Resistance to social influence Flashcards
What does Asch’s research on conformity show us?
How difficult it is to go against the crowd
- Not only because humans have such a strong need to be accepted by a group
- But a desire to act in the right way
What did Asch find out about the present of SOCIAL SUPPORT?
An individuals resists conformity pressure from the majority.
What happened in one of the variations of his study?
An introduction of an ally led to a reduction in conformity from 33% to just 5.5%
What does research show about opposing to the authoirty figure?
An individual is more likely to resist the authoirty figures orders when they have an ally
What is a locus of control?
A person’s perception of personal control over their behaviour
How is locus control measured?
High internal or High external
What does someone with a strong internal locus of control mean?
They believe that what happens to them is largely a consequence of their own ability and effort
More likely to show displays of independence in thought and behaviour
Less likely to rely on others, better able to resist social influence
what does someone witha strong external locus of control mean?
believe that what happens to them is determined by external factors
Things happen to them largely out of their control
The importance of response order
Allen and Levine (1969) studied whether the response positions of the person providing social support made any difference to a participant resisting the majority
- One conditio, a confederate answered first, giving the right answer while other confederates gave the wrong answer
- Real participant answered last
- Second condition, confederate answered fourth (ie aftre the other confederates). Supporting was significantly more effective in position 1 than in position 4
Researchers suggest that a correct first answer, in confirming the participants own judgement, prodeuces an initial commitment to the correct response that endures even though other group members disagree
Social suuport in the real world: the Rosenstrasse protest
The Rosenstrasse protest is a illustration of Milgram’s research in real life
- 1943, a group of German women protested in Rosenstrasse
- Nazi police holding 2,000 jewish men married to non-jewish women
- Despite threats of being shot at the women held their ground
- Jews set free
Milgram found that the presents of disobedient peers gave the participant the confidence and courage to resit the authoirty’s order
People are more external than they used to be
Research suggests a historical trend in locus of control, with young people becoming increasingly external
- Twenge et al. (2004), young Americans increasingly believed that their fate was determined more by luck and powerful others
- Rather than their own behaviour
- Locus of control became substantially more external in student and child samples between 1960-2002
Twenge interprets this trend towards increasing externality in terms of the alienation experienced by young people and the tendency to explain misfortunes on outside forced
Research support
Avtgis (1998) carried out a meta-analysis of studies of the relationship between locus of control and different forms of social influence, including conformirty
- Positive correlation for the relationship between scores of internality/externality and scores on measures of persuasion, social influence and conformity
The analysis showed that individuals who scored higher on external locus of control tend to be easily persuaded, more easily influenced and more conforming than those who score as internsl in terms of locus of control
