Explanations Of Resistance To Social Influence

Question 1

Locus of control

Answer 1

Was found by Rotter and measures a person’s sense of control over their lives.

Question 2

Internal locus of control

Answer 2

Behaviour is caused by own personal decisions
Ppl with this conform less
Take responsibility for their actions and make decisions on own moral code
More likely to be leaders

Question 3

External locus of control

Answer 3

Behaviour is caused by fate or pressure from others
Events in their life are beyond their control
More likely to act on behalf of another
Are susceptible to obedience

Question 4

AO3

Answer 4

+ there is evidence supporting from Atgis where he conducted a meta analysis of studies considering locus of control and likeness to conform. Those who scored highest on external locus of control were more easily persuaded so more likely to conform.

• locus if control is only valid for novel situations as suggested by Rutter . Previous experiences are always more influential than LOC when an individual is making decisions. This means the explanation is limited to only some cases of obedience

Question 5

Social support

Answer 5

Asch found that when a confederate said the right answer conformity dropped to one quater as the answer matched the ppts actual answer and so provided them w more confidence as their answer has conformation this social support allows them to resist obedience

Question 6

AO3

Answer 6

+ idea is supported by variation of milgram study where there were 2 other ppts and disobeyed experimenter. Presence of the other person caused the level of obedience to reduce to 10% shows social support provides them w confidence

+ gamson et Al gave support to the idea that larger groups provided a stronger social support system so makes resistance to obedience more easy. Found when ppts placed in groups, 88% resisted pressure so demonstrates significance of support system