Resistance to social influence Flashcards
What is resistance to social influence
Ability to withstand social pressure to conform/obey authority
This is influenced by both situational and dispositional factors
What are the 2 factors affecting resistance to social influence
Locus of control(dispositional) Social support(situational)
What is social support
Having an ally which helps build confidence and independence, reducing conformity and obedience
How does social support help decrease conformity
Asch’s unanimity variation shows that conformity decreases by 25% when you have an ally
This allows other to think that the majority may be wrong(provides confidence)
Individuals with support don’t fear rejection and therefore avoid NSI
How does social support help resist obedience
Disobedient allies act as role models and ease pressure from a person
Obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when there was a dissenting confederate in one of Milgram’s variations
What is locus of control
Personality explanation - Extent to which people have control of their life
Runs from strong external locus of control to strong internal locus of control
Characteristics of internal/external locus of control(LOC)
Internal LOC - Believe life is determined by their decisions/efforts
High internals actively seek info/less likely to rely on others and obey authority
External LOC - Believe life is determined by outside forces
High externals are more likely to be influenced/conform more/obey more and believe they don’t control of life
A03’s for resistance to social influence
Evidence to support LOC - Researcher replicated Milgram’s study and found that 37% of internals didn’t go up to 450v compared to 23% of externals (counter - unreliable as it is nowhere near 100%)
Evidence to refute resistance to social influence theory - Twenge et al’s meta analysis shows that people have become more resistant to obedience but more external
Evidence to support social support - Researcher conducted similar study to Asch’s unanimity variation and found that conformity decreased. Conformity decreased even when the ally said they had vision problems
Issues and debates for resistance to social influence
Nomothetic vs ideographic
Some people may still be able to resist social influence even as an external LOC and vice versa
