Resistance To Social Influence

Question 1

Define social support

Answer 1

-When a person has an ally who refuses to obey or to conform it increases a person’s confidence to resist pressures of social influence and remain independent in their behaviour

Question 2

R2S - social support

Answer 2

P- comes from albrecht
E- evaluated an 8 week programme to help pregnant adolescents resist peer pressure to smoke. Social support was provided by a slightly older mentor or ‘buddy’
E- those who hd a buddy were significantly less likely to smoke than thode without.
L- suggests social support is a valid explanation and is a useful explanation as it can be used as a part of intervention in the real world

Question 3

R2S- resisting pressures to obey (social support)

Answer 3

P- comes from Milgram
E- in one of the variations, the real ppt was paired with 2 additional confeds (who also played the role of teachers). The two additional confeds refused to go on and withdrew from the experiment early.
E- in this variation the ppts who proceeded to the full 450v dropped to 10% (from 65% in the original).
L- supports social support because it shows that if the real ppt has support, they are more likely to resist obedience to the authority figure

Question 4

Define locus of control

Answer 4

• How much control a person believes they have over their behaviour
• Internal locus of control are more likely to resist social influence and
  remain independent as a person believes their behaviour is due to
  their own efforts and decisions
• External locus of control are less likely to resist Social influence and remain independent - As these individuals believe their behaviour is due to external factors such as the influence of other people, luck or fate

Question 5

R2S- LOC

Answer 5

P- conducted by milgram and elms
E- interviewed milgram’s original ppts and found that those who had an internal loc were significantly more likely to refuse to continue giving shocks, whereas those with an external loc were more likely to be within the 65% that gave the full 450V
L- therefore supporting loc because those with an internal loc were more likely to resist obedience and remain independent in their behaviour

Question 6

R2C- LOC

Answer 6

P- comes from twenge
E- analysed data from studies investigating loc over a 40 year period.
E- the data showed that over this time span, people became more resistant to social influence but also more external.
L- therefore if resistance was linked to loc, we would expect people to become more internal, suggesting that loc is not a valid explanation of resistance to si