Dispositional explanations

• AO1: Dispositional Explanation

  - A dispositional explanation is any explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individuals personality (i.e. their disposition)
• AO1: Authoritarian personality


  - The authoritarian personality is a type of personality that Adorno argued was particularly susceptible to obeying people in authority

  - Such individuals are thought to be submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors
• AO1: Origins of the authoritarian personality

  - Authoritarian personality forms in childhood through harsh parenting (e.g. extremely strict discipline, expectation of absolute loyalty, impossibly high standards and severe criticism)

  - Also characterised by conditional love - parents love depends entirely on how their child behaves
• AO1: Adorno et al. (1950) Procedure


  - Adorno et a. (1950) investigated the unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups of more than 2000 middle class white Americans

  - From this, severe scales were developed, including the potential-for-fascism (F-scale)

  - An example from the F-scale is: 'Obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues for children to learn
• AO1: Adorno et al. (1950) Findings

  - Authoritarians (Who scored high on the F-scale and other measures) identified with 'strong' people and were contemptuous of the weak

  - They were conscious of their own and others status, showing excessive respect to those of a higher status

  - Authoritarians had a certain cognitive style (way of perceiving others) and had distinct stereotypes about other groups
• AO1: What is the F-Scale

  - A questionnaire designed to measure Authoritarian Personality
• AO1: Characteristics of the Authoritarian personality

  - Exaggerated respect for authority and submissiveness to it

  - Express contempt for people of inferior social status

  - Conventional attitudes towards race and gender
• AO3: Research support


  - A strength is evidence from Milgram supporting the Authoritarian Personality

  - Milgram and Elms (1966) found that obedient participants scored higher on the F-scale than disobedient participants

  - This supports Adorno et al.'s view that obedient people have an authoritarian personality

  
  

  - However, when researchers analysed the individuals, they found that the obedient participants did not share many characteristics with Authoritarians (e.g. Did not glorify their father or receive unusual levels of punishment in childhood)

  - Therefore, the link between Authoritarian Personality and Obedience may just be a correlation

  - We cannot conclude from the data that authoritarian personality causes obedience

  - A third factor may be involved
• AO3: Limited explanation


  - Despite evidence suggesting that personality type would influence obedience, Milgram stated that situational factors (e.g. location, proximity and uniform) had more of an impact on obedience levels than dispositional factors, such as an Authoritarian personality

  - Additionally, dispositional factors cannot explain why a whole country (e.g. Germany in the 1930s and 40s) would obey authority as surely many of them would not have an Authoritarian personality.

  - This suggests that the Authoritarian Personality is not a complete explanation of obedience
• AO3: Political Bias


  - Another limitation is that the F-scale only measures the tendency towards an extreme form of right-wing ideology

  - This suggests that the F-scale is a politically-biased interpretation of the authoritarian personality

  - This means that Adorno's theory is not a complete explanation that accounts for obedience to authority across the whole political spectrum