Resistance to social influence Flashcards
Social support
The presence of people who resist pressures to conform to the majority or to obey authority.
resisting conformity
the pressure to conform can be resisted if there are other people present who are not conforming.
The fact that someone else is not following the majority is social support. It enables the naive ppts to be free. The confederate acts as a model of independent behaviour. Their dissent gives ride to more dissent because it shows that the majority is no more unanimous.
Resisting obedience
The pressure to obey can be resisted if there is another person who is seen to disobey. In one of Milgram’s variations, the rate of obedience dropped from 65-10% when the genuine ppt was joined by a disobedient confederate. The participant may not follow the disobedient persons’ behaviour. The other persons disobedience acts as a model of dissent for them to copy and this frees him to act from his own conscience
LOC-rotter (1966)
The sense we each have about what directs events in our lives.
internal LOC believes that the things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves. For example if you do well in an exam it is because you worked hard and if you dont do well its because you didnt work hard
vs external LOC. they believe that the things that happen are out of their control. If they didnt do well in an exam they would blame the text book whereas if they did, its because they used an excellent text book.
LOC continuum
People arent just either internal or external. LOC is a scale and individuals vary in their position on it. So high Internal LOC is at one and external is at the other. Low internal and low external lie in between.
Resistance to social influence
people with a high LOC are more able to resist pressures to conform or obey. If a person takes personal responsibility for their actions and experiences, they tend to base their decisions on their own beliefs rather than depending on opinions of others.
They also tend to be more self-confident, more achievement-oriented and have higher intelligence. These traits lead to greater resistance to S.I.
STRENGTH-REAL WORLD RESEARCH SUPPORT
Susan Albrecht et al evaluated teen fresh start USA, an 8 week programme to help pregnant adolescents age 14-19 to resist peer pressure to smoke. Social support was provided by a mentor. At the end adolescents who had a buddy were less likely to smoke than a control group who didn’t have a buddy.
Shows that social support can help young people resist social influence in the real world.
STRENGTH-Research support for dissenting peers.
Gamson et als participants were told to produce evidence that would be used to help an oil company run a smear campaign. The researchers found high levels of resistance in their study than Milgram did in his. This could be because the ppts were in groups so they could discuss what they were told to do. 29/33 rebelled against their orders.
SHOWS THAT PEER SUPPORT CAN LEAD TO DISOBEDIENCE BY UNDERMINING THE LEGITIMACY OF AN AUTHORITY.
WEAKNESS- CONTRADICTORY RESEARCH
There is evidence that challenges the link between LOC and resistance. e.g. Twenge et al analysed data from American LOC studies conducted over a 40 year period. The data showed that over time, people became more resistant to obedience but more external. This suggests that LOC is not a valid explanation of how people resist social influence.
