Obedience:Dispositional explanations -A-Level Psychology

Dispositional explanation- any explanation of behaviour that considers the importance of the individual’s personality rather than situational influences in the environment

The authoritarian personality:

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

One of the various characteristics of the authoritarian personality was that the individual is hostile to those who are of inferior status, but obedient of people with high status.

The F scale-was used by Adorno et al (1950) to measure the different components that made up the authoritarian personality.It contained statements and agreeing with such items demonstrated an authoritarian personality.Individuals with this type of personality saw the world as black and white and followed strict adherence to social rules and hierarchies.Adorno et al (1950) found that those who scored high on the F scale were raised by parents who used an authoritarian parenting style.

Key study:Elms and Milgram(1966)

One of the major debates concerning Milgram’s study of obedience was whether participants’ behaviour was due to the specific situational conditions or whether it was dispositional(the result of a particular personality pattern).

Procedure:

The researchers carried out a follow up study of Milgram’s experiment using participants who had previously participated in Migram’s experiment 2 months before.They selected 20 obedient participants (who had continued to the final shock level)and 20 defiant participants (who had refused to continue the experiment at one point).

They completed a MMPI scale and the F scale.They were asked open questions about their upbringing and their attitudes to the experimenter and learner during their participation in Milgram’s study.

Findings:

There was little difference between obedient and defiant participants on MMPI variables.Those who were classified as obedient had higher levels of authoritarianism than those classified as defiant.Obedient participants saw the authority figure in Milgram’s study as more admirable than the learner.This was not the case with defiant participants.These findings were consistent with the idea of the authoritarian personality.

Evaluation:

There may be better explanations – Prejudice and submissiveness could just as easily be caused by a poor standard of education as a child – Theory lacks internal validity as it assumes obedience is caused by dispositional explanations when it may be situational variables.

Adorno used a biased sample – Only used 2000 middle class white Americans who are more likely to have an Authoritarian personality due to demographics and the time of the study – Research lacks population validity and historical validity, so conclusions cannot be generalised to people outside the sample.

Adorno found many significant correlations (e.g. Authoritarianism correlated with prejudice against minority groups) but we cannot say that one variable causes another – Adorno cannot claim that a harsh parenting style caused a development of an Authoritarian personality, we must consider other explanations like legitimacy of authority.