Resistance To Social Influence (new) Flashcards
What is resistance to social influence?
The ability to oppose the pressure to conform to a majority group or obey an authority figure by maintaining personal autonomy and integrity in thoughts, decisions and actions
How many participants resisted the pressure to conform on every critical trial in Aschs study?
25%
How many participants resisted pressure to obey to give the full 450v in Milgrams experiment?
35%
What is social support?
The presence of others who defy authority figures or go against majority opinion
What does social support allow someone to do?
Have the confidence to stand against majority pressure or authoritarian commands
What is social support associated with?
The diffusion of responsibility
What is the diffusion of responsibility?
The more people who disobey or dissent the less severe the consequences are likely to be
What does social support counter? And what does this reinforce?
Feelings of isolation and vulnerability from dissent or defiance which reinforces the individuals resolve and legitimising resistance
Who is more likely to resist conformity and why?
Individuals with a non-conformist ally because the ally breaks the groups unanimity and creates an alternate group to belong to
Who is ore likely to resist obedience and why?
Individuals with a disobedient role model because the role model challenges the ‘legitimacy of authority’
Social support evaluation: helps individuals resist pressures to obey
In milgrams variation which included a participant who received social support obedience dropped from 65% to 10%.
Mil gram says this was because the defiant action of peers reduced the experimenters legitimacy of authority
Social support evaluation: helps individuals resist pressures to conform
In one of Asch’s variations one confederate breaks unanimity by providing the correct response which caused the conformity rate to drop from 32% to 5.5%.
Social support evaluation: individuals still obey and conform
10% of participants in Milgrams variation and 5.5% of the critical trials in Asch’s variation.
Social support isn’t a complete explanation for resistance and there are other important factors such as locus of control
How is locus of control measured?
Scale from internal to external
Who developed locus of control?
Rotter
What does locus of control refer to?
A personality trait/ belief system regarding what people consider to be the causes of their experiences and the factors that influence their successes or failures
What does the locus of control perspective influence?
How people perceive and interact with the environment
What do individuals with an internal locus of control believe?
They have personal control over their life and outcomes of their actions
What are people with a strong internal locus of control more likely to do about their actions?
Take responsibility and generally are more proactive in seeking info and making decisions
What do individuals with an external locus of control believe?
External factors such as fate, luck or powerful others control their lives
What do people with an external locus of control tend to attribute outcomes to?
Outside forces rather than their own actions
What locus of control is more likely to resist conformity?
Internal locus of control because they believe in their ability to make independent judgments and decisions
What encourages someone with an internal locus of control to stand by convictions even under social pressure?
Their sense of personal urgency
What type of locus of control is more likely to resist obedience and why?
Individuals with an internal locus of control because of their sense of independence, self-confidence and personal responsibility for their actions
Evaluation point: locus of control
Holland repeated milgrams study and participants were assessed for their internal and external locus of control. 37% internal refused to go to the highest voltage compared to 23% external. Suggests high internal locus of control are more able to resist pressures to obey
Locus of control Evaluation point: incomplete explanation
Spector - 157 participants completed a questionnaire measuring their locus of control and tendency to conform to nsi and isi. Correlation with internal LOC and participants being more able to resist nsi however just as likely to conform to ISI so externals and internals look to others for correct info and so locus of control isn’t a complete explanation
Evaluation point locus of control: relationship between LOC and resistance to social influence is only correlational
Other factors have been suggested as being involved in resistance to social influence e.g. level of social anxiety
What is social cryptomnesia?
People have a memory that change has occurred but don’t remember how it happened.
