Resisting Social Influence Flashcards
Outline rotters Locus of Control
Locus of control is the extent people believe they have control over their life
Some people are able to resist pressure to conform / obey and remain independent due to their personality
Dispositional explanation for resisting social influence
Measured on a continuum and scores fall between 2 extremes
Outline the internal locus of control
Believe they have control over their own life and are better at resisting social pressures as they take personal responsibility for their actions and make decisions based on their own beliefs
More confident, intelligent and achievement orientated
Greater resistance to conformity and obedience as less need for approval
Outline the external locus of control
Believe what happens to them is controlled by luck/ fate
More likely to conform / obey
Less able to resist social influence
Evaluate locus of control using supporting evidence from obedience research
Oliner and Oliner (1998) interviewed non Jewish WW2 survivors and compared people who resisted orders and protected Jewish people to those who obeyed
Found rescuers were more likely to have internal locus of control than the 126 people who just followed orders
Therefore, internal LOC makes people more likely to remain independent
Use supporting evidence from conformity research to evaluate LOC
Internal LOC = less likely to conform
Spector (1983) used Rotters LOC scale to see if LOC was associated with conformity
From 157 students, individuals w internal LOC were less likely to conform than those with external
However, this only applied to situations of Normative Social Influence (conform for acceptance)
No difference between externals and internals for ISI
Suggests LOC more influential when conforming due to NSI than ISI
Evaluate the LOC explanation using an alternative explanation
Other factors eg social responsibility may contribute to resisting social influence
Elms and Milgrim did follow up interviews to investigate disobedient participants in Milgrims study
Found disobedient participants had internal LOC and scored higher on a social responsibility scale
Both important factors in an individuals ability to defy social norms
Suggests other factors need to be considered when explaining resistance to SI
Use methodological criticisms to evaluate the LOC explanation
Methodology used to investigate LOC is Rotter scale ( a 23 item forced choice scale, with 2 pairs of statements, individual asked to indicate which fits most closely with their own viewpoint)
However sometimes may disagree with both statements
Also with many self report studies their is a problem of social desirability bias where respondents feel need to say right thing and create a favourable impression
Casts doubt on the validity of the categorisation of respondents into internal or external types
Outline social support as situational explanation for resisting conformity
Presence of support makes it easier to resist social pressure as individual feels more confident in their own decision and more confident to reject majority idea
Having an ally who shares individuals view breaks the unanimity of the group
Once unanimous position of majority is broken, others are freed to think, behave and respond in a different way
Outline the social support explanation for resisting obedience
Presence of disobedient role models can reduce obedience as they empower the observer to disobey too
Its difficult to stand up to authority as the obedience of others makes harmful actions seem acceptable so disobedient role models challenge the legitimacy of the authority figure
Evaluate the social support explanation for resisting social influence using the credibility of social support
Strength of this explanation is the social support doesn’t have to be valid to have an effect and help the individual resit social influence
Eg Allen and Levine (1971) replicated Asch’s study where the ally wore thick glasses and said they had eyesight problems
Resistance to conformity still increased
This shows even a poor source of support increases resistance to SI even when it is not reliable
Use an alternative explanation to evaluate the social support explanation for resisting SI
Other factors eg confidence impacts ability to resist SI
If individual has real confidence in the correctness of their own answers they find it easier to resist SI
Eg Lucas et al (2006) gave easy and hard maths questions and found
92% resisted SI w easy problems
29% resisted SI w hard problems
Also, Perrin and Spencer used engineering students and found only 1 of 396 conformed as they were more confident, therefore less influenced by the majority and able to resist SI
Evaluate the social support explanation using evidence form conformity research
Evidence for this explanation is in Asch’s (1951) variations where 1 confederate gave correct answers throughout
Conformity dropped to 5% showing having an ally makes it easier to resist conformity
Also, Asch’s showed if the non conforming confederate started to conform again, so did the naive participant
Shows if you have social support for belief, then more likely to resist pressure to conform
Use supporting evidence from obedience research to evaluate social support as an explanation for resisting SI
From Milgrims (1974) study in a variation, the real teacher / participant was paired with 2 additional confederates (teachers) who refused to go on and withdrew early
Obedience dropped and only 10% went to 450V compared to 65% in original experiment
Therefore, if participant has support for their desire to disobey, then they’re more likely to resist the pressure of an authority figure
What is minority influence?
A form of social influence
Leads to a majority converting their beliefs, values or behaviours to match the minority
Outline consistency as a key factor in helping minority influence take place
Minority influence is most effective if minority keeps the same belief over time and between all the individuals in the minority group
Its effective as it draws attention to minority view and causes majority to reassess the situation and rethink their own viewpoint
This leads to cognitive conflict and over time internalisation of majority’s views
Outline commitment as a key factor in helping minority influence take place
Minority is more powerful if they demonstrate dedication to cause eg by making personal sacrifices (augmentation principal) or by doing extreme activities which put the minority at some risk
This makes them more influential
Its effective as shows minority is not acting out of self interest and helps them be taken more seriously
Outline flexibility as a factor in helping minority influence take place
Nemeth (1986) said consistency is not only factor in MI as it can be interpreted negatively
Relentless consistency seems unbending and unreasonable and off putting to majority
Being flexible is effective as shows minority willing to listen and adapt over POVs and compromise
This makes majority more sympathetic to the minority’s case
Evaluate minority influence using Mocsovici et als research support
Lab experiment w all female participants
Found when 2 confederates were consistent when estimating the colour of slides, real participants agreed with the minority on 8.42% of trials and said the slides were green
Whereas when 2 confederates were inconsistent, only 1.25% of participants answers were green
In control group w no confederates 0.25% of participants answered green
This suggests a consistent minority opinion has greater effect than an inconsistent opinion
Evaluate research into minority influence using Nemeths research which supports flexibility
Both flexibility and consistency aid minority influence
Nemeth (1986) used groups of 1 confederate and 3 participants and had them decide the amount of compensation to give a victim of a ski lift accident
When a consistent confederate argued for a lower amount and refused to change their position, he had no effect on the majority
When he compromised and suggested a slightly higher amount, the majority changed their opinion
Shows minorities need flexibility to be persuasive
Need balance between consistency and flexibility
Evaluate the validity of research into minority influence
Limitation of research supporting MI is it lacks external validity
Both Nemeths and Mocosovicis research lack ecological validity as they took place in a lab
Therefore, need to be careful when generalising findings to real life minority influence
Also, Mocsovicis research lacks populational validity as only used females undergraduates (a biased sample so we can’t generalise to wider population)
Caution must be taken with the validity of minority influence as a form of social influence
Evaluate research into minority influence using the other important factor identification
There is other factors apart from consistency, commitment and flexibility which can affect MI eg when the majority identifies w minority, the minority is more persuasive
Eg if minority is all males they would be more persuasive in converting the beliefs of an all male majority
Mass et al (1982) had minority arguing for homosexual rights to a heterosexual majority
He found the heterosexual minority were more persuasive in converting the viewpoints as the heterosexual majority identified with the heterosexual minority more
Suggests other factors such as identification should be considered
What is social change and how does it occur?
Social change occurs when society or sections of society adopt a new belief which becomes widely accepted as the norm
Occurs at a societal level not at an individual level
The minority converts the majority
Outline drawing attention as process in social change
Use an example
Minorities can bring about social change by drawing the attention of the majority to the issue
Eg in 2016, Colin Kaepernick protested police brutality against black ppl by taking the knee instead of standing for the national anthem
Outline cognitive conflict as a process in social change
Minorities challenge the majority’s cognitions so they think deeply about the issue
Eg now Colin Kaepernick had drawn attention to police brutality, more people thought about it and questioned the treatment of black ppl
Other players also started to take the knee
Outline consistency as process in social change
Moscovicis research showed minorities expressing a consistent argument (over time and between themselves) were more influential over a majority
Protests by NFL players were consistent for 3 years and BLM protests are still ongoing
Outline the augmentation principle as a process in social change
If the minority is willing to suffer for their views, they are seen as more committed and will be taken more seriously
Eg Collin lost his career after taking the knee as he was never signed by another NFL team
He also received death threats
Also during BLM movements, many ppl took risks in protesting during the pandemic
Outline the snowball effect as a process in social change
Minorities gather support gradually over time and their influence converts more and more people until it reaches a tipping point where social change occurs
Recently more and more ppl have questioned and protested against the treatment of black people
What is social cryptoamnesia?
Where society knows social change has taken place but forgets the origins of it
So the majority does not give credit to the minority for the change taking place
With BLM movement we are not there yet as it is ongoing
Outline ISI as an alternative explanation for social change
Social Change can come through ISI as social change is encouraged by the attempt to gain information
Individuals question / examine their own beliefs, leading to internalisation
Outline disobedient role models as an alternative explanation for social change
Disobedient role models demonstrate to others how to resist the pressure to obey and instigate social change
Eg Rosa parks sat at the front of a bus to highlight racial inequality and many others followed
Outline NSI as an alternative explanation for social change
When info is provided about what the majority is doing, social change is encouraged by the exposure to this majority behaviour
Used by campaigns to make positive use of our tendency to conform to the majority
