resistance to social influence Flashcards
what is social support and how can it help to reduce conformity
social support can help people to resist conformity
The pressure to conform can be reduced if there are other people present who are not conforming.
e.g. in Asch’s research the person not conforming doesn’t have to be giving the “right answer” but simply the fact that someone else is not following the majority appears to enable a person to be free to follow their own conscience. This other person acts as a “model”
However, Asch’s research also showed that if this “non - conforming” person starts conforming again, so does the naive participants. Thus the effect of the dissent is not long lasting
how does social support help reduce the levels of obedience
social support can help people to resist obedience. This is because the pressure is reduced if another person is seen to disobey
e.g. in one of Milgram’s variations, the rate of obedience dropped to 10% from 65%when the genuine participant was joined by a disobedient confederate.
The participant may not follow the disobedient person’s behaviour but the point is the other person’s disobedience acts as a “model” for the participant to copy that frees him to act from his own conscience
what is locus of control
Julian Rotter (1966) first proposed the concept of locus of control It is concept concerned with internal control vs external control
what is internal control
internals believe that the thing that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves
e.g. you do well because you worked hard, if you don’t do well it is because you didn’t work hard
what is external control
externals have a tendency to believe that things happen without their own control
e.g. if they did well they might say it was because they used a good textbook. If they failed they might blame the textbook or they had luck because the “questions were hard”
what does it mean when we say LOC is on a continuum
people differ in the way they explain their success and failures but it isn’t a matter of being external or internal
There is a continuum with high internal LOC at one end and there is a continuum with high external LOC at one end. Within this there is low internal and low external lying between
how does LOC aid to resistance to social influence
people with a high internal LOC are more likely to be able to resist pressures to conform or obey
If a person takes personal responsibility for their actions and experiences (good or bad) then they are more likely to base their decisions on their own beliefs and thus resist pressures from others
Another explanation for the link with greater resistance is that people with a higher internal LOC tend to be more self confident, more achievement - orientated, have higher intelligence and have less need for social approval. These personality traits lead to greater resistance to social influence
what does it mean when we say that social support had research support (resistance to conformity)
there is research evidence that supports the role of dissenting peers in resisting conformity
e.g. Allen and Levine (1971) found that conformity decreased when there was one dissenter in an Asch - type study
More importantly, conformity still occurred even if the dissenter wore thick glasses ad said they had difficulty with his vision (so he was clearly in no position to judge the length of the line)
This supports the view that resistance is not just motivated by following what someone else says but it enables someone to be free of the pressure from the group
what does it mean when we say that social support had research support (resistance to obedience)
there is research evidence that supports the role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience. Gamson et al (1982) found higher levels of resistance in their study than Milgram. This was probably because the participants in Gamson’s study were in groups ( they had to produce evidence that would be used to help an oil company run a smear campaign)
29 out of 33 groups of participants (88%) rebelled. This shows peer supports is linked to greater resistance
what does it means when we say that LOC had research support
there is research evidence to support the link between LOC and resistance to obedience
Holland (1967) repeated Milgram’s baseline study and measured whether participants were internal or external:
- he found that 37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock level (i.i they showed some resistance)
- only 23%of externals did not continue to the highest shock level. In other words internals showed greater resistance to authority
research support of this level supports the validity of the LOC explanation and our convinced that it can explain resistance
what does it mean when we say that there was some contradictory research for the LOC explanation
not all research supports the link between LOC and resistance
Twenge et al (2004) analysed data from American locus of control over a 40 yesars period ( from 1960 to 2002)
The data showed that over this time line. people have become more resistant to obedience but also more external. If resistance were linked to an internal locus of control, we would expect people to have become more internal
This challenge the link between internal LOC and increasing resistant behaviour. However, it is possible that the results are due to a changing society where things are out of personal control
what does it mean when we say that the role of LOC is limited
the role of LOC resisting social influence may have been slightly exaggerated
Rotter (1982) pints out that LOC only comes into play in novel situations. It has very little influence over our behaviour in familiar situations where our previous experiments will always be more important.
This point is often overlooked and means that people that have conformed or obeyed in specific situations in the past are likely to do so again, even if they have a high internal LOC
