resistance to social influence Flashcards
What is resistance to social influence?
The ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or obey authority.
What can resistance to social influence be influenced by?
Situational and dispositional factors
Describe social support as an explanation of resistance to conformity.
The pressure to conform can be resisted is there are other people present who aren’t conforming even if they are wrong.it enables the naïve ppt to be free to follow their own conscience. This is social support. The dissenter acts as a ‘model’ of independent behaviour. They have broken the unanimity so more ups are likely to dissent.
Describe social support as an explanation of resistance to obedience
The pressure to obey can be resisted of there’s another person who is seen to disobey.in one of milgrams variations, the rate of obedience dropped from 65% to 10.% when there was a disobedient confederate. The disobedient model challenges the legitimacy of the authority figure, making it easier for others to disobey.
What is social support?
The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same. These people act as models to show that resistance to social influence is possible.
Explain the locus of control
Rotter proposed loc as a concept concerned with internal control vs external control. Some people have an internal loc (internals) and some people have an external loc
What do people with an internal loc believe?
They believe that the things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves. For example, if you do bad in an exam, you didn’t work hard enough
What do people with an external loc believe?
They believe that the things that happen to them are out of their control. For example, if you do bad in an exam, your teacher didn’t teach it right.
Explain the loc continuum.
People aren’t just either internal or external. Loc is a scale and individuals vary in their position on it. High internals are on one end, high externals are on the other and low internals and externals lie inbetween
What is a strength of resistance to social influence-social support? (Real world)
One strength is research evidence for the positive effects of social support. For example, an 8 week programme took place (teen fresh start) that tried to help pregnant teenagers resist peer pressure to smoke. Social support was provided by an older mentor. At the end of study, those who had a buddy were significantly less likely to smoke than a control group who didn’t have a buddy. This is a strength as it shows that social support can help young people resist social influence as part of intervention in the real world.
What is a strength of resistance to social influence- social support? (Research support)
One strength is research evidence to support the role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience. A study took place where pps were told to produce evidence that would help an oil company run a smear campaign. Researchers found high levels of obedience and this can be explained by the fact that pps were in groups so could discuss what they were going to do. 88% of groups rebelled against their orders. This is a strength as it shows that peer support can lead to disobedience by undermining the legitimacy of an authority figure.
What is a strength of resistance to social influence- LOC (research support)
One strength is research evidence to support the link between LOC and resistance to obedience. For example, Milgram’s baseline study was repeated and researchers measured whether pps were internals or externals. They found that 37% of internals didn’t continue to the highest shock level compared to only 23% of externals. This is a strength as it shows that resistance is at least partly related to LOC, which increases the validity of LOC as an explanation of disobedience
What is a limitation of resistance to social influence- LOC? (Contradictory research)
One limitation is evidence that challenges the link between LOC and resistance. For example, when LOC studies from a 40 year period were evaluated, the data showed that people had become more resistant to obedience but they had also become more external. This is contradictory as if resistance links to having an internal LOC, we would expect people to have become more internal. This is a limitation as it suggests that LOC isn’t a valid explanation of how people resist social influence
