resistance to social influence

Question 1

name resistance to social influence explanations

Answer 1

• social support
• locus of control

Question 2

describe social support

Answer 2

• pressure to conform can be resisted if there is other non-conforming individuals present, as enables naive participant to follow their own conscience
• confederate acts as ‘model’ of independent behaviour, where their dissent allows more dissent as it demonstrates majority is no longer ambiguous

Question 3

example of social support regarding resisting conformity

Answer 3

asch:
- conformity decreased to 5.5% if non-conforming confederate present
- social support breaks unanimous position of majority

Question 4

example of social support regarding resisting obedience

Answer 4

milgram
- obedience decreased from 65% to 10% when real participant joined by disobedient confederate
- people are more confident to resist obedience if joined by an ally

Question 5

AO3 social support
+) real-world research evidence

Answer 5

E:
- albrecht et. al (2006) evaluated ‘teen fresh start usa’
- 8 week programme to help pregnant adolescents aged 14-19 resist the peer pressure to smoke
- social support provided by older mentor/’buddy’
- at the end of the programme, those who had a mentor were significantly less likely to smoke than a control group of participants without a mentor

T: shows social support has practical value as it can help young people resist social influence as part of an intervention in the real-world

Question 6

definition for locus of control

Answer 6

• some people have an internal locus of control (LOC) where they believe the things that happen to them are predominantly controlled by themselves
• those with an external LOC believe the things that happen to them are outside of their control

Question 7

who first proposed locus of control

Answer 7

rotter (1966)

Question 8

characteristics/beliefs of someone with internal locus of control

Answer 8

• high level of personal control over life/behaviour
• take personal responsibility
• less likely to rely on others
• achievement orientated

= likely able to resist pressures to conform/obey (greater resistance to social influence)

Question 9

characteristics/beliefs of someone with external locus of control

Answer 9

• more likely to be influenced by others
• do not believe they exercise personal control over life

Question 10

what is an individuals locus of control determined by

Answer 10

a continuum –> some do not always sit at either external or internal

Question 11

AO3 locus of control
+) research support for link between LOC and resistance to obedience
-) contradictory research challenging link between LOC & resistance

Answer 11

+)
E:
- holland (1967) repeated milgram’s baseline study & measured whether participants were internals/externals
- found 37% of internals did not continue to highest shock whereas only 23% of externals didn’t continue
- internals showed greater resistance
T: resistance is at least partly related to LOC, which increases it’s validity as an explanation for disobedience

-)
E:
- twenge et. al (2004) analysed data from american LOC studies conducted over 40-year period (1960-2002)
- data showed people became more resistant to obedience but also more external
- if resistance linked to internal LOC, we would have expected people to become more internal
T: suggests LOC is not a valid explanation for why/how people resist social influence