resistance to social influence Flashcards
resisting conformity
pressure to conform can be resisted if there are other people present who are not conforming
Aschs research - confederate who is not conforming may not be giving the right answer
simply the fact that someone else is not following the majority is social support
enables people to be free to follow their own conscience
confederate acts as a model of independent behaviour
dissent gives rise to more dissent because it shows that the majority is no longer unanimous
resisting obedience
pressure to obey can be resisted if there is another person seen to disobey
Milgram - in one of the variations obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when the participant was joined by a disobedient confederate
participant may not follow the disobedient persons behaviour but the other persons disobedience acts as a model for the participant to copy and his frees them to act from his own conscious
the disobedient model challenges the legitimacy of authority figure making it easier for others to disobey
what is locus of control
Rotter proposed locus of control as a concept concerned with internal control versus external control
some people have an internal locus of control - believe that the things that happened to them are largely controlled by themselves
some people have an external locus of control - believe things that happen are outside of their control
the loc continuum
people aren’t either just internal or external
loc is a scale and individuals vary in the position their on it
resistance to social influence
people with high internal LOC are more able to resist pressures to conform or obey
people with a high internal loc tend to be more self confident more achievement orientated and have higher intelligence
trait led to greater resistance to social influence
strength of social support theory
real world research support
research evidence for the positive effects of social support
Albrecht et al evaluated Teen Fresh start usa an eight week programme to help pregnant adolescents aged 14-19 resist peer pressure to smoke
social support was provided by a slightly older mentor buddy
at the end of the programme adolescents who had a buddy were significantly less likely to smoke than the control group who didn’t have a buddy
shows that social support can help young people resist social influence as part of the real world
strenght of social support theory
research support for dissenting peers
evidence to support the role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience
Gamsons et als participants were told to produce evidence that would be used to help an oil company ruin a smear campaign
researchers found higher levels of resistance in their study than milgram did in his
29 out of 33 groups of participants (88%) rebelled against their orders
shows that peer support can lead to disobedience by undermining the legitimacy of an authority figure
strength of locus of control theory
research support
research evidence to support the link between LOC and resistance to obedience
Holland repeated Milgrams baseline study and measured whether participants were internals or externals
37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock level - showed some resistance
23% of externals did not continue
internals showed greater resistance to authority in a milgrams type situation
shows that resistance is at least partly related to LOC increases the validity of LOC as an explanation of obedience
limitation of locus of control
contradictory research
evidence that challenges the link between LOC and resistance
Twenge et al analysed data from american locus of control studies conducted over a 40 year period
data showed that over this time span people became more resistant to obedience but also more external
surprising outcome
if resistance is linked to an internal locus of control we would expect people to have become more internal
suggests that locus of control is not valid explanation of how people resist social influence
