Resistance to social influence

Question 1

A01 Social support as a factor for increased resistance

Answer 1

• Asch 1956) found that the presence of a social support enables an individual to resist conformity pressure from a majority
• In a variation he found that the added presence of an ally who also gave the right answer alongside participants caused conformity levels to drop sharply ( 33 to 5.5 percent)
• This breaks the unaminous position of the majority as the possibility of more equally legitimate ways of thinking and responding in situations is increased
  Presence of an anlly ives person an indepdnet sssement of reality making them feel more conifent iun theit descion anf bettwe able to stand upo the desionfcd7y

Question 2

A01- Locus of control as a factor to increased resistance to SI

Answer 2

-Locus of control research has uncovered a number of characteristics of internals that have relevance for resisting social influence
-High intervals are active seekers of information that is useful to them meaning they are less likely to rely on the opinions of others, helping them resist the pressure of social norms and influence
-High internals are usually more achievement oriented meaning they become leaders rather than follow others
Spector(1982) relationship exists between locus of control and leadership style, high internals are more goal orintated and more persavive
- Hugh intervals are better able to resist cohhericon from others, as a pressure increases the greater the difference between the intervals performance and that of the externals

Question 3

AO1 locus of control

Answer 3

• Persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour
  Measured through high to low external
  Strong internal locus of control is assosiated with the fact that we can control our own lives, outcome is mainly due to our own efforts and abiliies , display independence in their thoiughts and opinions, dont rely on others, making them less likely to conform
  Strong external locus of control beleive that what happens to them is due to external factors such as luck, have a morre passive attutude and less likely to display indepdencd

Question 4

Limitation of locus of control research
for an affected resistance to social influence A03

Answer 4

-Locus of control is related to normative but not informational influence
-Spector (1983) measured locus of control and predisposition to normative and informational influence in 157 college students
-Externals are more likely to conform to normative social influence with correlation to locus of control and predisposition
- No relationship with predisposition to informational social influence with locus of control not being a significant factor in this type of conformity
- Spector concluded that externals would conform more than internals in situations of normative pressure but would not conform more in situations of informational pressure

Question 5

Strength of the social support research in affecting resistance displayed in real life (A03)

Answer 5

-Rosentrasse protest, stark illusion of Milgrams research in real life
- 1943 a group of German women protested in Berlin where the Gestapo we’re holding 2000 Jewish men most of whom were married to non Jewish partners or were the male children of these mixed marriages
- Despite threats of the Gestapo opening fire, the woman’s courage prevailed and the Jews were set free
-Milgram found the presence of disobedient peers gave the participants the confidence and courage to resist the authorities irders

Question 6

Research support for social support (A03)

Answer 6

Reece and wallce showed that the social support provided by frieinds helped adolescents resist conformity pressure by majority
Indivduals with a majoritt pf friends who drank alchol were significantly more likely to engage in drunkeness and binge drinking , however they aslo found when people hsd allys who did not want to drink also, they could resist this pressure
Shows social support offered by non drinking friends can decrease the odds of a non drinker deciding to consume alchol, even when dealing with pressure from the authority

Question 7

A03- locus of control

Answer 7

Avtigs carried out a meta analysis of studies of the realationship between locus of control and different forms of social influence including conformity
, significant positive correlation between sources of internality and externality and and scores on measures of persuaion, social influence and conformity
- higher externality meant easier to persuade and easier to conform to majoritty postitin