Resistance to Social Influence

Question 1

Social Support- resisting conformity

Answer 1

• pressure to conform can be resisted if there are other people present who are not conforming
• it enables the naive participant to be free to follow their own conscience
• the confederate acts as a model of independent behaviour- their dissent gives rise to more dissent because it shows that the majority is no longer unanimous

Question 2

Social support- resisting obedience

Answer 2

• the pressure to obey can be resisted if there is another person who is seen to disobey
• disobedient moel challenges the legitimacy of authority fugure, making it easier for others to disobey

Question 3

Locus of Control

Answer 3

• Julian Rotter- refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives
• internal locus of control believes they are mostly responsible for what happens to them
• external locus of control believe its mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces

Question 4

The LOC Continuum

Answer 4

• people are not just internal or external
• LOC is a scale and individuals vary in their position on it
• So high internal LOC is at one end of the continuum and high external is at the other

Question 5

LOC and resistance to social influence

Answer 5

• people with a high internal LOC are more able to resist pressures to conform or obey- a person takes person resonsibility therefore makes decisions based on their own beliefs and opinions rather than relying on those of others
• people with high internal LOC also tend to be more self confident, more achievement orientated and of a higher intelligence- these traits lead to greater resistance to social influence

Question 6

real world research support on social support

strength

Answer 6

• research evidence for the positive effects of social support
• Teen Fresh Start USA- help pregnant teens resist pressure to smoke- social support provided by an older buddy
• those who had a buddy were significantly less likely to smoke than those without a buddy
• shows social support can help young people resist social influence as part of an intervention in the real world

Question 7

research support between LOC and resistance to obedience

strength

Answer 7

• Holland repeated Milgrams baseline study and measured whether participants were internals or externals
• 37% of internals didn’t continue to 450V whereas 23% of externals did not- internals showed greater resistance to obedience
• shows that resistance is at least partly related to which increases validity of LOC as an explanation of disobedience

Question 8

Contradictory research between LOC and resistance

limitation

Answer 8

• Twenge analysed data from American LOC studies from a 40 year period
• data showed that over this time span people became more resistant to obedience but also more external- we would expect people to become more internal
• suggests LOC is not a valid explanation of how people resist social influence