Lesson 9- situational explanations of resistance to social influence

Question 1

Resistance to social influence

Answer 1

-pressure to conform and/or obey can exert powerful influences over peoples behaviour, however in studies people have managed to resist the pressure to conform or obey

Question 2

Social support theory

Answer 2

-situational explanation of resistance, 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
-people are more likely to not conform if they have an ally resisting social influence, ally refusing to conform breaks unanimity of the group and groups are more influential when unanimous
-when unanimity is broken people start to think that there are other equally legitimate ways of thinking or responding, presence of an ally gives independent assessment of reality and makes them feel more confident in their decision and better able to stand up to the majority
-more likely to defy an authority figure if they see a disobedient role model refusing to obey, when a person rejects the instructions of an authority figure it challenges that authority figures legitimate authority

Question 3

Evaluation (2 strengths 1 weakness)

Answer 3

-Milgram (1974) study, 65% shocked Wallace up to 450 volts, however when another confederate acting as disobedient role model refused to shock Wallace only 10% of participants delivered shocks up to 450 v
-Asch (1951) , in 33% of trials participants conformed to the group and gave the wrong answer however conformity dropped to 5% when one confederate acted as an ally to the participant and gave the right answer
-in both original versions of study some participants were able to resist social influences and refuse to conform/obey even though they had no social support, means that social support is not a complete explanation of resistance to social influence, other factors such as personality traits also play part in allowing people to refuse to conform/obey