Personality traits and characteristics are how we can define our behavior to people and our environment on a daily basis. Studying individual's behavior and trying to link underlying personality characteristics to why we do things either beneficial or unfavorable is a continuing interest for psychologists. Adorno et al 1950 and Allum 2011 have both undertaken research studies that provide insight on personality types and the potential effects it may have to societies around much of the world. This essay will layout similarities and differences between these two studies concentrating on their methods and these personality types that influence individuals life choices Adorno et al 1950 research study was influenced by the events of World War 2 and the researcher's curiosity into what kind of a person could carry out such devastating acts. Measuring attitudes was the beginning of this study. Three sets of scales were designed after identifying attitudes towards Jews as well as ethnically different people and then presented to the white middle class. Americans from San Francisco as a questionnaire. This then led to the creation of another scale known as the F scale which measured the potential for fascism and in turn led to measuring personality characteristics that were fundamental to their study McAvoy 2012. These questionnaires were scored by researchers with a point system of 1 7 Participants who scored high were most likely to be showing signs of an authoritarian personality. This quantitative method allowed a large scale of over 2000 people to take part and provide quick and systematic data that guided them to Phase 2 of their study. Allum 2011 had three hypotheses to find support for in his research.
