obedience: dispositional explanation

• dispositional explanation:

  any explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individual's personality. such explanations are often contrasted with situational explanations
• authoritarian personality:

  a type of personality that adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority. such individuals are also thought to be submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors
• like milgram, adorno wanted to understand the anti semitism of the holocaust. his research led to very different conclusions from milgram as he believed a high level of obedience was near to a psychological disorder and that the causes of such a disorder lie in the personality of the individual rather than in the situation
• authoritarian personality and obedience:


  adorno argued that people with an authoritarian personality show an extreme respect for authority, and view society as weaker than it once was so believe we need strong leaders to enforce traditional values. both of these characteristics make people with an authoritarian personality more likely to obey orders from a source of authority. people with an authoritarian personality also show contempt for those of inferior social status. this is fuelled by their inflexible outlook on the world
• origins of the authoritarian personality:

  adorno believed the authoritarian personality forms in childhood, mostly as a result of harsh parenting. this parenting style typically features extremely strict discipline and an expectation of absolute loyalty. adorno argues that these childhood experiences create resentment and hostility in a child, but they can't express these feelings to their parents as they fear punishment. this means their fears are displaced onto others who they perceive to be weaker (scapegoating)
• adorno's (1950) procedure:

  • used 2000+ middle class, white americans
  • studied their unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups
  • developed the f scale (potential for fascism) which measured authoritarian personality
• adorno's (1950) findings:

  • people who scored highly on the f scale identified with strong people and were contemptuous of the weak, they showed extreme respect, deference, and servility to those of higher status (basis of obedience)
  • adorno also found that authoritarian people had a certain cognitive style where they had black and white thinking - they had fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups
  • strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
• evaluating the authoritarian personality; research support:


  strength

  • evidence from milgram's study supports the authoritarian personality
  • elms and milgram (1966) interviewed a small sample of participants from milgram's original obedience study who had been fully obedient
  • the 20 obedient participants scored significantly higher on the f scale than the 20 disobedient ones
  • therefore this supports adorno's view that obedient people may show similar characteristics to people with an authoritarian personality
• evaluating the authoritarian personality; research support:


  counterpoint

  • when the researchers analysed the individual subscales of the f scale they found participants had characteristics which were unusual for authoritarians
  • unlike authoritarians, the participants didn't glorify their dads, weren't hostile towards their mums, or have extreme childhood punishments
  • therefore the link between obedience and authoritarianism is complex so it's unlikely to be a useful predictor of obedience
• evaluating the authoritarian personality; limited explanation:


  limitation

  • authoritarianism can't explain obedient behaviour in the majority of a country's population
  • in pre war germany, millions of individuals displayed obedient behaviour despite them differing in personalities - it was unlikely they all had an authoritarian personality
  • an alternative view (based on social identity theory) is that the majority of the germans identified with the anti semitic nazi state and scapegoated the out group of jews
  • therefore the theory is limited as an alternative explanation is much more realistic
• evaluating the authoritarian personality; political bias:


  limitation

  • the f scale only measures tendencies towards an extreme form of right wing ideology
  • christie and jahoda (1954) argued the f scale is a politically biased interpretation of authoritarian personality as extreme right wing and left wing ideologies have a lot in common, such as emphasising the importance of complete obedience to political authority
  • therefore the theory is not a comprehensive explanation that accounts for obedience to authority across the whole political spectrum
• evaluating the authoritarian personality; flawed evidence:

  extra

  • research with the f scale has provided the basis of an explanation of obedience based on authoritarian personality
  • however, greenstein (1969) claims the f scale is methodologically flawed due to response bias (acquiescence)