Adorno investigated the causes of the obedient personality using 2000 middle-class, white Americans. He assessed their attitudes towards racial groups, using the F-scale (Facism) questionnaire. Those who scored highly on the F-scale tended to have authoritarian personality characteristics e.g. disliked the weak, showed excessive respect and obedience to those of higher status and were likely to be prejudiced. Adorno’s research suggests that having an authoritarian personality makes it more likely that a person will be obedient, supporting his theory.
