LS10 - Social Support Flashcards
Resistance To Social Influence
In all research, many people conform but some individuals resist the pressure put on them and retained their independence, e.g. 24% didn’t conform in Asch (1951)
Factors Leading To Resisting Pressure/Conformity
Social Support
Internal Locus Of Control
Social Support
Someone that supports an individuals point of view, building confidence and allowing them to no longer fear being ridiculed, reducing the power of NSI. Asch reported that if the dissenter returns to conform, so does the particpant, implying it’s only temporary.
Social Support (Conformity)
The pressure to conform will reduce if there are others that don’t. In Asch’s variations, conformity dropped to 5.5% when the dissenter was correct and 9% when the dissenter was incorrect.
Research Support (Conformity)
Allen & Levine (1971) found that conformity decreased when there was one dissenter in an Asch-type study, showing how once person in a group whose view goes against the majority can lead an individual to resist conforming showing how social support is truly powerful.
Social Support (Obedience)
One disobedient confederate dropped conformity rates from 65% to 10%, the person may not always follow the disobedient person’s behaviour but does have a will to follow or not follow based on his/her conscience.
Research Support (Obedience)
Gamson, Fireman & Rytina (1982), encouraged pps to rebel against unjust authority. They asked for US volunteers to take part in a paid group discussion on ‘standards of behaviour in the community’. Participants were in groups of 9 and met a consultant from a fake HR company, who explained they were conducting research for an oil company taking legal action against a petrol station manager, who’d been sacked because he was offensive to the community. Pps had a group discussion about the sacking and it became clear their own views were irrelevant, and at a number of points the cameraman stopped filming to instruct different members to argue in favour of the oil company, finally the pps were asked to sign a consent form for it to be used in court, which 25/33 groups refused to sign although 32/33 rebelled at some point in the group discussion.
Social Support Strengths
Research Support
It Can Be Applied To Real Life (Ecological Validity).
Research Support (+)
Asch concluded that one dissenter reduced conformity to 5.5% and Milgram concluded that 10% obeyed after a disobedient confederate refused to give the shocks.
It Can Be Applied To Real Life (Ecological Validity) (+)
Gamson’s study had high ecological validity as the pps were unaware they were participating in a psychological study so never showed demand characteristics and the task would be done irl e.g. those discussions.
Social Support Weaknesses
Doesn’t Work For High Group Sizes.
Doesn’t Work For High Group Sizes (-)
In the real world group sizes are massive and having one dissenter in a big group will not have any influence on the majority, showing social support studies are limited to small group sizes and don’t represent real life group sizes, in order to investigate this more research would have to be done on larger group sizes.
