explainations of resistance to social influence

Question 1

define resistance to social influence

Answer 1

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

This ability to withstand social pressure is influenced by situational and dispositional factors

Question 2

what are the 2 explanations of resistance to social influence

Answer 2

social support

locus of control

Question 3

how does social support help people resist conformity

Answer 3

if someone else is not following the majority it provides social support. It allows people to follow their own conscience as the other person is acting as a model of independent behaviour. This dissent causes more dissent as it shows the majority is no longer unanimous

Question 4

how does social support help people resist obedience

Answer 4

One person’s disobedience acts as a model for others which frees people from their own conscience. Also the disobedient model challenges the legitimacy of authority figure making it easier for others to disobey

Question 5

who came up with the locus of control

Answer 5

Rotter (1966)

Question 6

what are the 2 types of locus of control’s

Answer 6

internals
externals

Question 7

explain what internals believe

Answer 7

believe the things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves

Question 8

explain what externals believe

Answer 8

have the tendency to believe things happen without their control

Question 9

give 5 personality traits of internals

Answer 9

• more self-confident
• more achievement oriented
• more intelligent
• less need for social approval
• less likely to conform/obey
  (more likely to resist the social pressure)

Question 10

give the study that provides the research support to the social support explanation of resistance

Answer 10

Albrecht (2006) evaluated Teen fresh start UK an 8 week programme to help pregnant 14-19 year olds to resist pressure to smoke

social support was provided by a buddy

at end of programme those with a buddy were significantly less likely to smoke than the control group who didn’t have a buddy

Question 11

give the study that provides research support for locus of control

Answer 11

Holland (1967)

repeated milgram’s baseline experiment and measured whether participants were internals or externals

37% of internals didn’t continue to the highest shock level

whereas 23% of externals didn’t continue

internals showed greater resistance of authority . This shows resistance is partly related to LOC