Obedience - Dispositional Explanations PDF

Obedience: Dispositional explanation **Key terms:** **Dispositional explanation:** Any explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individual\'s personality (i.e. their disposition). Such explanations are often contrasted with situational explanations. **Authoritarian Personal...

Obedience: Dispositional explanation **Key terms:** **Dispositional explanation:** Any explanation of behaviour that highlights the importance of the individual\'s personality (i.e. their disposition). Such explanations are often contrasted with situational explanations. **Authoritarian Personality (AP):** A type of personality that Adorno argued was especially susceptible to obeying people in authority. Such individuals are also thought to be submissive to those of higher status and dismissive of inferiors. **The Authoritarian Personality:** Like Milgram, Adorno and his colleagues wanted to understand the anti-Semitism of the Holocaust. Their research led them to draw very different conclusions from Milgram\'s. They believed that a high level of obedience was basically a psychological disorder (e. pathological). They believed that the causes of such a disorder lie in the personality of the individual rather than in the situation, i.e., it is a dispositional explanation. Authoritarian Personality and obedience. Adorno et al, argued that people with an Authoritarian Personality (AP) first of all show an extreme respect for (and submissiveness to) authority. Second, such people view society as \'weaker\' than it once was, so believe we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values such as love of country and family. Both of these characteristics make people with an Authoritarian Personality more likely to obey orders from a source of authority. People with Authoritarian Personalities also show contempt for those of inferior social status. This is fuelled by their inflexible outlook on the world - for them there are no \'grey areas: Everything is either right or wrong and they are very uncomfortable with uncertainty. Therefore, people who are other (e.g., belong to a different ethnic group) are responsible for the ills of society. Other people are a convenient target for authoritarians who are likely to obey orders from authority figures even when such orders are destructive (as in Nazi Germany). **Origins of the Authoritarian Personality:** Adorno et al believed the Authoritarian Personality type forms in childhood, mostly as a result of harsh parenting. This parenting style typically features extremely strict discipline, an expectation of absolute loyalty, impossibly high standards and severe criticism of perceived failings. Parents give conditional love \-- that is, their love and affection for their child depends entirely on how he or she behaves (I will love you if\...). Adorno et al. argued that these childhood experiences create resentment and hostility in a child. But the child cannot express these feelings directly against their parents because they fear punishment. So, their fears are displaced onto others who they perceive to be weaker, in a process known as scapegoating. This explains the hatred towards people considered to be socially inferior or who belong to other social groups, a central feature of obedience to a higher authority. This is a psychodynamic explanation Consistently harsh and critical parenting can lead to the development of an Authoritarian Personality when the child becomes an adult. **Adorno et al.\'s research:** Adorno et al. (1950) based their theory on research data. Procedure Adorno et al (1950) studied more than 2000 middle-class, white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other ethnic groups. The researchers developed several measurement scales, including the potential-for-fascism scale (F-scale). This scale is still used to measure Authoritarian Personality. Two examples of items from the F-scale are: Obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues for children to learn, and \"There is hardly anything lower than a person who does not feel great love, gratitude and respect for his parents: Other examples are given on the facing page. Findings People with authoritarian leanings (i.e. those who scored high on the F-scale and other measures) identified with strong people and were generally contemptuous of the \'weak. They were very conscious of status (their own and others) and showed extreme respect, deference and servility to those of higher status-these traits are the basis of obedience. Adorno et al. also found that authoritarian people had a certain cognitive style (way of perceiving others) in which there was no fuzziness\' between categories of people (i.e., \"black and white\' thinking). They had fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups. Adorno et al. found a strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice. **Evaluation:** - **Research support** One strength is evidence from Milgram supporting the Authoritarian Personality. Milgram, together with Alan Elms (Elms and Milgram 1966), interviewed a small sample of people who had participated in the original obedience studies and been fully obedient. They all completed the F-scale (and other measures) as part of the interview. These 20 obedient participants scored significantly higher on the overall F-scale than a comparison group of 20 disobedient participants. The two groups were clearly quite different in terms of authoritarianism. This finding supports Adorno et al\'s view that obedient people may well show similar characteristics to people who have an Authoritarian Personality. Counterpoint However, when the researchers analysed the individual subscales of the F-scale, they found that the obedient participants had a number of characteristics that were unusual for authoritarians. For example, unlike authoritarians, Milgram\'s obedient participants generally did not glorify their fathers, did not experience unusual levels of punishment in childhood and did not have particularly hostile attitudes towards their mothers. This means that the link between obedience and authoritarianism is complex. The obedient participants were unlike authoritarians in so many ways that authoritarianism is unlikely to be a useful predictor of obedience. - **Limited explanation** One limitation is that authoritarianism cannot explain obedient behaviour in the majority of a country\'s population. For example, in pre-war Germany, millions of individuals displayed obedient and anti-Semitic behaviour. This was despite the fact that they must have differed in their personalities in all sorts of ways. It seems extremely unlikely that they could all possess an Authoritarian Personality. An alternative view is that the majority of the German people identified with the anti-Semitic Nazi state, and scapegoated the outgroup of Jews, a social identity theory approach. Therefore, Adorno\'s theory is limited because an alternative explanation is much more realistic. - **Political bias** Another limitation is that the F-scale only measures the tendency towards an extreme form of right-wing ideology. Christie and Jahoda (1954) argued that the F-scale is a politically-biased interpretation of Authoritarian Personality. They point out the reality of left-wing authoritarianism in the shape of Russian Bolshevism or Chinese Maoism. In fact, extreme right-wing and left-wing ideologies have a lot in common. For example, they both emphasise the importance of complete obedience to political authority. This means Adorno\'s theory is not a comprehensive dispositional explanation that accounts for obedience to authority across the whole political spectrum. - **Evaluation eXtra - Flawed evidence** On the positive side, research with the F-scale has provided the basis of an explanation of obedience based on Authoritarian Personality. On the other hand, Fred Greenstein (1969) calls the F-scale a comedy of methodological errors because it is a seriously flawed scale. For instance, it is possible to get a high score just by selecting agree\' answers. This means that anyone with this response bias is assessed as having an Authoritarian Personality Consider: On balance, how useful is the F-scale in helping us understand obedience? \- \*\*Dispositional Explanation\*\*: Focuses on individual personality traits as key to understanding behaviour, contrasted with situational explanations. \- \*\*Authoritarian Personality (AP)\*\*: Described by Adorno as individuals more likely to obey authority, showing submissiveness towards higher-status individuals while dismissing those of lower status. \- \*\*Research Aim\*\*: Adorno sought to understand the anti-Semitism during the Holocaust, proposing that high obedience levels stem from psychological disorders, rather than external situational factors. \- \*\*Characteristics of AP\*\*: \- Extreme respect for authority and belief in strong leadership to maintain traditional values. \- Contempt for those perceived as socially inferior, viewing the world in black-and-white terms. \- Susceptible to viewing different ethnic groups as societal scapegoats, leading to destructive obedience to authority figures (e.g., during Nazi Germany). \- The Authoritarian Personality is shaped in childhood, primarily through harsh parenting styles. \- Such parenting often includes strict discipline, unconditional loyalty, high standards, and critical feedback for failures. \- Children experiencing this form of parenting may develop resentment and hostility but cannot express it directly due to fear of punishment. \- This resentment is redirected towards perceived weaker individuals, leading to scapegoating behaviour. \- Hatred of socially inferior groups is a key aspect of obedience to higher authority. \- The enduring effects of a critical parenting approach can result in the emergence of an Authoritarian Personality in adulthood.