Dispositional Explanation

• Dispositional factors are related to personality.
• Authoritarianism- blind submission to authority, lack of individual freedom of thought or action
• Authoritarian personality- a personality type that is characterized by extreme respect and obedience for authority figures, dispositional explanation for obedience
• Adorno et al (1950)- developed the California F scale, which is a test to measure the levels of authoritarian personality and if it can be linked to obedience
• Characteristics of the authoritarian personality:

  • Conformist behaviour
  • Extreme respect for authority figures
  • Views society as being 'weaker than it once was' - belief that a strong leader will restore traditional values
  • Contempt to those who are inferior to them
  • Absolutist thinking- discomfort with any 'grey' areas
• Causes of the authoritarian personality:

  Harsh parenting- strict discipline, high standards, conditional love- creates resentment which isn't expressed due to the threat of punishment. This leads to displacement- feelings and fears are placed onto others who are perceived to be weaker (scape-goating) which explains the hatred those with authoritarian personalities hold towards social inferiors.
• Limitations of the California F scale test:

  • Lacks temporal validity- out-dated
  • Lacks ecological validity
  • Response bias- no neutral responses
  • Cultural bias towards America
  • Emotive language
  • Jargon
  • Double-barrelled questions
• Strengths of the California F scale test:

  • Can get many responses quickly- easily distributed
  • Easy for pps to complete
  • Quantitative data- easy to compare scores
  • Cost-effective
  • Less social desirability bias- researcher doesn't have to be present for pps to answer the questionnaire, so people might be more honest due to less fear of judgement
• Elms and Milgram (1966):

  • 20 obedient pps (administered the full 450 volts) and 20 disobedient pps completed personality questionnaires and asked open-ended questions about their parental relationships and relationships with the experimenter and learner
  • Findings- obedient pps scored higher on the F scale than disobedient pps and were less close to their fathers during childhood. They also admired the experimenter
  • Obedient pps in the original research displayed higher levels of authoritarianism than disobedient pps
• Evaluation of the dispositional explanation of obedience:

  • Supportive evidence from Elms & Milgram (1966)
  • Lower internal validity- relies on questionnaire (self-report) data, increases social desirability bias, lowers theoretical value
  • Difficult to establish cause and effect between authoritarian personality/ parenting style and obedience- based on retrospective data
  • Third, untested variable could be causing the relationship (e.g. education level)
  • Explanation can't account for the obedience of entire social groups