social support and Locus of control

Resistance to social influence occurs when the individual decides

to disregard social pressures and maintain personal beliefs or behaviors, often due to a strong sense of self-efficacy or internal locus of control.

not to conform to the majority

not to obey the orders of an authority figure

Resisting social influence can involve a certain degree of risk, e.g.

'If I don't go along with the group I will be rejected from it and marginalised'

'If I decide not to obey this order I know that I risk being punished'

If someone else resists i.e they too do not conform/obey, then this constitutes social support which allows an individual to follow their conscience and go against the group/authority

The Asch variation of unanimity explored the idea of social support:

When one of the confederates went against the group and gave the correct answer, conformity levels decreased from 32% to 5%

When one confederate gave a different incorrect answer, conformity decreased to 9%

Milgram's obedience research involved one variation in which there was at least one disobedient confederate:

The participant is put in a group with two confederates (all three are assigned the role of 'Teacher'); one of the confederates is the 'Learner'

When the shock generator reaches 150 volts one of the confederate Teachers says that he does not wish to continue

the experimenter tells him that he must continue but this particular Teacher leaves the experiment

When the shock generator reaches 210 volts the second confederate leaves the experiment

The experimenter instructs the participant to carry on with the task

In this variation, 90% of participants dropped out before getting to 450 volts

30% of participants required only one act of defiance to exercise their resistance to authority

Thus, social support is a strong predictor of resistance to social influence

Locus of control

Locus of control (LOC) refers to the extent to which someone believes that they have control over - and responsibility for - their lives rather than attributing outcomes to external factors

Rotter (1966)designed a scale to measure LOC which assesses the extent to which someone uses a predominantly internal or external LOC

Internal locus of control

High internal LOC is evident in people who feel that they have control over their lives and responsibility for their behaviour

People with a high internal LOC can resist pressure to conform and obey as they adhere to a high set of standards that they have designated themselves

People with a high internal LOC tend to be self-confident, intelligent and achievement-orientated

Examples of high internal LOC behaviour might include:

accepting responsibility for not passing an exam by admitting that they did not work hard enough

refusing to work beyond office hours at the weekend for a tyrannical boss

not joining in with friends who are gossiping about someone behind their back

External locus of control

High external LOC is evident in people who feel that they have no control over their lives and assume a lack of responsibility for their behaviour

People with a high external LOC are less able to resist pressure to conform and obey as they believe that other, external factors determine their outcomes

People with a high external LOC tend to lack confidence, feel insecure and have a high need for social approval

Examples of high external LOC behaviour might include:

blaming the teacher for an exam failure

working beyond office hours at the weekend for a tyrannical boss because they do not feel that they can say no

joining in with friends who are gossiping about someone behind their back as they want to stay 'in' with the group

Evaluation of social support & locus of control

Strengths

Rank & Jacobson (1975) replicated Hofling's (1966) study:

A doctor (who was given a name the nurses recognised) telephoned 18 different nurses

The doctor asked each nurse to administer a non-lethal dose of Valium (a drug the nurses would have been familiar with)

The nurses were able to discuss the doctor's order with other nurses

Only two of the 18 nurses immediately followed the doctor's order

Thus, social support is a key factor in resisting social influence as the nurses were able to discuss the order first

There is some strong research support for LOC:

Holland (1967) repeated Milgram's experiment and found that 37% of participants who refused to continue to 450 volts had a high internal LOC (compared to 24% of participants with a high external LOC)

Thus, there is some validity to the idea that a high internal LOC is linked to resistance to authority

Limitations

The argument that social support enables people to resist social influence may not be true for everyone

Some people will always obey, regardless of the circumstances

Others will never obey, regardless of the circumstances