resistance to social influence

what does resistance to social influence refer to?

the ability of people to withstand the social pressure, to conform to the majority, or to obey authority

what is social support?

refers to how the presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can influence others to do the same

how does social support affect conformity?

the pressure to conform could decrease if there are others who aren’t conforming

how does social support affect obedience?

the pressure to obey could decrease if there are other’s who aren’t obeying

what is locus of control?

the extent to which people believe they have control over their own lives

what are the two different locus of control?

• internal locus of control

• external locus of control

what are the characteristics of people with an internal locus of control?

• believe they have the ability to control their own lives/decisions 

• believe any success of failure is due to their own choices

• are more confident and motivated

• are less likely to conform or obey

• are less likely to succumb to social influence

what are the characteristics of people with an external locus of control?

• believe they have very little or no control over their own lives/decisions

• believe other people have control and they have no option but to obey them

• tend to be passive and acceptive of fate

• are more likely to conform or obey

• are more likely to succumb to social influence

what are the strengths and weaknesses of resistance to social influence?

strengths:

• supporting evidence for social influence

• supporting evidence for locus of control

weaknesses:

• supporting evidence for social support has cultural and age bias

• too deterministic and reductionist

supporting evidence for social support

• Asch’s variation where he added a confederate that gave the correct answer throughout the study

• rate of conformity dropped to 5%

• proves if someone else is not conforming, conformity decreases

• Milgram’s variation where there were two confederates that refused to give shocks to learner and withdrew study early

• conformity decreased from 65% to 10%

• proves if someone else isn’t obeying, obedience decreases

• these increase credibility of social support theory

supporting evidence for locus of control

• researchers conducted interviews on non-Jewish survivors of WWII and compared those who had resisted orders and projected Jewish people from Nazis to those who had not

• found that people who resisted orders were more likely to have a high internal locus of control in comparison to those who followed orders

• results support idea that those with high internal locus of control are less likely to follow orders

supporting evidence for social support has cultural and age bias

• in both Asch’s and Milgram’s studies, the samples only consisted of male participants

• also only conducted in America on American people

• these therefore decrease ecological validity of results as are ungeneralizable to females and other cultures

• must question how effective social support theory is at explaining behaviour for females and across all cultures

too deterministic and reductionist

• ignores free will and decision making as each explanation only considers either situational or dispositional factors

• suggests we are entirely determined by either others around us or our locus of control

• reduces complex behaviour of obedience or conformity to a single factor, ignoring any other possible factors that could have an effect

• therefore can’t be said to be a full explanation of obedience or conformity