AO1

• What did Adorno claim

  -Adorno claimed a particular personality type is more likely to obey authority.
• Define Authoritarian Personality

  -A distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority.
• What did Adorno investigate

  -Adorno et al. (1950) investigated the causes of an obedient personality in a study of more than 2000 middle-class white Americans.
• He did this by using

  -an F scale
• People with Authoritian Personality

  -tended to score highly on the f scale
• Outline some authoritarian traits

  -traditional inflexible beliefs

  -extreme respect for those with higher status

  -contempt for those with socially inferior status

  -highly obedient to authority figures

  -black and white thinking

  -think society is going to the dogs
• How did authoritarian personality originate

  -Forms in childhood, mostly as a result of harsh parenting (strict discipline, complete loyalty, high standards, severe criticism) and conditional love.

  -Adorno argued these experiences create feelings of hostility and resentment in the child which they cannot directly express to parents for fear of punishment.
• Instead these feelings are displaced

  -onto others who are perceived as weaker in a process called scapegoating.