Resistance To Social Influence Flashcards
(13 cards)
What can help people resist conformity?
Social support
Social support reduces pressure to conform when others are present who aren’t conforming.
What effect does a non-conformer have in Asch’s study?
Acts as a ‘model’
The presence of a non-conformer can lead naive participants to also conform if the non-conformer starts to conform.
How can social support help resistence to obedience?
Pressure to obey reduced if someone else is present and not obeying
What happens to obedience levels when a disobedient confederate is present?
Obedience dropped from 65% to 10% in one of Milgram’s variations
Who first proposed the concept of Locus of Control?
Rotter (1966)
The concept distinguishes between internal and external control.
What do individuals with an internal locus of control believe?
What happens to them is controlled by themselves
They take personal responsibility for their actions and outcomes.
How does an external locus of control differ from an internal one?
What happens to them is out of their control
Individuals with an external LOC feel less personal responsibility for their outcomes.
How can locus of control relate to resistence to social influence?
Internal LOC more likely to resist conformity and obedience, take responsibility for their actions and experiences good or bad.
Base their decision on their own beliefs and resist peer pressure
What personality traits are associated with a high internal locus of control?
More self-confident, achievement-oriented, higher intelligence, less need for social approval
These traits lead to greater resistance to social influence.
What are strengths of resistance to conformity?
Research supports dissenters in resisting conformity such as Allen and Levine that found conformity decrease with one dissenter, occured even if the dissenter wasn’t a reliable source
Shows resistance isnt just motivated by following dissenter, it enables them to be free of group pressure
Whats a strength of resistance to obedience?
Research supports dissenter in obedience resistance as Gamson et al found higher levels of resistance than Milgram probably due to partipants being in groups
29 out of 33 groups rebelled, showing peer support is linked to greater resistance
Whats a strength of LOC and resistance?
Holland repeated Milgrams baseline study, measuring whether participants were internal or external with 37% internal not continuing to 450 volts and 23% externals not continuing
Shows internals show greater resistance to authority compared to externals, increasing validity of LOC explanation
Whats a limitation of LOC and resistance?
Not all research supports the link as Twenge et al an analysed data from american LOC from 1960-2002 that showed people have become more resistant to obedience but also more external
If resistance was linked to an internal LOC = people become more internal, results may be due to a changing society with many things out of personal control
