Resistance To Social Influence

Question 1

What is resistance to social influence?

Answer 1

It refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressure
to conform to the majority
or to obey authority.

Question 2

What is social support?

Answer 2

The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same.

Question 3

What is locus of control?

Answer 3

It refers to the what extent we believe we have control over our lives -

Internals believe they are mostly responsible for what happens to them (internal locus of control).

Externals believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces (external locus of control).

Question 4

Factors that affect our resistance:

Answer 4

Social support
Locus is control

Question 5

How can social support help to resist conformity?

Answer 5

Social support can help people to resist conformity - the pressure to conform can be reduced if there are other people present who are not conforming.

provide moral and social support, even if they are not giving the right answer. It is simply the fact that someone else is not following the majority that seems to enable a person to be ‘free’ to give the correct answer.

Question 6

EVALUATION

How does research evidence support the role of social support in resisting conformity?

Answer 6

Research, using Asch type studies
have found that conformity decreased when there was one dissenter.
More importantly this occurred even if the dissenter wore thick glasses and said he had difficulty with his vision (so he was clearly in no position to judge the length of the lines given that this was a rest of visual discrimination).

This therefore supports the view that resistance isn’t just motivated by whether someone else has the right answer or even skilled in a particular situation.

Question 7

How can social support help to resist obedience?

Answer 7

The pressure to obey can be reduced if there is another person who is also seen to disobey.

Disobedient peers therefore act as role models on which the individuals can model their own behaviour.

Question 8

EVALUTATION
how social support can lead resisting Obedience.

Answer 8

Milgram Variation
1 real teacher with 2 confederates teachers
Confederates refused to shock the learner.
The rate of obedience dropped to
65% - 10%. (450V)

This shows that social support can be a factor that leads to resistance to obedience.

Question 9

What does the term locus of control refer to?

Answer 9

A person’s perception of personal control over their own behaviour and lives.

Question 10

How is locus of control measured?

Answer 10

It is measured along a continuum with high internal locus of control at one end high external locus of control at the other

Question 11

Locus of control identified as a personality dimension by who?

Answer 11

ROTTER

Question 12

What is a high internal locus of control?
1
2
3

Answer 12

It is associated with the belief that we can control events in our lives.
believe that what happens to them is largely a consequence of their own ability and effort
so they believe they can affect the outcomes of situations.

Question 13

What is a high external locus of control?
1
2
3

Answer 13

Out of their controls
believe that what happens to them is determined by uncontrollable external factors such as the influence of others, luck or fate
so they believe that things turn out a certain way regardless of their actions.

Question 14

People who have an internal locus of control are more likely to be able to resist pressures to conform or obey, why?
1
2
3
4
5
Therefore

Externals

Answer 14

Believe they are in control over their life

More of a leader -
more likely to display independent behaviour and therefore less likely to accept the influence of others.

Most like take personal responsibility for their actions

They are more likely to base their decisions on their own beliefs,
rely less on the opinion of others
and are more self-confident
so therefore resist pressures from others to conform or obey.

People who have a high external LOC less personal responsibility for their actions, are less likely to display independent behaviour and therefore more likely to accept the influence of others.

Question 15

Q
EVALUATION

How does research evidence support the link between LOC and resistance to obedience?

Answer 15

Milgram’s study and measured whether participants were internals or externals.

37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock level - (they showed some resistance)
whereas only 23% of externals did not continue.

In other words, internals showed greater resistance to authority.

Therefore this increases the validity of the LOC explanation and the link to explaining resistance.

Question 16

How does research evidence also support the link between LOC and resistance to conformity?

Answer 16

undergraduates to peers who expressed either conservative or liberal views to drug taking.

He found that undergraduates with an internal LOC conformed less to the pro-drug attitudes therefore supporting the idea that having an internal locus of control increases resistance to conformity.

Question 17

Evaluation on LOC
Limitation:

Answer 17

Some believe that the role of LOC in resisting social influence may be exaggerated and that in reality it has very little influence over our behaviour in familiar situations as our previous experience will be more important - so people who have conformed or obeyed in the past are likely to do so again in the same situation, even if they have a high internal LOC.