dispositional explanation for obedience

• dispositional explanation for obedience?

  authoritarian personality
• authoritarian personality traits?

  1. greater respect for those with same/higher status
  2. obedient to authority
  3. disapproving towards those with lower status
  4. traditional values & beliefs
• what is the dispositional explanation for obedience?

  behaviour is due to internal traits such as personality type rather than external factors
• adorno study?

  examined 2000 white middle class american males using f scale questionnaire
• what is the f scale?

  used to measure authoritarian personality
• how is authoritarian personality developed?

  from strict parenting during childhood
• 3 X of dispositional explanations?

  1. problems with questionnaire
  2. individual differences
  3. situational factors have greater influence on obedience
• * support from elms & milgram for dispostional?

  • found that p in milgrams study who obeyed upto 450v scored higher on f scale
  • they had more of authoritarian personality than those who did not obey orders
  • shows that people who have authoritarian personality are more likely to obey authority
• X problems with questionnaires?

  • used to measure authoritarian personality - f scale
  • people may change their responses to make themselves look better - social desirability
  • eg p may appear more authoritarian as they believe their answers are socially correct & falsely labelled this
  • ? internal
  • p in adornos study may have lied meaning findings do not diretly reflect how authoritarian personality explains obedience
• X individual differences?

  • middendorp & meleon found that less educated people more likely to display authoritarian personality traits than well educated
  • suggests its not this personality type that leads to obedience but levels of education
  • ignores situational factors like education
  • does not explain obedience in wider population
• X situational factors have greater influence?

  • variables such as proximity, location, uniform have been suggested to lead to higher levels of obedience in studies such as m & b
  • a.g & l.a can explain these influences more explicitly than dispositional
  • suggests authoritarian personality is an incomplete explanation
  • lacks explanatory power