Lesson 10 and 11 - Resistance to Social Influence (social support and locus of control) Flashcards
What is the situational explanation for resistance to social influence ?
The social support theory.
What is the social support theory ?
Social support argues that when one person refuses to conform/obey, it makes it far more likely that other people will also resist social influence and refuse to conform/obey. This is because the ally not conforming breaks the unanimity of the group. The presence of an ally gives them an independent assessment of reality and makes them feel more confident on their decision.
What are the strengths of the social support theory ?
In Milgram’s study, 65% of the participants shocked Mr Wallace up to 450 volts. However when there was another confederate who acted as a disobedient role model and refused to shock Mr Wallace, only 10% of the participants delivered electric shocks up to 450 volts.
In Asch’s experiment with the length of lines, the conformity rate was 33%. When one of the confederates broke unanimity and gave an answer different to the rest, the conformity rates dropped to 5% because the participant had an ally.
What are the weaknesses of the social support theory ?
In both the studies listed in the strengths (Asch and Milgram), some of the participants were able to resist social influence and refused to conform/obey even though they had no social support. This means that social support is not a complete explanation of resistance to social influence.
What is the dispositional explanation of resistance to social influence ?
Locus of control
What is the locus of control ?
A person’s locus of control refers to the extent to which they believe they have control over their own behaviour. There are two types of locus of control. Internal and external.
What is internal locus of control ?
People with an internal locus of control believe that what occurs in their life is the result of their own actions and behaviour. They do not blame things on external factors. These people are less likely to conform.
What is an external locus of control ?
People with an external locus of control believe what happens in their lives is outside of their control. They believe what occurs in their life is determined by chance, luck or other people. These people are more likely to conform.
What are the strengths of locus of control ?
Oliner and Oliner interviewed 406 German people who had sheltered Jewish people from the Nazis. These people had an internal locus of control which allowed them to disobey the Nazis.
In Milgram’s study he asked the participants to deliver shocks to Mr Wallace. He gave 35% of the participants who disobeyed the orders a questionnaire to measure their locus of control. They found that the participants who had disobeyed were far more likely to have an internal locus of control than those who had obeyed.
What are the weaknesses of locus of control ?
William and Warchal found that conformers were less assertive than non conformers. But these two groups did not score too differently on a test to determine their locus of control. This suggests that assertiveness is more important than locus of control in determining whether or not a person will refuse to conform or obey.
