Dispositional Explanations

Question 1

What did Adorno study in regards to Adolf Eichmann?

Answer 1

• Adorno was interested in investigating why Nazi soldiers were so willing to persecute and kill members of minority groups, such as Jews during WWII; could it be blamed on a personality trait?
• He claimed a particular personality type is more likely to obey an authority.
• A high level of obedience is basically a psychological disorder.

Question 2

What is the procedure on Adorno et als study into an authoritarian personality?

Answer 2

• Adorno et al investigated the causes of an obedient personality in a study of more than 2000 middle-class, white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups.
• They developed an ‘F’ scale to measure the relationship between a person’s personality type and prejudiced beliefs.

Question 3

What are the findings of Adornos study?

Answer 3

• Those who had scored highly on the ‘F’ scale identified with ‘strong’ people and were generally contemptuous of the ‘weak’.
• They were very conscious of their own and others’ status.
• High scorers had a particular cognitive style:
  —> there were no ‘grey areas’ between categories of people
  —> they had fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups
  —> there was a strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice

Question 4

According to Adornos findings, what is the definition of an authoritarian personality?

Answer 4

• A distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority.

Question 5

What are some characteristics of an authoritarian personality?

Answer 5

• Rigid beliefs in conventional values
• Traditional ideas —> dislike of change and disorder
• Dominating and bullying manner
• Cannot tolerate bad behaviour
• Respectful and submissive to authority

Question 6

What is the AO3 evaluation to an authoritarian personality?

Answer 6

Strengths:
- Milgram and his assistant Alan Elms conducted a follow-up study using pps who had taken part in Milgram’s original study. They found that those who were fully obedient and went all the way to 450 volts scored higher on tests of authoritarianism and lower on scales of social responsibility than those who defied the experimenter.