Resistance To Social Influence Flashcards
What are the 2 explanations of resistance to social influence?
- Social support
- Locus of control
Social support (conformity)
- when there are others in social situations who defy attempts to conform, the pressure to conform can be reduced
- eg: in Asch’s study when there was another person disagreeing with the majority, conformity dropped to 5%
Social support (obedience)
- pressure to obey can be reduced if there is another person who is seen to disobey
- eg: in milgrams variations obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when the participant was joined by a disobedient confederate
Who proposed the idea of locus of control and when?
Rotter (1966)
Locus of control
Measurement of an individuals sense of control over their lives
Internal locus of control
- behaviour caused by their own personal decisions/effort, have control over their life
- more independent, easier to resist pressure to conform or obey
External locus of control
- behaviour caused by luck/fate/external factors, don’t have complete control over their life
- more likely to succumb to pressure to conform and obey
Continuum
- locus of control is as a continuum which runs from high internal to high external with low internal/external in between
Strength - RESEARCH SUPPORT (ASCH)
P - research evidence supports the role of dissenting peers in resisting conformity
E - Allen and Levine found independence increased with one dissenter in an asch type study even when the dissenter said he had problems with vision
C - resistance is not motivated by following what someone else says but enables someone to be free of pressure from one group
Strength - RESEARCH SUPPORT (MILGRAM)
P - research evidence supports the link between loc and resistance to obedience
E - Holland repeated the milgram study and measured whether p’s were internals/externals. 37% of internals didn’t continue to highest shock level whereas 23% of externals didn’t continue.
I&D - loc uses a nomothetic approach to establish general laws displayed by those scoring high/low on Rotters internal/external scale
C - internals showed greater resistance. This increases the validity of the loc explanation and our confidence that it can explain resistance.
Limitation - NOT ALL RESEARCH SUPPORTS IT
P - not all research supports the link between loc and resistance
E - Twenge et al analysed data from American loc studies over 40 years and saw people have become more independent but also more external
C - this challenges the link between internal loc and resistance. However, the results may be due to a changing society where many things are outside our personal control.
