - authoritarian personality

  However, Milgram’s finding is correlational so we cannot make the conclusion that having an authoritarian personality causes high obedience. There could be a third independent factor influencing this, for example both obedience and authoritarian personalities are associated with a lower level of education. This therefore could be the causal factor of each, meaning they are not directly related. This suggests that the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience may not be valid.
• evaluation - authoritarian personality

  The authoritarian personality cannot explain why so many people are prejudiced or obedient all at the same time, such as the German Soldiers during WW2. If personality is the cause of obedience, then that must mean all the soldiers had the same personality and consequently harsh upbringing, which seems highly unlikely.
• evaluation - authoritarian personality

  All of Adorno’s research is based on correlations between scores on the F-scale and obedient behaviour. It is therefore not possible to conclude that having an authoritarian personality causes obedient behaviour, or that having a harsh parenting style could cause an authoritarian personality. This suggest that as an explanation it may not be a good one.