Social Influence : Resistance To Social Influence Flashcards
Is locus of control dispositional or situational ?
Dispositional
Is social support dispositional or situational ?
Situational
Locus of control
Degree of control which an individual feels the have
What do internals believe ?
Things happen to them under their control
What do externals believe ?
Things happen outside their control
Who’s more likely to resist social pressure
Internals because they base decisions on their own lives and they’re more confident
LoC evaluation : Holland +
- repeated milgrams study and 37% internals didn’t go to 450v
LoC evaluation: -
- loc in resisting social pressure has been exaggerated so limited role
- rotter LoC only comes to play in novel situations so its only in a few situations
- on familiar situations, previous experienced will always be more important
- contradictory research
- twinge found people became more resistant to obedience but also more external but if resistance linked to LOC , should be internal
- challenges link
What is minority influence ?
One person or a small group influence beliefs
Which type of conformity does minority influence lead to ?
Internalisation
How did Moscovici study minority influence ?
- blue slide , green slide study
- 6 people asked to judge colour of slide
Moscovici : how many confederates ?
2 confederates who said slide is green on every 2/3 of trials
Moscovici : how did participants react to confederates
- they answered the same wrong answer on 8.42%
Moscovici : what happened when a second group was introduced ?
The second group was exposed to an inconsistent minority and agreement fell to 1.25%
Moscovici : what happened with a third control group ?
No confederates and participants only got it wrong on 0.25%
Consistency
- consistency increases interest from others
- can be over time
- people rethink own view
- draws attention to minority view
Commitment
- extreme activity to draw attention
- sacrifice because they’re at personal risk
Flexibility
- minority need to be prepared to adapt so show balance
- compromise
- of consistency
You can be seen as opinionated and unbending
Process of change
- if you hear something new you might take time to thinks bout it deeper
Snowball effect
Switch from minority to majority and the rate of conversion becomes faster
Social support
Ability to withstand social pressure to conform to the majority
Why do people resist pressure ?
- They have an ally who builds confidence
- breaks the unanimity because individuals have support
Minority influence evaluation : research support for consistency +
- Moscovici showed consistency had a greater effect than inconsistent opinion
- wood et al also found minorities who were consistent were more influential
- consistency plays major role in minority influence
Minority influence evaluation : artificial tasks -
- tasks can be artificial
- for example Moscovicis slide study isn’t realistic
- far from how minorities would change behaviour in real life
- lacks external validity
Minority influence evaluation : research support for internalisation -
- in moscovicis study participants they answered right privately so majority were being influenced by minority argument
- even if people agree they don’t publicly agree as they dint want to be associated with minorities
Minority influence evaluation : limited real world application -
- clear distinction between majority and minimum so the majority have higher power / status
- in real life situations majorities have more power and its more complaicated
What is social change ?
- society changes its beliefs to create new social norms
- happens at a gradual pace
- minority influence is the main driving force
Examples of social change
- Homosexuality
- drink driving
Stages of social change
- Draw attention by focusing majority
- Minority show consistency
- Deeper processing
- Augmentation principle
- Snowball effect
6 critical mass which leads to social cryptomnesia
What is critical mass
Pony the minimum becomes majority
What is social cryptomnesia
- people have a memory that social change occurred but they don’t remember what happened
Conformity creating social change
- dissenters encourage others to dissent
- links to NSI
Obedience creating social change
- disobedience can lead to social change
Conformity maintaining social change
- people conform to new norms via compliance
- fit in (NSI)
Obedience maintaining social change
- new social norms can have laws and rules
Example of obedience maintaining social change
Homophobia is illegal
Social influence / change evaluation : resreach support
- Nolan hung messages telling residents to reduce energy
- first group compared to control had a significant difference
- conformity can lead to social change through nsi
Social influence / change evaluation : methodological issues -
- how social influence leads to social change relies on Moscovici , asch and miligram
- all lack internal/external because of artificial nature
- reduces validity of minority influence linked to social change
Social influence / change evaluation : indirectly effective -
- decades for attitudes towards smoking and drink driving to change
- nemeth that effects of minority are likely to be indirect and delayed therefore social change happened slowly
- role of minorities influence may be very limited
How does social support help people ?
It allows them to act according to their own conscience
Social support : Aschs study +
- A confederate gave the right answer throughout and conformity dropped to 5%
- when the non-conforming confederate starts conforming the participant sdoes so the effect is not long lasting
Social support evaluation : miligram +
2 confederates which refused to shock and obedience dropped to 10%
