Resistance to social influence

How people obey and refuse to conform

Social support: Conformity

• Reduced by presence of dissenters from the group who are ‘models’ e.g. Asch

Social support: Obedience

• Decreases in presence of disobedient peer who challenges the legitimacy of authority e.g. Milgram (independence increased in disobedient peer condition 30%-90%

Research support

• Conformity decreases when one person dissents even if they are not compatible (Allen and Levine)

Strength- Research support

* Obedience drops when disobedient role models are present (Gamson et al)

Locus of control: Locus of control

• LOC is a sense of what directs events in our lives (Rotter)

• Internals place control within and externals outside of themselves

Locus of control: Continuum

• not always one or the other

• High internal at one end and high external at the other but people can lie anywhere on the scale

LOC: Resistance to social influence

• Internal show greater resistance to social influence because:

  • they take personal responsibility

  • Usually more confident and intelligent

Strength- Research support

* Internals less likely to full obey in Milgram- type procedure (Holland)

Limitation- Contradictory research

* People have become more external and disobedient recently (Twenge et al)
* Hard for LOC to explain

Limitation- Limited role

* Rotter points out only comes into play in novel situations
* Otherwise previous experience is much more important