resistance to social influence

Question 1

define social support

Answer 1

• refers to the presence of people who resist the pressures to conform or obey and help others to do the same

Question 2

what can social support do ?

Answer 2

• help people to resist conformity

Question 3

what can happen when other people aren’t conforming ?

Answer 3

• reduce the pressure to conform

Question 4

what did we learn from Asch and Milgram about resistance ?

Answer 4

• when a dissenter was introduced
  –> both conformity and obedience levels dropped dramatically
  Asch - 5.5 %
  Milgram - 10 %

Question 5

what does Asch’s and Milgram’s research tell us about social support ?

Answer 5

• having an ally can build confidence and allow individuals to remain independent
• legitimacy is reduced
• NSI is avoided
• pressure is reduced

Question 6

who proposed the concept of locus of control ?

Answer 6

• rotter (1966)

Question 7

what did Rotter propose ?

Answer 7

• the idea of locus of control, which is the extent to which people believe they have control over their own lives

Question 8

how is locus of control portrayed ?

Answer 8

• as a continuum , a scale which individuals vary their position on
  –> internal and external

Question 9

define locus of control

Answer 9

• refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives.
  –> internals believe they are mostly responsible for what happens to them
  –> externals believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces

Question 10

summarise internal locus of control

Answer 10

• believe that what happens in their life is largely the result of their own behaviour and that they have control over their life
  –> more independent and take responsibility for what happens to them
  –> find it easier to resist pressure to conform or obey

Question 11

summarise external locus of control

Answer 11

• believe that what happens to them is controlled by external factors + that they do not have complete control over their life
  –> less likely to take responsibility for what happens to them
  –> more likely to succumb to pressure to conform or obey and are less likely to show independent behaviour

Question 12

draw the continuum scale and label and small summary

Answer 12

find in book or powerpoint

Question 13

what is an example of someone with external locus of control ?

Answer 13

• if they did well in an exam they might say it was because they had used an excellent textbook
• if they had failed they might blame it on the textbook or they had bad luck because the questions were hard

Question 14

what is an example of someone with internal locus of control ?

Answer 14

• if you do well in an exam - it ‘s because you worked hard
• if don’t do well it is because you didn’t work hard

Question 15

define resistance to social influence

Answer 15

• refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority of obey authority
• ability to withstand social pressure is influenced by both situational and dispositional factors