resistance to social influence Flashcards
(12 cards)
explanation
majority confrom or obey to demands of authority
however, some refuse to do so
this may be due to social suport provided by others
more liekly to stand against peer pressure if have an ally
other explanatiaons include personality, if the person flikes to remain independendt when faced wih pressure from others
socual support
asch study showed how hard it is to go against crowd, may be due to need to be accepted by group or have desire to act in rigth way
resisting conformity
social support can help people to resist conforming
much easier if there are otehrs who refuse to conform
in assch study, non-conforming person was not always even giving correct answer but simply the fact that someone else is not allowing the majority allows antther person to feel more free and follow thier own conciousness
however, asch showed, once non-conforming person starts to conform again, then the naive partcipant does too
shows the effect is not long lasting
resisitng obedience
social support can also help a person to resist obedience
pressure to obey can be reduced if there is another person who is seen to disobey
in asch study, particpant was joined by disobedeint confederate
other persons disobedience acts as a model for the partcipant to copy that frees him to act from his own conciousness
locus of contro defintion
refers to a persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour
measured along a contnuum of high internal to high external
internal LOC
people beleive that what heppens to them is largely the result of their OWN behaviour and that they have control over their life
e.g confident, no need ofr external approval
external LOC
people believ that what happens to them is controlled by external factors and they do not have complete control over their lives
e.g can lack confdient
seek approval from others
resistnce to social influence
people with high internal LOC tend to be more slef-confident, more achievement orientated, have higher intelligence
perosnality traits lead to greater resistance to soical influence
strength of locus of control
research support for the link between LOC and resitnce to obedience
holland repeated milgrmas study and measured whether partcipanst were internals or externals. Results showed that 37% of interals did not continue to the highest shock level, they show inderpendenace and only 23% of externals did not continue
internals showed greater reistcnce increasing the validty of the LOC explnation and out confidence that can explain resistnce
wekaness of locus of control
contradictory evidence
twenge et a; analysed data from American obedienece studies over a 40 year period
datda showed that over this time span pople have become mroe resitance to obedience and more external
strength-research support for the role of the dissenter in resisting obedience
Gamson et al found higher levels of resistance in their study than in milgrams
weakness-role if LOC may be exaggerated
ritter et al found LOC is only important in new situations it has little influence in fumarole situations where previous experiences are always more important
