1.7 Dispositional Explanation

1.7 Dispositional Explanation

1. The authoritarian personality

   • Theodor Adorno wanted to understand the Anti-Semitism of the holocaust. They were led to believe that obedience was part of a psychological disorder.
   • Argued that people with an Authoritarian Personality show an extreme respect and submissiveness to authority figures. Such people view society as 'weaker' than it once was and believe in enforcing traditional values
     • People with AP also show contempt for those of inferior social status, fuelled by their inflexible outlook on the world. Viewing people who are 'other' as ills of the world.
   • Origins
     • Authoritarian Personality type forms in childhood, usually a result of harsh parenting, featuring extremely strict discipline, an expectation of absolute loyalty, and impossibly high standards.
       • Fears and resentment towards parent is displaced onto others who they perceive to be weaker.

2. Adorno et al (1950)

   • Procedure
     • Studied more than 2000 middle class white American children and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups.
       • Developed several measurement scales including the F-Scale, or the fascism scale.
   • Findings
     • People with authoritarian leanings, scoring higher on the F-scale identified with 'strong' people and were generally contemptuous of the weak.
       • Very conscious of status and showed obedience, respect and deference to those of higher status.
     • People with AP had a certain cognitive style, with no fuzziness between categories of people and distinctive stereotypes.
     • Strong correlation between AP and prejudice.

3. Evaluation

   • Strengths
     • Research Support
       • Elms and Milgram (1966) interviews a small sample of people who participated in original obedience studies, all completing the F scale. Found that 20 obedient participants scored higher than 20 disobedient participants.
   • Weaknesses
     • Limited explanation
       • In pre-war Germany, millions of individuals displayed obedient, racist and anti-semitic behaviour, despite having different personality types. An alternative approach would be the social identity theory.
     • Political bias
       • Only measures tendency towards extreme right wing ideology.
         • Christie and Jahoda (1954) argued that the F scale is a politically biased interpretation. Both left wing and extreme right wing share common ideologies. Therefore is not a comprehensive dispositional explanation.