Explanations of Resistance to Social Influence, including Social Support and Locus of Control

Question 1

What is Locus of Control?

Answer 1

The degree to which people believe that they, as opposed to external forces, have control over the outcome of events in their lives

Question 2

What does a person with an Internal Locus of Control believe?

Answer 2

Behaviour is caused by their own personal decisions and effort

Question 3

What does a person with an External Locus of Control believe?

Answer 3

Behaviour is caused by luck or fate

Question 4

What is the connection between a person’s locus of control and their obedience?

Answer 4

People with more of an internal locus of control conform and obey less - this because they take more responsibility for their own actions and see themselves as having more control than someone with a high external locus of control, and so are more likely to make decisions based on their own moral code, as opposed to someone else’s. Therefore, people with a
high internal locus of control are more likely to be leaders, not followers.
The opposite goes for those with an external locus of control - since they believe that the majority of their life
events are beyond their control, this means that they are more likely to act on behalf of another (i.e. as their agent) and shift responsibility onto this individual. Those with an external locus of control are particularly susceptible to obedience.

Question 5

Give an example of a high internal locus of control thought

Answer 5

‘I won the award because I worked hard for it’

Question 6

Give an example of a high external locus of control thought

Answer 6

‘I won the award because it was meant to be – it was my destiny’

Question 7

What are the evaluation points for the Locus of Control?

Answer 7

1. Research evidence supporting the link between locus of control and obedience
2. Research evidence supporting the link between locus of control and social responsibility.

Question 8

What is the evaluation paragraph for ‘research evidence supporting the link between locus of control and obedience’?

Answer 8

There is research evidence supporting the link between locus of control and obedience. For example, Atgis (1998) conducted a meta-analysis of studies considering locus of control and likeliness to conform. It was found that those who scored highest on the eternal locus of control were more easily persuaded and more likely to conform. Therefore, having an
external locus of control leads to a greater rate of conformity.

Question 9

What is the evaluation paragraph for ‘research evidence supporting the link between locus of control and social responsibility’?

Answer 9

There is also research evidence supporting the link between locus of control and social responsibility. For example, Oliner and Oliner (1988) interviewed two groups of non-Jewish people who had lived through the holocaust. They also interviewed 406 people who protected and rescued Jews from Nazis and 126 people who did not. The rescuers were found to have an internal locus of control and also scored higher on measures of social responsibility.

Question 10

Who ‘created’ Locus of Control? (+date!)

Answer 10

Rotter in 1966

Question 11

Give two pieces of research evidence used to explain resistance to social influence via social support (dates!)

Answer 11

1. Snyder and Fromkin (1980)

2. Deutsch and Gerard (1955)

Question 12

Outline Snyder and Fromkin’s research into social support (P. F & C)

Answer 12

P: They led one group of American students to believe that their attitudes were the same as 10,000 other people, and another group that these attitudes were different to 10,000 other people. In reality, these 10,000 people did not exist, but it was deigned to make the first group feel like they were not individuals

F: When participants toom part in a conformity study, those who had been told that their attitudes were the same as 10,000 others did not conform

C: The researchers argued that the participants in the first group had lost their identity and were trying to reassert their individuality by not conforming. This suggests that people will show independent behaviour because they have a desire for individuation.

Question 13

What 3 AO3 points can be used for Snyder and Fromkin’s study?

Answer 13

1. Study supports the desire for individuation explanation of independent behaviour
2. Suggests that when we feel too similar to everyone else, we will display non-conformity because we wish to assert our independence
3. However, America is an individualistic culture - collectivist culture results may be different (culture bias)

Question 14

Outline Deutsch and Gerard’s research into social change

Answer 14

P: These researchers replicated the Asch conformity study but with one crucial difference - this time, the participants gave their answer before the confederate. After the participants heard the confederates’ wrong answers, they were given the chance to change their minds and conform with the group

F: Participants almost never changed their minds, suggesting that they believed they would seem weak if they changed to fit with the group

C: This supports the idea that prior commitment leads to reduction in conformity, and an increase in independent behaviour

Question 15

What are the 3 general evaluation points for both Deutsch and Gerard’s and Snyder and Fromkin’s studies?

Answer 15

1. Laboratory studies
2. The benefits of independent behaviour
3. Social heroism

Question 16

‘Flesh out’ the evaluation point for the general research point - laboratory studies

Answer 16

Most of these studies took place in artificial settings. This means that they may not be easy to generalise to real life situations where there is an for independent behaviour, such as when deciding which film to see with friends. Real-life situations such as this are much more intricate as real-life friendships are complicated by several factors. This might affect the validity of the research

Question 17

‘Flesh out’ the evaluation point for the general research point - the benefits of independent behaviour

Answer 17

Studies in this area highlight the conditions which are necessary for independent behaviour, which has many benefits, such as the questioning of unjust use of authority, and new, creative ideas. If research into the factors which can lead to independent behaviour was given wider coverage, this could lead to an increase in creativity in the workplace, for example, as people will be aware of how they can be independent and avoid groupthink

Question 18

‘Flesh out’ the evaluation point for the general research point - social heroism

Answer 18

Zimbardo coined the term to indicate that we can all act ‘heroically’ given the right circumstances. Research into independent behaviour is useful as it demonstrates the conditions that lead to an increase in social heroism

Question 19

What are the 3 evaluation points for social support?

Answer 19

1. the importance of response order
2. research demonstrates the importance of social support in resisting social influence
3. social support in the real world: the Rosenstrasse project

Question 20

What is the PEEL paragraph for the social support evaluation point; ‘the importance of response order’

Answer 20

P - Allen and Levine studied whether the response position of the person providing social support made ay difference to a participant resisting the majority
E - in one condition, a confederate answered first, giving the right answer, while other confederates all gave the same wrong answer. The real participant always answered fifth (last).
E - in the second condition, the confederate answered fourth, i.e. after the other confederates. Support was significantly, more effective in position 1 than in position 4
L - the researchers suggest that a correct first answer, in confirming the participant’s own judgement, produced an initial commitment to the correct response that endures even though other group members disagree

Question 21

What is the PEEL paragraph for the social support evaluation point; ‘research demonstrates the importance of social support in resisting social influence’

Answer 21

P - Rees et al. showed that the social support provided by friends helped adolescents resist conformity pressures from the majority
E - individuals with a majority of friends who drank alcohol were significantly more likely to have engaged in drunkenness and binge drinking over the previous 12 months. However, they also found that individuals were able to resist pressures to drink alcohol when they had a friend or two who also resisted
L - this is consistent with lab-based experiments on social influence and shows that the social support offered by non-drinking friends can decrease the odds of a non-drinker deciding to consume alcohol, even when faced with the conformity pressures of a drinking majority

Question 22

What is the PEEL paragraph for the social support evaluation point; ‘social support in the real world: the Rosenstrasse project’

Answer 22

P - the Rosenstrasse protest is a stark illustration of Milgram’s research in real life
E - in 1943, a group of German women protested in the Rosenstrasse in Berlin, where the Gestapo (Nazi secret police) were holding 2,000 Jewish men, most of whom were married to non-Jewish partners or were the male children of these ‘mixed’ marriages.
E - despite the Gestapo threatening to open fire on them, the women’s courage eventually prevailed and the Jews were set free
L - Milgram found that the presence of disobedient peers gave the participant the confidence and courage to resist the authority’s orders. Likewise, these women defied the authority of the Gestapo together, given courage by the collective action of their peers