Resistance to social influence Flashcards
What are the two explanations for resisting social influence?
1) Social support
2) (Internal) locus of control
How does social support lead to resistance to a) conformity and b) obedience?
a)conformity: Asch dissenting confederate broke unanimity and conformity rates dropped to 1/4 of normal
b) Obedience: Milgram’s study dissenting confederate reduced obedience from 65% to 10%. Enables participants to follow their own conscious and dissenters as act as a model for independence
Evaluation for social support
s:Real world research support: Shows positive effects of social support. Susan Albrecht (2006) evaluated Teen Fresh Start USA which was an 8 week program aimed at stopping pregnant adolescents aged 14-19 to stop smoking through providing a buddy (social support) who was an older mentor. By the end of 8 weeks those with a buddy were less likely to smoke than the control group without a buddy. Shows that social support can help people resists social influence in real world
S:Research support for dissenting peers: William Gamson et al. (1982) participants ordered to run a smear campaign against oil company and 29/33 participants (88%) disobeyed orders.
-Social support explanation: In an Asch-like study by Allen and Lavine, when the dissenter had good eyesight 64% refused to conform and with no dissenter only 3% did not conform. However, when the person had bad eyesight resistance to conformity = 36%. This shows that resistance is determined by the type of support.
What is locus of control continuum
Julian Rotter (1966):The extent to which individuals believe how much control they have over their lives.
-People are not internal or external but they sit on the continuum between high internal to high external
What do internals believe
Internals believe they are responsible for what happens to themselves- able to resist social pressure and tend to be self confident and intelligent
What do external believe
Externals believe luck and other outside factors make things happen- conform and obey more
Evaluation for locus of control
S:Research support: research supports the link between LOC and obedience. Charles Holland repeated Milgram’s baseline study and measured whether they were internals or externals. Found that 37% of internals did not continue to the highest level shock, whereas 23% of externals did not continue. Therefore LOC is at least partly related to obedience which increases its validity as an explanation.
L:Contradictory findings: evidence challenges this link. For example, Twenge analysed data from American LOC studies over 40 yr period (1962-2002). Data showed that, over this time span, people became more resistant to obedience but also more external- surprising outcome as if resistance is linked with internal LOC then there should be more internals. Therefore this evidence suggests that this is not a valid explanation for obedience.
