Obedience: Other factors that influence obedience. Social influence: Dispositional explanation for obedience: the authoritarian personality

Milgram believed that other features could explain obedience….. Participants were told that he shocks were painful but not harmful, felt that the damage was not long term. Participants volunteered to take part, sense of obligation, they were also paid. Never been part of a psychological experiment, unclear situation so they carried on. Momentum of compliance: when we begin something, we feel obliged to see it through to the end.

Personality? Adorno (1950) was interested in investigating why Nazi soldiers were so willing to persecute and kill members of minority groups, such as Jews during WW II; 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

Procedure Adorno et al. (1950) 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 F = Fascist… …someone who believes in a totalitarian state rule by a supreme leader (dictator) who controls everything possible and treats people harshly

Complete the ‘F scale’ sheet

Adorno’s Authoritarian Personality 1 One of the most important things that children should learn is obedience 2 All children need strict discipline 3 All children need respect for authority 4 Some professionals in society such as doctors are much more important than others such as artists 5 If you have a problem, it is best not to think of it but concentrate on other things 6 If people chatted less and worked more, then society would be a better place 7 Jail is too soft for people who commit crimes like murder or rape – they should be tortured or hanged 8 Society could be improved if we got rid of less able people such as the less intelligent ones, homosexuals and the disabled 9 Homosexuality is a crime and should be treated as such 10 If you are not taught manners at an early age, then you can hardly expect to mix with decent people later on in life

Findings 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

The authoritarian personality The identification of a particular personality type, the Authoritarian Personality, provided a possible explanation for why some people require very little pressure in order to obey Authoritarian Personality: a distinct personality pattern characterised by strict adherence to conventional values and a belief in absolute obedience or submission to authority

The characteristics of an authoritarian personality Associated behaviour Rigid beliefs in conventional values Very traditional ideas – dislike of change and disorder General hostility towards other groups Has a dominating and bullying manner Intolerant of ambiguity – anything that cannot be defined in clear cut way Cannot tolerate behaviour that is ‘wrong’ in any way Submissive attitudes towards authority figures Respectful to authority figures

Origin of the authoritarian personality Harsh upbringing; little love, much punishment Fear of parents Excessively respectful of authority figures Hatred of parents Hate and anger displaced onto others Based on Sigmund Freud’s idea that the adult personality is determined by childhood experiences

Complete picture that

Link to Milgram Milgram used the F-scale to understand whether the participants had an authoritarian personality. There were 40 participants tested using the F-scale. The 20 participants gained a higher F-scale scores that the 20 disobedient participants. He concluded that the level of obedience from different participants could have been caused by their personalities.