Resistance to social influence

Define ‘social pressure’.

The influence that is exerted on a person or group by another person or group.

There are 2 explanations as to why people may be more likely to resist the social pressures around them. What are they?

1. Because they have SOCIAL SUPPORT, they have other people around them resisting the pressures and either not conforming or not obeying, making them more free / more likely to do the same.

2. Because they have a particular LOCUS OF CONTROL (disposition), a particular personality type which lends themselves to being more or less likely to resist this social pressure.

Social support AO1.

CONFORMITY : The pressure to conform can be reduced if there are other people present who are not conforming. Asch’s research : if someone else not following the majority appears to enable a person to be free to follow their own conscience.

OBEDIENCE : Milgram’s variations, the rate of obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when the genuine participant was joined by a disobedient confederate.

Social support with Conformity evaluation - strength.

• Research evidence, Similar experiment to Asch’s, Allen and Levine found that conformity decreased when there was a supporting dissenter (confederate). Even when this person wore thick glasses and said he had difficulties with vision (not the best judge of line length), conformity still decreased in his presence.

Social support with Obedience evaluation - strength.

• Research support, Milgram’s follow up study obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when there was a disobedient confederate present with the real participant.

• Research support, Gamson et al. found higher levels of resistance in their obedience study compared to Milgram’s. Participants were in groups in this study when being asked to shock the learner. 29 our of 33 groups rebelled.

What did Rotter propose?

Rotter proposed the idea of locus of control, which is the extent to which people believe they have control over their own lives. (External or internal locus of control - it is a continuum).

He suggested that individuals with an internal locus of control are more likely to resist the pressures to conform or obey.

External VS Internal locus of control.

External - Individual believes that their fate is guided by fate, luck or other external circumstances.

Internal - Individual believes that their behaviour is guided by their personal decisions and efforts. Believes that they can influence events and their outcomes.

Effect of internal locus of control.

More likely to resist social pressure / influence. So, less likely to conform, less likely to obey.

Evaluating locus of control - strengths.

• Research evidence, Holland repeated Milgram’s initial study and then measured whether participants were internals or externals. He found that more internals did not continue to the highest shock level therefore showing some resistance to social pressure. These research findings increase the validity of Locus of Control as an explanation for resistance to social influence.

Evaluating locus of control - weaknesses.

• Contradictory research, Twenge et al. analysed data from American locus of control studies over a 40 year period. The data showed that over time, people have become more resistant to social influence but also more external in their locus of control. This challenges the link between an internal LOC and increasing resistant behaviour.