resistance to social influence: ao3

Question 1

Strength - research support by Oliner and oliner 1988

Answer 1

P; one strength of locus of controls implications in resistance to social influence comes from Oliner and Oliner 1988
E:they interviewed 2 groups of non Jewish people who lived through the holocaust and nazi germany. One group had 406 ppl who protected the Jews whilst the other group had 126 ppl who didn’t protect them. They found the group that helped the Jews had scored demonstrating an internal locus of control
E: therefore this study supports rotters claim that those with a high loc believing that they are solely responsible are less likely to conform as these ppts did not conform to the nazi propaganda against Jews
L: therefore this study clearly demonstrates the significant role that having an internal loc can have in resisting social pressures

Question 2

Weakness - issue of social desirability in loc test

Answer 2

P: one’s loc is determined by a questionnaire which is a self report method
E: this method suffers from a few problems, most notably social desirability
E: ppts may be giving answers that don’t reflect how they really feel but how they want to be perceived. They want to make themselves look good and be more accepted
L: this therefore makes it hard to know whether or not the answers ppts provide are valid which as a result weakens the validity of supporting evidence of loc in resisting social influence

Question 3

Weakness - correlational results

Answer 3

P: the relationship between loc and resistance to social influence is only correlational
E: there are other factors that have been implicated in the reason why ppl are able to resist social influence. Such as level of social status and personal morals
E: individuals who see an action as morally wrong are likely to resist pressure to conform. Individuals of higher social status may feel more empowered to resist social pressures
L: hence the correlation bet loc and resistance doesn’t imply causation especially when taking other factors into consideration

Question 4

Loc - isn’t a complete explanation

Answer 4

P: Spector 1983 conducted a study which implies that loc by itself doesn’t offer a complete explanation as to why ppl resist social influence
E: 157 undergrad ppt completed a questionnaire that measured loc and a questionnaire that measured tendency to conform to NSI and ISI
E: there was statistically significant correlation with external loc ppt being able to resist NSI but no correlation between conforming to ISI and loc suggesting internals don’t feel the need to conform to be liked but both externals and internals look to others for correct information and will conform if they feel loc is correct
L: so loc does influence conformity isn’t a complete explanation.