Resistance to Social Influence Flashcards
What does resistance to social influence mean?
Refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to a majority or obey authority
This ability to resist is influenced by both situational and dispositional factors
What is social support?
The presence of people who resist pressure to conform or obey can help others do the same
These people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible
What is locus of control?
Refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives
How can the pressure to conform be resisted if there are others not conforming?
Asch (1951)
The presence of a dissenter allowed the naive participant to be free to follow their own consciente
The non conformist confederate acts as a ‘model’ of independent behaviour
The dissent gives rise for more resistance because it shows that the majority is no longer unanimous
How can the pressure to obey be resisted if there’s another person seen to disobey?
Rate of obedience decreased from 65% to 10% when the naive participant was joined by a dissenter
They may act as an agent for the naive participant and frees him from his own conscience or actions
The dissenter challenges legitimacy of authority which encourages others to disobey also
Who proposed locus of control?
Rotter (1966)
What are the 2 types of locus of control?
Internal
External
What is internal locus of control?
They believe that things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves
What is external locus of control?
They believe that things that happen to them are out of their control
How are people with a high internal LOC?
- Can resist pressures to conform or obey
- They tend to base their decisions on their own beliefs than depending opinions on others
How are people with a high external LOC?
- Tend to be more self confident
- These traits lead to greater resistance of social influence
- Characteristics of leaders
- They have much less need for social approval than others
Research for role of dissenters - AO3 ✅
- Adam and Levine (1971) provided for support of role of dissenters in resisting conformity
- They found that conformity decreased when there was one dissenter in an Asch style study, even if the dissenter had thick glasses and claimed he struggled with his vision
- This supports the fact that resistance isn’t motivated by what is said, but the act of dissenting itself
- Gamson (1982) found higher resistance in their study than Milgram (38% of participants rebelled)
Role of LOC exaggerated - AO3 ❌
- Rutter (1982) pointed out that LOC only comes into play in novel situations
- It has little influence over behaviour in familiar situations where pervious experience always has more importance (this point is overlooked in LOC discussions)
- Spector (1983) found a significant correlation between LOC and predisposition to NSI, where externals being more likely to conform that internals
- However, he found no correlation between ISI with LOC not appearing to be a factor in conformity vs resistance
- This suggests that the idea of LOC is more complex that originally thought
Real world application for resisting obedience - AO3 ✅
- There’s real world application to dissenting peers in resisting obedience
- Gamson et al. (1982) found higher levels of resistance in their study than Milgram
- However, this may have been because they were in groups
- In Gamson’s study, 29 out of 38 groups of participants rebelled
- This shows that peer support links to greater resistance
