Dispositional Obedience

• Authoritarian Personality - Adorno


  Argued high levels of obedience was a psychological disorder, disagreeing with Milgram
• Adorno's Study

  • Questionnaire revealing unconscious feelings about minority groups
  • Developed the F (Fascism) Scale
  • Factors measured: Authoritarian Aggression = tendency to be on the lookout for people who violate conventional values
  • High Score = respect for higher status, associating with 'strong' people
  • Suggests people had these personalities shaped in childhood through strict parenting and punishment, displacing anger
• (+) A03: Elmes + Milgram (1966)


  Interviewed participants from Milgram Study, those who went to 450V scored high on F-Scale
• (-) A03: Correlation not Causation

  Only a correlation between Authoritarian Personality and following orders, may be a 3rd factor e.g. low income
• (-) A03: Left-Wing Theory

  Inherently biased as it shows that Conservatives as having a psychological disorder