Social Support & Locus of Control

What is Social Support

Important to specifically link to Conformity/Obedience

Perception you are not alone + others around you want to resist social influence

In relation to conformity, seeing a dissenter breaks the unanimity of the group and allows us to act on our own beliefs

eg not drinking in a party when someone else doesnt

In relation to Obedience

- Seeing a Disobedient Model disobey an authority figure

- This helps challenge the legitamacy of the authority figure + makes it easier for other to disobey

- eg junior officer disobeying senior police officer

Dissenter

Someone who breaks unanimity, making it easier for others not to conform and act on own beliefs

Disobedient Model

Someone else we see disobey an authority figure, challenging the legitimacy of authority figure making it easy for others to disobey

Examples of Social support in Obedience and Conformity

Aschs variation when one confederate went against the group conformity dropped from 32% to 5%

Milgrams variation when one confederate teacher dropped out, 90% dropped out before 450 volts

What is a Locus of Control

Who constructed the LOC scale

What is the scale

The extent an individual believes they have control and responsibility over their life rather than externa factors

Rotter (1966)

High external to High internal Locus of Control scale

What is a High Internal Locus of Control

What characteristics

Belief an individual has control and responsibility of their behaviour

Resistance to pressure to Conform and Obey as they have high standards for themselves

eg

More faith in abilities

Less reliant on others

See themselves as a leader

Self confident

Intelligent

What is a High External Locus of Control

Belief an individual has no control or responsibility for their lives

Less able to resist pressure to obey and conform

Don't trust in self ability

Low confidence

Desire for Social approval

Environmentally determinist strength of social support

- Useful as it shows people, particularly young people how to resist social pressures, by finding an ally who feels the same

- Environmentally determinist because it emphasises how the way people around you respond to something determines how you respond to something

- This is useful as it may make the young person feel empowered and can break up destructive group behaviour

Research support for the link between LOC and resistance to obedience

Holland (1967)

Repeated Milgrams study and measured participants LOC

Found 37% of participants with Internal LOC refused to continue to 450v

Only 23% with External LOC refused to continue

Shows a link between LOC and obedience, increasing validity of the explanations

Research support for Social Support

What happened

Rank & Jacobson

Replicated Hofling study

Doctor asked 18 nurses to administer a non lethal dose of Valium, a familiar drug

The nurses were able to discuss the order with each-other

Only 2 of 18 nurses followed

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

Research support for LOC and resisting conformity

What happened

What does this suggest

Spector (1983)

Administered LOC scale to 157 universities

Only in situations with Normative Social Pressure did individuals with High External Locus of Control conform more than those with Low External Locus of Control

Both did not conform in situations with Informational Social Influence

Suggests those with less need for acceptance into a social group will be more able to resist social influence

Cultural bias criticism of Locus of Control

- Questionnaires that measure LOC are based on western values of independence and autonomy

- The scale is therefore Ethnocentric, may result in other cultures being seen as weak if they do not get a higher score, which may lead to some socially insensitive implications

- This therefore reduces the validity of the explanation as it cannot give an accurate score for non western individuals as the it is based on western values and views