Resistance to social influence

What is independent behaviour

• ability to resist pressure to conform to the majority or obey the authority figures=e

What makes people act independently

• confidence levels

• childhood/upbringing

• culture/environment

How can people not conform if they have social support

seen in Asch study - presence of a non conforming confederate

• however effect not long lasting as if non conforming confederate starts to conform so does the naive participant

How can people not obey if they have social support

• mailgrams variation - obedience levels dropped from 65% to 10% when teacher was joined by another disobedient confederate

• pressure to obey is less

Evaluation - Research support to resistance to conformity

• Asch’s line task (Allen and Levine)

• conformity had decreased when there was a dissenter (individual who didn’t conform)

• resistance to conformity is less as there is less pressure to conform when someone else holds the same views

Evaluation - Research support to resistance to obedience

• Showed higher levels of resistance than in milgram’s study

• 29/33 around 88% resisted against the orders

• peer support can lead to disobedience as you undermine the legitimacy of authority

• more likely to resist with peer support and gives you confidence

What is locus of control

• refers to a persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour

• Internal locus - believes there life is determined by their own decisions and efforts

• external locus - believes there life is determined by fate, luck and external factors

What is used to measure locus of control and who created this

A questionnaire created by Rotter

How does locus of control link to resistance to social influence

• internal locus of control - actively seek out information that helps them personally and less likely to rely on others - can resist pressure

• external locus of control - likely to be influenced by other - don’t believe they exercise personal control over their lives

Evaluation of locus of control

• research support - Holland repeated the experiment and measured who were internal/external

  • 37% internals did not continue to highest level whilst only 23% external did not continues

  • shows that internals resist more

  • increases validity of locus of control explanation

Evaluation of locus of control (WEAKNESS)

• Methodological issues -

  • social desirability bias (individual lies) as it is a questionnaire

  • cannot rely on the results completely

  • lacks validity

• Contradictory research -

  • Twenge analysed data from American obedience of over 40 year span and data showed that people have become more resistant to obedience - more externals as well

  • undermines the theory as should have been more internals

Research that shows resistance to conformity

• Allen and Levine

  • Asch type task - when dissenter had good eyesight 64% of participants refused to conform

  • however not always true as when dissenter claimed to have bad eyesight only 3% had conformed