resistance to social influence Flashcards
what is the concept of ‘social support’?
the presence of people who resist pressures to conform/obey can help others to do the same
what do non-conforming people act as?
models of independent behaviour
what does dissent of models lead to?
more dissent, as it shows that the majority is no longer unanimous
give an example of social support in a conformity study
Asch’s study - even if the non-conforming confederate is not giving the right answer, it enables the naive participant to be free to follow their own conscience
what frees an individual to act from their own conscience?
another person’s disobedience, which the individual may then copy
what does a disobedient model challenge?
the legitimacy of an authority figure
give an example of social support in an obedience study
Milgram’s variation - rate of obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when genuine participant was joined by a disobedient confederate
what are 2 strengths of social support?
~ real-world research support
~ support for dissenting peers
what did Albrecht et. al. study?
~ they evaluated an 8-week programme to help pregnant adolescents aged 14-19 resist peer pressure to smoke
~ social support was provided by a mentor/buddy
what did Albrecht et. al. find?
adolescents who had a buddy were significantly less likely to smoke than a control group who had no buddy
what did Gasmon et. al. study?
~ participants were told to produce evidence that would be used to help an oil company run a smear campaign
what did Gasmon et. al. find?
29/33 groups of participants disobeyed orders
why did participants resist obedience in Gasmon’s study?
participants were in groups, so could therefore discuss what they were told to do + share opinions
what is the concept of ‘locus of control (LOC)’?
the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives
what do internal LOCs believe?
the things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves
what do external LOCs believe?
the things that happen to them are largely outside their control
give an example of an internal + external belief
internals = ‘I did well in this exam because I worked hard’
externals = ‘I didn’t do well in this exam because the questions were hard’
true or false?:
LOC is a continuum
true
where do low internals/externals lie on the continuum?
in the middle
which LOC is more able to resist pressures to conform/obey?
internals
why are internal LOCs more likely to resist social influence?
if a person takes responsibility for their actions, they are less likely to depend on opinions of others + are more likely to base decisions on their own beliefs
what is one strength of LOC?
there is research support
what is one limitation of LOC?
there is contradictory research
what did Holland study?
he repeated Milgram’s baseline study + measured whether participants were interna or external LOC
what did Holland find?
internals showed a greater resistance to authority in a Milgram-type situation (37% of internals stopped administering shocks)
what did Twenge et. al study + find?
~ they analysed data from American LOC studies conducted over a 40-year period
~ over time, people became more resistant to obedience but also more external, which wasn’t expected
why does Twenge’s research lower the validity of the LOC explanation?
if resistance is linked to internal LOC, we would expect people to have become more internal over time, but this is the opposite, therefore lowering validity
