Resistance to social influence

Resistance to Social Influence

The ability of people to withstand real or imagined pressure from other people to conform or obey. Influenced by both situational and dispositional factors

Social support

The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same. These people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible

Locus of control

To what extent you have personal control over your behaviour and destiny.

Internal locus of control

Believes they have a great deal of personal control over their behaviour and more likely to take responsibility for it. What happens to them is a product of their own behaviours and actions

External locus of control

Believes their behaviour is caused more by external influences like fate or luck

Milgram social support

Put in a dissenter to sit next to the Teacher who was the real subject

The dissenter disobeyed

Obedience fell from 65% to 10%

Asch social support

Got someone to say the right answer with a lack of unanimity.

Conformity went down

LOC W Twenge

Evidence that challenges LOC linked with resistance

Meta-analysis. Found that teens and young adults were more resistant to social influence but had a more external LOC.

Surprising as resistance is associated with an internal LOC

Suggests that LOC may not be a valid explanation for resistance to social influence

LOC S Murphy

Research support

Investigated differences in vaccine hesitant, resistant and accepting people.

Those who were more vaccine hesitant and resistant had a more internal LOC. So they were more disobedient.

Suggests resistance to social influence is related to LOC. Increases validity of the theory.

SS S Albrecht

Research support for positive effects

Evaluated Teen Fresh Start USA. 8 week programme to get pregnant adolescents to not smoke.

When a group of teenagers had a mentor, they were more resistant to smoking than a group which didn’t have one.

Shows social supports can help young people resist social influence.

SS S Gamson

Research support for dissenting peers.

Asked participants to produce evidence to help an oil company run a smear campaign.

Found that there was more resistance than in Milgram’s study. This may be due to the fact that the participants were in groups.

29/33 groups rebelled.

Suggests that social support can lead to disobedience in people and resistance to social influence from authorities.