Resistance to social influence Flashcards
Define resistance to social influence
The ability to withstand the social pressure to conform to majority, the minority or obey authority
What 2 factors make people less likely to obey or conform?
-An aspect of the situation
-An aspect of the personality
Describe Rotters Locus of control
A scale to show a persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour
(how responsible we feel for events in our lives)
What does it mean if a person has a high internal locus of control
They believe that their life is determines by their own decisions and efforts
What does it mean if a person has a high external locus of control
They believe their life is determined by fate, luck and external factors
Which people are less likely to resist social influence?
People with high internal locus of control
Why are people with high internal locus of control less likely to resist social influence?
They feel more responsible for their actions and as a result of this they are less likely to blindly submit to social pressures to either conform to the majority, minority or obey authority.
-They wont just do things without thinking, they will carefully think through whether its the right thing to do or not
Why are people with high external locus of control less likely to resist social influence?
because they believe they aren’t responsible for their own actions therefore they are more likely to blindly go along with whatever everyone else is doing
There are 4 other reasons why people with high internal locus of control are more likely to resist social influence, what are they?
-they’re more confident as individuals
-They’re more achievement orientated
-generally more intelligent
-More likely to be socially involved
why are more achievement-orientated individuals more likely to resist social influence?
because if the orders don’t fit in with their goals they’re unlikely to follow them
why are more less socially motivated individuals more likely to resist social influence?
because they’re less bothered about what others are doing and if they’re liked or not
Define social support
A situational explanation that states we resist SI due to the presence of people who resist pressures to conform/obey which helps others do the same
-they’re modeling independent behavior that doesnt follow the majority and frees a person to act from their own conscience
Give examples of social support in Milgrams and aschs study
Milgram obedience dropped to 10% when ppt joined by disobedient confederate
Dissenters in Ashs study reduces conformity even when they gave a diff wrong answer
Give a researcher that supports social support- real-life application
Albrecht evaluated an 8-week program to help pregnant 14-19-year-olds resist pressure to smoke.
-Social support provided through a buddy who was slightly older
What was the result of Albrecht’s study?
Those with non smoking buddy were much less likely to smoke than those with no buddy
Give a disadvantage of social support
Give an advantage of Locus of control
Holland repeated milgram study and measures whether ppts were internals or externals
-37% internals didn’t do highest shock
-23% externals didnt do highest shock
-Inc validity of LOC as internals showed greater resistance
Give a disadvantage of Locus of control
-Data analysed from american obedience studies over 40 years
-data showed people have become more resistant to obedience but more external
-if resistance is linked to LOC we’d expect people to be more internal
-but may be due to factors that are outside personal control
