Resistance To Social Influence Flashcards
State two reasons why someone might resist social influence
- Social support
- Internal locus of control
Outline what is meant by social support
The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same
Define internal locus of control
The belief that we are responsible for what happens in our lives
Define external locus of control
The belief that what happens in our lives is caused by events outside of our control
Describe how Asch showed evidence for social support increasing resistance to conformity
The presence of a dissenting confederate decreased conformity from 33% to 5.5%
Describe how Milgram showed evidence for social support increasing resistance to conformity
Seeing a confederate disobey orders reduced obedience from 65% to 10%
Explain how locus of control is linked to resistance to social influence
People who have a high internal locus of control are more likely to be able to resist social pressure
State two traits that a person with high internal locus of control has that helps them to resist social influence
- more self confident- don’t seek/need approval from group
- information seekers- rely less on opinion of others
Describe the resistance to social support research conducted by Allen and Levine (1971)
- in Asch-type task, when the dissenter was someone with apparently good eyesight, 64% of participants resisted conformity and when there was no social support only 3% resisted
- however, when the dissenter had visibly poor eyesight (wearing thick glasses) the resistance was only 36%
Explain why Allen and Levine (1971) suggested that social support will only help with resistance if a source is deemed credible
Resistance almost halved when the dissenter displayed visible challenges in their ability to complete the tasks which suggests that social support will only help with resistance if the source seems credible/reliable
