resistance to social influence

Question 1

how can social support resist social influence

Answer 1

1. social influence - dissenting peer
   pressure to conform is reduced if other people are not conforming
   asch’s research showed that the dissenter does not have to give the right answer
   someone else not following the majority frees other to follow their own conscience. dissenter act as model
   shows majority is not longer unanimous
2. obedience - dissenting confederate
   obedient behaviour is reduced from 65% to 10%
   disobedient model challenges to legitimacy of the authority figure

Question 2

what are the two explanations to why people resist to social influence

Answer 2

social support
locus of control

Question 3

strength for social support

Answer 3

P - research support

E - asch introduced a dissenter who gave the correct answer on his lines test, decrease in conformity from 36.8% to 5%

E/L -strength, shows that social support is important in bringing about independent behaviour and reducing social influence

-
P- more research support

E- Allen and Levine (‘1971) conducted a study similar to Asch’s study with three conditions - ppt given a supporter with poor vision (thick lenses) ; ppt given supporter with normal vision ; ppt was not given a supporter. found that in conditions one and two there was a significant drop in level of conformity compared to condition 3 where there was no support for the lone participant

E/L - strength, research from Allen and Levine supports the idea that social support can decrease the level of conformity and lead to more independent behaviour

Question 4

weakness for social support

Answer 4

lab experiment

Question 5

how can locus of control resist social influence

Answer 5

rotter (1996) described internal versus external versus external locus of control

internal - believe things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves [doing well/badly in exam depends on how hard they work]

external - believes things happen outside of their control [ bad teacher so they failed]

LOC is not just being internal/ external - there is a scale

high internals/externals at the ends, low in the middle

internal LOC more likely to resist social influence
- take personal responsibility for their actions, base their decisions on their own beliefs
- more confident, achievement-oriented, higher intellegence –> traits lead to greater resistance

Question 6

limitation of LOC

Answer 6

P - not all research support

E - Twenge et al (2004) analysed data from american locus of control studies over 40 years, showing that people have become more independent but also more external

E- surprising - if resistance was linked to internal LOC we would expect people to have become more internal

L - LOC may not be a valid explanation to resistance to social influence

Question 6

strength of LOC in resisting obdience

Answer 6

P - evidence

E - Holland (1967) repeated milgrams study and measured whether participants were internals or externals

E - 37% internals did not continue to the highest shock level only 23% externals did not continue

L- resistance partly related to LOC increasing the validity of this explanation of disobedience