Resistance to social influence Flashcards
(11 cards)
What are the two explanations of resistance to social influence?
- social support
- locus of control
How does Asch’s research support the social support explanation? (conformity)
- Asch found that social support enables individuals to resist conformity
- He included dissenting confederate in his variation study
- Broke the unanimity of the majority and gives individuals confidence to against the majority
- however, effect is temporary
How does Milgram’s study support the social support explanation? (obedience)
- In one variation, the real ppt was paired with 2 confederates who played the role of teacher
- the 2 confederates refused to continue and withdrew from experiment
- In this variation, real ppts who proceeded to go onto 450v dropped from 65% to 10%
What does locus of control refer to?
Refers to a persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour
What does it mean if someone has a high internal locus of control?
- they believe that we can control the events of our lives
- What happens to them is a consequence of their own actions
- more likely to display independence in their own beliefs
- rely less on others opinons
What does it mean if someone has a high external locus of control?
- believes what happens to them is due to external factors e.g. influence of others/luck
- tend to approach events more passively and fatalistic
- less personal responsibility for actions and accept influence of others
What are some characteristics of internals?
- active seekers of information that is useful to them, less likely to rely on other people
- more achievement-orientated, more likely to become leaders than followers (Spector)
- are better able to resist coercion
A03 - Strength is that there is research to support the role of dissenting peers in resisting conformity
- Allen and Levine found that conformity decreased when there was one dissenter in Asch-type study
- More importantly, this occurred even if the dissenter wore thick glasses and said he had difficulty with vision
- Supports the view that resistance is not motivated by just following what someone else says but it enables someone to be free of the pressure of the group
- Therefore provides strong evidence supporting the role of social support in resisting conformity
A03 - Furthermore, there is research to support the role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience
- Gameson et al found higher levels of resistance in their study than Milgram’s
- They had to produce evidence that would be used to help an oil company run a smear campagin
- However, in Gameson’s research ppts were placed in groups
- In Gamesons study 29 out of 33 groups of ppts 88% rebelled
- Shows peer support is linked to greater resistance to obedience
- thus supporting social support explanation
A03 - Strength of locus of control is that there is research evidence
- Holland repeated Milgram’s baseline study and investigated if people were externals or internals
- Found that 37% of internals did not continue to the highest level of shock
- 23% of externals did not continue
- Shows that internal locus of control individuals do show greater resistance to authority
- Increased the validity of the LOC explanation and our confidence that it can explain resistance
A03 - However, there is contradictory research and some research fail to support the link between LOC and resistance to social influence
- Twenge et al analysed data from American studies of locus of control over a 40 year period
- Data over this time shows that people have become more resistance to obedience, but also more external in their LOC
- If resistance to social influence is linked to an internal LOC we would expect more people to have become more internal
- This challenges the link between internal LOC and increasing resistant behaviour; calling into question the validity of LOC as an explanation for resistance to social influence
