Social influence- social support and locus of control Flashcards
When does resistance to social influence occur?
When the individual decides:
-not to conform to the majority
-not to obey the orders of an authority figure
Resisting social influence can involve a certain degree of what?
Risk
-Marginalisation or rejection
-Punishment
Define social support
The perception that an individual has assistance available from other people and that they are part of a supportive network
What does social support allow an individual to do?
follow their conscience and go against the group/authority
Give an example of social support
If someone else resists, i.e they too do not conform/obey
Which variation of a study explored the idea of social support?
-Asch
-Variation of unanimity
-Milgram (obediance)
-involved one variation in which there was at least one disobedient confederate (when the shock generator reached 150 the confederate teacher said he did not wish to continue, when it reached 210 a second confederate said they did not wish to continue)
What were the results of these studies (variation)?
-When one of the confederates went against the group and gave the correct answer, conformity levels decreased from 32% to 5%
-When one confederate gave a different incorrect answer, conformity decreased to 9%
-90% of participants dropped out before getting to 450 volts
-30% of participants required only one act of defiance to exercise their resistance to authority
Define locus of control
the extent to which someone believes that they have control over + responsibility for their lives rather than holding external factors responsible
Who designed a scale to measure LOC which assesses the extent to which someone uses a predominantly internal or external LOC?
Rotter (1966)
Define internal locus of control
-People feel they have control over and are responsible for events occurring in their life
Name some characteristics of people with a high internal locus of control do?
-Have more confidence
-Intelligent
-Achievement orientated
-Need little approval from others
-Resist pressure to conform/obey as they adhere to a high set of standards that they have designated themselves
-Are active information seekers for things taht are useful to them so are less likely to rely on others opinions
-Less vunerable to social influence
Give examples of high internal LOC behaviours
-accepting responsibility for not passing an exam by admitting that they did not work hard enough
-refusing to work beyond office hours at the weekend for a tyrannical boss
-not joining in with friends who are gossiping about someone behind their back
What is meant by high external LOC behaviours
people feel that they have no control over their lives and assume a lack of responsibility for their behaviour
Give some charcteristics
-less able to resist pressure to conform and obey as they believe that other
-external factors determine their outcomes
-lack confidence, feel insecure and have a high need for social approval
Give some examples of high external locus of control
-blaming the teacher for an exam failure
-working beyond office hours at the weekend for a tyrannical boss because they do not feel that they can say no
-joining in with friends who are gossiping about someone behind their back as they want to stay ‘in’ with the group
Give an example of research for high internal LOC
-Spector
-Relationship between locus of control and leadership
-Internals are more goal oreintated + persuasive
Give a strength of social support (Research)
-Rank and Jacobson
-A doctor (who was given a name the nurses recognised) telephoned 18 different nurses
-The doctor asked each nurse to administer a non-lethal dose of Valium (a drug the nurses would have been familiar with)
-The nurses were able to discuss the doctor’s order with other nurses
-Only two of the 18 nurses immediately followed the doctor’s order
-Thus, social support is a key factor in resisting social influence as the nurses were able to discuss the order first
Give a strength of LOC (research support)
-Holland (1967) repeated Milgram’s experiment and found that 37% of participants who refused to continue to 450 volts had a high internal LOC (compared to 24% of participants with a high external LOC)
-Thus, there is some validity to the idea that a high internal LOC is linked to resistance to authority
Give a limitation of social support (Does not apply ton everyone)
-support enables people to resist social influence may not be true for everyone
-Some people will always obey, regardless of the circumstances
-Others will never obey, regardless of the circumstances
-Others may find social support helpful in one context but not in another
-Thus, the social support argument does not account for individual differences
Give a limitation of LOC (Rotter)
-Rotter
-Only seems to apply to new situations
-If someone has previously obeyed/conformed in one specific situation/set of circumstances, they will likely do so again, regardless of whether they have an internal or external LOC
-This reduces the validity of the theory to some extent
