AO1

• Authoritarian Personality


  If you have this personality you are more likely to obey. This person has a tendency to be submissive to authority, shows contempt for inferiors, has conventional attitudes, is inflexible in their outlook, shows prejudice and stereotypes others. Caused by strict parenting – the child holds resentment but can’t direct it at parents so it is moved onto others who are seen as weak.
• Authoritarian personality focus on internal characteristics within humans that contribute to obedience. Adorno et al believed the foundations for an authoritarian personality were laid in early childhood because of harsh and strict parenting creating resentment within child: feelings are displaced onto weak and inferior people as a form of scapegoating. This personality type is correlated with prejudice and discrimination as well as obedience.
• Adorno et al conducted a study into 2000 middle class caucasian americans to find out their unconscious views towards other racial groups by developing a number of questionnaires: F-scale which measured fascist tendencies and those high on this scale were status-conscious, more obedient to authority figures and showed an extreme submissiveness and respect, and also believed society requires strong leadership to enforce rigid, traditional values hence their dispositional preference for obedient behaviour.
• Adorno et al came to believe that a high degree of authoritarianism was similar to suffering from a psychological disorder with the cause lying within the personality of individual (nature) but originally caused by treatment they recieved from parents at young age (nurture). This suggests obedience is determined by our socialisation experiences and not a result of free will.