obedience:dispositional explanation

• why did adorno come up with the authoritarian personality

  wanted to understand the anti-semitism of holocaust
• what does dispositional explanation mean in A.P

  believed that high level of obedience was a psychological disorder and that causes of such a disorder lie in personality of individual
• what did adorno say abt ppl with a.p

  -show extreme respect for authority

  -view society as weaker than it once was so we need powerful leaders to enforce traditional values

  -show contempt of those of inferior social status, as they r uncomfortable with uncertainty so 'other ppl ' r responsible for ills of society
• what did adorno believe abt origins of a.p

  -a.p forms in childhood mostly as result of harsh parenting featuring high standards and severe criticism of failings

  -these experiences create hostility in child but child cannot express these feelings to parents so their fears are displaced onto others who r weaker
• explain adorno's research procedure

  -studied more than 2000 middle class white americans and their unconscious attitudes toward other racial groups

  -used f scale to measure a.p
• explain findings for adorno's research on a.p

  -those who scored high in f scale identified with strong ppl and were disrespectful to the weak

  -however showed extreme respect to those of higher status

  -found that authoritarian ppl had certain cognitive style where they had fixed and distinctive stereotypes abt other groups

  -found strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice