Social influence Flashcards
two explanations of resistance to social influence
social support
locus of control
what is resistance to social influence
the ability to withstand the social pressure to conform/ obey
how does social support affect conformity/ obedience
pressure to conform can be resisted if another person is present, who isn’t conforming/ obeying - someone else who isn’t following the majority
who proved the importance of social support when resisting conformity
Asch - the participant proved less likely to conform in the presence of a dissenter
who proved the pressure to obey can be resisted by social support
Milgram
in milgrams experiment, how much did obedience rates drop by after adding in social support
from 65% to 10%
what is locus on control
a concept concerned with internal virus external control
two types of people according to locus of control
internal LOC
external LOC
but LOC is a scale so there are highs and lows of both externals and internals
what do internal LOC and external LOC believe
internal = things that happen to them are controlled by themselves
external = things that happen to them are out of their control
locus of control in relation to resistance to social influence
people with high internal local of control are more likely tp resist pressures to conform/ obey. can be because they take responsibility for their actions/ experiences.
can also be as they are more likely to have a higher intelligence and be more self confident - traits which lead to grater resistance
what is minority influence
refers to situations where one person or a small group influences the beliefs and behaviour of people
how is minority influence different to conformity
conformity is where the majority is doing the influencing however in both the people being influenced can be any number of people
minority influence is more likely to lead to internalisation
what is internalisation
both public behaviour and private beliefs are changed by the process
what are the three behaviours minorities should show when trying to influence others
consistency
flexibility
commitment
commitment for minority influence
minority should demonstrate commitment to their cause/ views
sometimes minority engage in quite extreme activities to gain attention
augmentation principle
flexibility for minority influence
someone who is extremely consistent who repeats the same argument sea behaviours again and again may be seen as rigid
members of the minority need to be prepared to adapt their view and accept reasonable counterarguments
balance between consistency and flexibility
consistency for minority influence
must be consistent with views
consistency increases interest in the group over time
example of an experiment on minority influence
Moscovici - blue/ green slide study
showed that a consistent minority had a greater effect in changing the views of other people than an inconsistent opinion
limitation of minority influence research
tasks involved are often artificial and therefore not very reliable as it is far removed from how minorities attempt to change behaviours in real life
they are lacking in ecological validity
in Moscovici’s experiment what percentage of participants agreed with the minority and what does this suggest
8%
suggests that minority influence is quite rare and not a useful concept
