Social influence: Resistance to social influence

Question 1

What is social support?

Answer 1

The perception that an individual has assistance available from other people, and that they are part of a support network.

Question 2

What are the 2 explanations for resistance to social influence?

Answer 2

Social support

Locus of control (LOC)

Question 3

What is resistance to social influence?

Answer 3

It refers to the ability of people to withstand social pressure to conform to the majority or to obey authority.

Question 4

What is locus of control?

Answer 4

It refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives. Internals believe they are mostly responsible for what happens to them (internal locus of control). Externals believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces (external locus of control).

Question 5

How can social support help to resist conformity?

Answer 5

Social support can help people to resist conformity - the pressure to conform can be reduced if there are other people present who are not conforming.

For example, in a variation of Asch’s study, if the real participant saw another confederate disagreeing with the majority, conformity dropped sharply.
These confederates provide the participant with moral and social support, even if they are not giving the right answer. It is simply the fact that someone else is not following the majority that seems to enable a person to be ‘free’ to give the correct answer.

Question 6

How can social support help to resist obedience?

Answer 6

• The pressure to obey can be reduced if there is another person who is also seen to disobey.
• Disobedient peers, therefore, act as role models on which the individuals can model their own behaviour.

Question 7

Outline one of Milgram’s variations that supports how social support can lead resisting obedience.

Answer 7

• The participant was one of a team of 3 testing the learner. The other 2 were actually confederates, one after another they refused to continue shocking the learner and withdrew.
• The rate of obedience dropped to 10%.
  This shows that social support can be a factor that leads to resistance to obedience.

Question 8

People who have an internal locus of control are more likely to be able to resist pressures to conform or obey, why?

Answer 8

• If a person takes personal responsibility for their actions then they are more likely to display independent behaviour and therefore less likely to accept the influence of others.
• They are more likely to base their decisions on their own beliefs, rely less on the opinion of others and are more self-confident and therefore resist pressures from others to conform or obey.
• People who have a high external LOC take less personal responsibility for their actions and are less likely to display independent behaviour and therefore more likely to accept the influence of others.

Question 9

What is a strong internal locus of control?

Answer 9

Individuals with a strong internal locus of control believe events in their life are primarily a result of their own actions: for example, when receiving exam results, people with an internal locus of control tend to praise or blame themselves and their abilities.

Question 10

What do people with a strong external locus of control believe?

Answer 10

People with a strong external locus of control tend to believe that what happens to them is determined by uncontrollable external factors such as the influence of others, luck or fate - so they believe that things turn out a certain way regardless of their actions.

Question 11

People, who have an internal locus of control are more likely to be able to resist pressures to conform or obey, why?

Answer 11

• If a person takes personal responsibility for their actions then they are more likely to display independent behaviour and therefore less likely to accept the influence of others. They are more likely to base their decisions on their own beliefs, rely less on the opinion of others and are more self-confident and therefore resist pressures from others to conform or obey.
• People who have a high external LOC and take less personal responsibility for their actions are less likely to display independent behaviour and therefore more likely to accept the influence of others.

Question 12

What is internality?

Answer 12

Individuals tend to believe that they’re responsible for their behaviour rather and experience rather than external forces.

Question 13

What is externality?

Answer 13

There are eternal factors that determine a persons outcomes e.g luck or fate.

Question 14

A03: Social support

Answer 14

+ Evidence from Asch
+ Evidence from Allen and Levine

Question 15

A03: Evidence from Asch

Answer 15

Research from Asch supports the idea that social support leads to more independent behaviour and resistance to social influence. For example, when Asch introduced a dissenter who gave the correct answer on his lines test, Asch saw a decrease in conformity (from 32% to 5%). This is a strength because it shows that social support is important in bringing about independent behaviour and reducing social influence.

Question 16

A03: Evidence from Allen and Levine

Answer 16

Research has demonstrated that when participants are joined by a dissenter, the level of conformity within a group falls. For example, Allen and Levine (1971) conducted a study similar to Asch’s study with three conditions: C1 the participant was given a supporter with extremely poor vision (evident from the glasses that he wore with thick lenses), C2 the participant was given a supporter with normal vision, C3 the participant wasn’t given a supporter. This is a strength because the research from Allen and Levine supports the idea that social support (even unreliable dissenters) can decrease the level of conformity and lead to more independent behaviour.

Question 17

A03: Locus of control

Answer 17

+ Support for LOC from Milgram and Elms
+ Evidence from Oliner and Oliner
- Limited role of LOC
- Evidence from Twenge

Question 18

A03: Support for LOC from Milgram and Elms

Answer 18

Further research has supported the fact that personality plays an important role in resisting obedience to authority. Elms and Milgram (1974) set out to investigate the background of disobedient participants by following up and interviewing a sub-sample of those involved in Milgram’s experiments. Milgram found that disobedient participants had a high internal locus of control. This is a strength as the research supports the idea that a high level of self-esteem and a high rating of internal control can lead to more resisting obedience and that locus of control is an important factor in an individual’s ability to resist social influence.

Question 19

A03: Evidence from Oliner and Oliner

Answer 19

Oliner & Oliner (1998) interviewed non-Jewish survivors of WWII and compared those who had resisted orders and protected Jewish people from the Nazis, in comparison to those who had not. Found that the 406 ‘rescuers’, who had resisted orders, were more likely to have a high internal locus of control, in comparison to the 126 people who had simply followed orders. These results appear to support the idea that a high internal locus of control makes individuals less likely to follow orders.

Question 20

A03: Limited role of LOC

Answer 20

Limited role of LOC - Rotter found that LOC is only important in new situations. If an individual has conformed or resisted influence in a past situation, they will repeat the same behaviour when confronted with a similar or identical scenario. This limits the use of LOC in explaining resistance.

Question 21

A03: Evidence from Twenge

Answer 21

Twenge et al (2004) found that over time, Americans have become more resistant to obedience, but have also become more external in their locus of control. This weakens the suggestion that having an internal locus of control leads to resistance to social influence.