individual and developmental differences

• what are individual differences

  factors that differentiate us from other individuals which make us unique
• what is developmental psychology

  factors that are linked to our development that affect our behaviours such as upbringing
• individual differences

  • obedience affected by personality
  • prejudice linked to personality
• obedience affected by personality

  • adorno believed a harsh style of parenting leads children to develop personality traits such as toughness, destructiveness which is an authoritarian personality (AP)
  • AP is submissive to authority but harsh to those seen as subordinate to themselves
• evidence of obedience affected by personality

  • elms and milgram
  • used the F-scale with participants from milgrams studies, testing 20 fully obedient participants and 20 who were not - obedient participants scored higher on the F-scale
  • finding's suggest obedience is related to personality characteristic of authoritarianism
• evidence of prejudice affected by personality

  • cohrs (2012) investigated individual differences and prejudice
  • used an opportunity sample from diverse social backgrounds in germany (e.g: able-bodies, hetersexual) participants completed questionnaires which measured RWA and prejudice about attitudes to homosexuality, disabled people
  • research suggests RWA and AP useful predictors for seeing how prejudiced someone will be
• weakness of obedience linked to personality

  • schurz
  • task similar to milgrams original study, austrian participants were instructed to give painful doses of ultrasound to a female student
  • participants who were fully obedient did not differ significantly from those who resisted in terms of their scores on a questionnaire measuring locus of control
  • suggests personality has little impact on obedience
• developmental psychology

  • obedience affected by gender and culture
  • prejudice affected by culture
• obedience affected by culture

  • collectivist cultures may be more obedient as collectivist cultures value social cohesion and cooperation more in the group
  • blass found an average of 66% obedience across other countries, compared with 61% for US replications
  • therefore, can conclude obedience is a universal social behaviour and culture does not affect it
• obedience affected by gender

  • gilligan
  • moral reasoning theory suggests moral decision making is guided by differing principles in men and women 'ethic of justice' in men valuing equality and fairness and 'ethic of care' in women valuing interpersonal connections so gender differences affect moral reasoning so may affect obedience in certain situations
• evidence of obedience affected by gender

  • kilham and mann
  • found gender differences with 40% obedience in males and 16% in females
• prejudice affected by culture

  • cultures differ in prejudice due to being more individualistic rather than collectivist
• evidence for prejudice affected by culture

  • whetherell - tajfel replication