Chapter 1.6 - Resistance to social influence

Question 1

What are the two factors that influence the resistance to social influence?

Answer 1

1. Social support
2. Locus of control

Question 2

What is social support?

Answer 2

The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same. These people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence

Question 3

How was social support incorporated into Asch’s research? (conformity)

Answer 3

It was incorporated when a confederate was placed who didn’t conform with the majority, providing social support
- Their dissent showed that the majority was no longer unanimous

Question 4

How was social support incorporated into Milgram’s research? (obedience)

Answer 4

It was incorporated when the genuine participant was joined by a disobedient confederate, they challenge the legitimacy of the authority figure, making it easier for others to disobey
- Obedience dropped from 65% to 10%

Question 5

What is locus of control?

Answer 5

Refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives

Question 6

What are the two types locus of control?

Answer 6

Internal and external

Question 7

What is meant by an internal locus of control?

Answer 7

The belief that things happen as a result of our choices and decisions

Question 8

What is meant by an external locus of control?

Answer 8

The belief that things happen because of luck, fate or other external forces beyond the control of the individual

Question 9

What does it mean when LOC is a continuum?

Answer 9

People are not just either internal or external, it’s a scale and low internal and low external lie in-between

Question 10

Why are people with a high LOC able to resist pressures to conform or obey? (responsibility)

Answer 10

They base their decisions on their own beliefs rather than depending on the opinions of others

Question 11

Why are people with a high LOC able to resist pressures to conform or obey? (self-confidence)

Answer 11

They tend to be more self-confident, more achievement-oriented and have higher intelligence. These traits lead to greater resistance to social influence, the characteristics of leaders mean that they have much less need for social approval than followers

Question 12

What is a strength of social support? (real-world research support)

Answer 12

There is research support for the positive effects of social support
- Social support can help young people resist social influence as part of an intervention in the real world

Question 13

What is a strength of social support? (dissenting peers)

Answer 13

There is research evidence to support the role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience
- Shows that peer support can lead to disobedience by undermining the legitimacy of an authority figure

Question 14

What is a limitation of social support? (not always helpful)

Answer 14

Another Asch study had the dissenter to be someone with poor eyesight, thick glasses, and resistance was only 36% compared to the 61% who refused to conform when the dissenter had good eyesight

Question 15

What is a strength of locus of control? (research support)

Answer 15

There is research evidence to support the link between LOC and resistance to obedience
- 37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock level, showed greater resistance
- 23% of externals did not continue
This shows that resistance is partly related to LOC, increasing the validity of LOC as an explanation of disobedience

Question 16

What is a limitation of LOC? (contradictory research)

Answer 16

There is evidence that challenges the link between LOC and resistance
- Over a 40 year period, data showed that people became more resistant to obedience but also more external
- If resistance was linked to having an internal LOC, people would have became more internal
Suggests that locus of control is not a valid explanation of how people resist social influence

Question 17

What is a limitation of LOC? (limited role)

Answer 17

A person’s locus of control significantly affects their behaviour only in new situations
- If you had conformed or obeyed in a specific situation in the past, you are likely to do so again regardless of your locus of control
Not the most important factor explaining resistance to social influence