resisting social influence: dispositional explanations Flashcards
what are the two explanations of resistance to social influence
social support
locus of control
define locus of control as a dispositional explanation for resistance
can resist the pressure to conform or obey because of their personality
rotter- idea of locus of control
(people have control over their own lives)
measured on a continuum- will either be internal or external
what is internal locus of control
believe what happens in their life is largely the result of their own behaviour
have control over their life
these individuals would be better at resisting social pressures - as they feel in control
what is external locus of control
what happens to them is controlled by external factors e.g luck or fate
more likely to conform and obey
feel they do not have complete control over their lives
less able to resist social influence
EVAL- locus of control
supporting evidence from obedience research
oliner and oliner interviews non jewish survivors
compared to who resisted orders and protected to those who hadn’t
found rescuers more likely to have an internal LOC than the 126 people who followed orders
supports idea that internal LOC makes individuals less likely to follow orders
EVAL - locus of control
supporting evidence from conformity research
spector - used control scale to see whether LOC is associated with conformity
157 students - those with I LOC less likely to conform than those with E LOC
however only in situations of NSI
no difference between groups for ISI
suggests that LOC is more influential when conforming to NSI than ISI
EVAL - locus of control
methodology criticism
been assessed using rotter scale
23 item forced choice
asked to indicate which of two statements closely fits
self report studies- problem of social desirability bias - may feel need to say right thing
casts doubt on validity of the categorisation of respondents into internal or external types
outline social support as a situational explanation to resisting social influence
presence of other people who resist the pressure to conform or obey
Help others to do the same
these act as role models who show others that resistance to social influence is possible
how does social support help resist conformity?
The presence of support from someone else makes it easier to resist social pressure.
The individual feels more confident in their own decision and more confident to reject the major majority position if someone else is doing so too.
an ally can help break the unanimity of the group
how does social support help resist obedience?
Presence of other people who disobey and serve to reduce obedience
Another person disobeying act as a role model and empowers observer to also disobey
Having a disobedient role model who resist the pressures to obey challenges the legitimacy of the authority figure
evaluation of social support
Supporting evidence from conformity research
comes from Ash variations
One of the Confederate was instructed to give the correct answer throughout
the rate of conformity dropped to 5% - showing that ally makes it easier to resist conformity
if the non-conforming Confederate started to conform again so does the naive participant
demonstrates if individual has social support for their belief then are more likely to resist the pressure to conform
evaluation of social support
Supporting evidence from obedience research
One of milgrams variations real participant paired with two additional confederates who played the role of teachers
The two additional Confederate refused to go on and withdrew from the experiment early
percentage of real participants who proceeded dropped from 65% to 10%
suggest that if an individual has social support, then they are likely to resist the pressure to obey
evaluation of social support-
Credibility of social support
research shows that social support does not even have to be valid to have an effect and help individuals resist
people resisted conform to even when the support was not convincing for example an ally war thick glasses and said he had eyesight problems to an ash style study
even in this resistance to conformity increased
Suggest that a poor source of support still increases resistance
evaluation of social support
Alternative explanation
maybe other factors such as confidence contributing to individuals resistance
believed it is much easier to resist if they have real confidence in correctness of own answers
for example, that Lucas at all maths study
suggest that people who are more confident are less influenced by the apparently right view of majority and are able to resist social influence
