Resistance to Social Influence Flashcards
(12 cards)
What is the locus of control?
Refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives:
Internals believe they are mostly responsible for what happens to them (Internal locus of control)
Externals believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces (external locusof control)
How does an internal locus of control correlate with social influence?
ILoC are more likely to resist to social influence:
- They take personal responsiblity for their actions so are more likely to base their decisiosns of their own beliefs & resist pressure from others
- Tend to be more self-confident & have higher intelligence & have less need for social approval
e.g. a person belueves they can influence how well they do on a test, what they do to prepare is going to influence their result
How does an external locus of control correlate with social influence?
ELoc tend to belive that what happens to them is determined by external factors such as influence of others or luck
- Have a sense that things ‘just happen to them’ & are largely out of control
- People high in externality tend to approach events with a more passive & fatalistic attitude than internals, taking less responsibility for their actions & more likely to accept the influence of others
e.g. A person believes that external factors that they cannot control determine what the outcome is e.g. no matter how much work I do, the exam will be difficult, the marker is biased etc, even if they do well, they attribute this to luck.
What research is there into locus of control?
Rotter (1966) developed whole theory of LOC
- Developed a self report questionairre to measure locus of control
- He found that people with a higher internal LOC were more likely to resist social influence than people with a higher external LOC.
What is social support?
The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others do the same.
These people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible
How can being in a group help social support?
The presence of allies helps you to remain independant
- In Milgrams study obedience decreased to 10% from 65% in baseline study when two other confederates (in on the study) refused to obey, who refused to follow orders at either 150 or 200 volts.
- In conformity studies investigating the impact of unamity- Aschs study- Just one ally reduced conformity from 32% to 5% suggesting social support decreases conformity
- In another variation, Asch found that even if one confederate gave a different incorrect answer to the majority, this increased resistance to social influence in ppts showing just the prescence of social support in the face of majority can help someone act independantly
Allen & Levine - Found that an ally w dubious abilities was able to reduce conformity in an Asch-style experiment.
A confederate wearing thick glasses, indicating poor eyesight & giving a different answer to the majority was neough to support ppts in not conforming to the wrong answer
Haslam & Reicher
- Recreated Zimbardo’s prison study & found that rather than being conformist, the prisoners grouped together & rebelled against the guards
- Suggesting that w social support, people will not necessarily conform to social roles
- This challenges Zimbardo’s theory
What do the results of all these social support studies suugest?
- Show that peoples susceptibility to social influence is environmentally determined, as the prescence or abscenence of an ally/social support clearly changes the behaviour of people in response to obedience or conformity
Give one strength for social support.
OS is the research evidence for positive effects of social support
e.g. Susan albretch (2006) evaluated teen fresh start USA, 8 week programme to help pregnant teens aged 14-19 resist peer pressure to smoke
Social support was provided by slightly older mentor.
At end of programme those who had a mentor were significantly less likely to smoke than a control group of ppts who didnt have a buddy
Shows social support can help young people resist social influence as a part of intervention in the real world
Give another strength for social support (research support for dissenting peers).
Another strength- support the role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience.
Gamson et al (1982) ppts were told to produce evidence that would be used to help a company run a smear campaign
Researchers found higher levels of resistance in thier study than Milgram did in his
Probably because ppts were in groups so could discuss what they were told to do. 29/33 groups of ppts rebelled against orders
Shows that peer support can lead to disobedience by undermining legitimacy of authority
What is one strength of LOC & resistance to obedience?
OS is research to support the link between LOC & resistance to obedience:
Charles Holland repeated Milgrams baseline study & measure whether ppts were internals or externals
Found that 37% of internals did not continue to highest shock level (i.e they showed some resistance)
Only 23% of externals did not continue
Internals showed greater resistance to authority in a Milgram type situation
Shows that resistance is at least partly related to LOC increasing validity of LOC as an explanation for disobedience
Give one limitation of LOC as an explanation.
Twenge (2004)
- Studied LOC studies over 40 years, finding that people had become increasingly more external but also less obedient
- This suggests that the relationship between LOC & resistance to social influence has changed, which implies the theory linking high external LOC has low temporal validity
What does authoritarian personality in resistance to social influence suggest?
xtra- not on spec- spec is just social support & LOC, add this in for A01
- Research has shown that someone with this type of personality is more likely to obey & less likely to resist social influence becasue thy believe someone w higher authority should be obeyed & respected
- This is a dispositional explanation & suggests that someone w a less authoriatarian personality may be less likely to obey
