Explanations of resistance to social influence Flashcards
what are the explanations for resistance to social influence?
social support
locus of control
what is social support?
when there are others in social situations who go against the norm it makes it easier for other individuals to resist social influence and disobey or not conform themselves
the presence of others who ‘dissent’ are a strong influence because they provide moral support for other who wish to disobey
the easiest way to resist conformity is to break the agreement of the majority. If everyone agrees the urge to conform is high. If they do not all agree, the impact of the group is greatly reduced.
what did Allen and Levine (1971) study?
social support
found that conformity was reduced on a task involving visual judgements if there was a dissenter (someone that did not conform) even if the dissenter was someone who wore thick glasses and admitted to having sight problems
what did Mullen (1990) study?
social support
found that participants who were paired with a disobedient model who broke the law by jaywalking were more likely to jaywalk themselves - even if the role model was not present.
why is timing important in social support?
timing is very important when influencing a group. The earlier an individual stands up and breaks away from conformity, the more chance they have of influencing others to go along with them and resist the majority view
what did Gamson et al (1982) study?
found higher levels of resistance in their study than Milgram’s, this was probably because they were in groups
they had to produce evidence to help an oil company run a smear campaign
88% rebelled showing peer support is linked to greater resistance
how did the Rosenstrasse protest demonstrate social support?
women in nazi germany demanded the gestapo to release their husbands and sons
the gestapo threatened to fire if they didn’t disperse, but eventually released the jewish men
what is the locus of control?
personality dimension described by Rotter in 1966 about the extent to which individuals see themselves as being in control of their own lives or not
what is an internal locus of control?
the belief things happen due to an individuals own choices and decisions
what is an external locus of control?
a belief that things happen because of luck, fate, or uncontrollable external factors
which LoC is most likely to resist social influence?
internal locus of control
what did Oliner and Oliner (1988) study? LoC
interviewed two groups of non-Jewish people who lived through the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.
They interviewed 406 people who had rescued and protected Jewish people from the Nazis and 126 who had not.
They found that the ‘rescuers’ were more likely to have an internal locus of control.
what did Holland (1967) study? LoC
repeated Milgram’s study and measured whether pps were internals or externals
37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock level (they showed independence)
Only 23% of externals did not continue
As internals showed greater resistance this support increases the validity of the LoC explanation and our confidence that it can explain resistance
what is a limitation of LoC?
the role of LoC may be exaggerated
Rotter et al (1982) found LoC is only important in new situations - it has little influence in familiar situations where previous experiences are always more important
This does suggests that locus of control can explain only a limited range of situations in which people might resist social influence.
This means that locus of control is not as important a factor in resistance as some have suggested.
