psychology resistance to social influence Flashcards
what is resisting conformity
pressure to conform can be resisted if there are other people present who arent conforming
someone else is not conforming is social support- enabes naive pp to be free to follow their own conscience, confederate acts as model of independent behaviour
dissent gives rise to more dissent because it shows that the majority is no longer unanimous
what is resisting obedience
pressure to obey can be resisted t=if there is another person to disobey
rate of obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when genuine pp was joined by disobedient confederate
other persons disobedience acts as model of dissent for pps to copy and this frees him to act from his own conscience
disobedient model challenges the legitimacy of the authority figure making it easier for others to disobey
what is the locus of control
concept concerned with internal control vs external control
internal-believe that the things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves
external-believe the things that happen are outside their control
what is the loc continuum
not just either internal or external
loc is scale and individuals vary in their position on it
high internal one end and high external at the other
low internal and low external lie in between
what is the resistance to social influence
high internal loc-more able to resist pressures to conform or obey, tend to base their decisions on their own beliefs rather than depending on opinions of others, more self confident, achievement orientated and have higher intelligence, greater resistance from social influence
what is the real world research support for social support
research evidence for positive effects of social support
albrecht evaluated teen fresh start usa- eight week programme to help preg adolescents aged 14-19 resist peer pressure to smoke
social support provided slightly older mentor
adolescents who had mentor were less likely to smoke than control group of pps who didnt have buddy
social support can help young people resist social influence as part of an intervention in the real world
what is the research supoprt for dissenting peers social support evaluation
support role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience
gamson-pps told to produce evidence used to help oil company run smear campaign, researchers found higher levels of resistance in study than milgram, because pps grouped so could discuss what they were told to do, 29/33 pps rebelled against orders
peer support can lead to disobedience by undermining legitimaxy of authority figure
what is research support for loc
research evience to support link between loc and resistance to obedience
holland repeated milgrams baseline study and measured whether pps were internals or externals
37% internals didnt continue to highest shock level and 23% of externals didnt ocntine, internals showed greater resistance to authority
resistance is least partly related to loc which increases validity of loc as explanation of disobedience
what is contradictory research for loc
evidence challenges link between loc and resistance
twenge analysed data from american locus of control studies conducted over 40yr period, data showed that over time span people became more resistant to obedience but more external, if resistance linked to internal locus of control we would expect people to have become more internal
locus of control isnt valid explanation of how people resist social influence
