Resistance to Social Influence Flashcards
What is resistance to social influence?
Ability of people to withstand social pressure to conform with majority or to obey authority. Influenced by both situational and dispositional factors.
What is social support?
Presence of people who resist pressures to conform/ obey that can help others to do the same. Can show resistance to social influence is possible.
What can help people resist conformity?
Social support.
How does social support affect Asch’s study?
Reduced it to a quarter of its previous level- enables a person to speak freely and follow their own conscience. However when the confederate started conforming again, so did the participant. Shows effect of dissent is not long lasting.
How can people resist obedience?
Social support.
How does social support help people to resist obedience?
Pressure can be reduced if they see someone else disobey.
How does social support change the percentages in Milgram’s study?
When a genuine participant is joined by a disobedient confederate, the rate of obedience dropped from 65% to 10%. The person may not follow them but they have a model to copy that frees them to act from their own conscience.
Who proposed the concept of locus of control?
Julian Rotter.
What is a locus of control?
The sense we each have about what directs events in our lives.
What does a person with an internal locus of control believe?
Things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves.
What does a person with an external locus of control believe?
Things happen without their own control.
Is there a continuum of locus of control?
Yes, people differ in the way they explain their successes/ failures but is isn’t simply a matter of being internal or external. Continuum with high external at one end and high internal at the other end, with low internal and low external lying in-between.
Are people with an internal or external locus of self control more likely to be able to resist social influence?
Internal- if a person takes responsibility for their own actions and experiences then thy are more likely to base their decisions on their own beliefs and thus resist pressures from others.
Another explanation for the link between internal locus of control and greater resistance? (Not responsibility for actions/ experiences)
People with high internal locus of control tend to be more self confident, more achievement orientated, have higher intelligence and have less need for social approval. These personality traits lead to greater resistance against social influence.
Evaluation of social support- Resistance to conformity.
Research evidence supports. Allen and Levine found conformity decreased when there was a dissenter in an Asch-type study. This still occurred when the dissenter wore thick glasses and said he had difficulty with vision. Supports idea that they are not motivated by following what some else says but they are free of pressure form group.
