Explanantions of resistance to social influence?

What does explanations of resistance to social influence include?

obedience and conformity

What is resistance to social influence?

Ways in which individuals attempt to withstand perceived attempts to threaten freedom of choice

Examples of resistance to social influence: Asch

• In Asch’s conformity study, 33% of trials were conformed to. That means the 67% of trials were not conformed to and resistance behaviour was shown

• Asch reported one quarter of the participants didn’t conformed on any of the critical trials, suggesting a high level of resistance behaviour. while around half conformed on 6 or more trails.

Examples of resistance to social influence: Milgram

• 35% of the participants in the original Milgram study resisted obedience, and did not give shocks up to 450 volts

• In the variations of Milgram experiments, resistance behaviour was able to be increased to 79.5% in the Remote Authority Variation

Examples of resistance to social influence: Zimbardo

Not all the guards in the Zimbardo prison study conformed to their social roles as much as others. Some did not actively get involved with the activities to demean the prison

What is the impact of social support on conformity?

The presence of social support enables an individual to resist pressures to obey and conform.  

It appears that the most important aspect of social support to be that it breaks the unanimous  position of the majority. Supporters and dissenters are likely to be effective in reducing conformity  because, by breaking the unanimity of the majority, they raise the possibility that there are other,  equally legitimate, ways of thinking and responding. The presence of an ally provides the individual  with an independent assessment of reality that makes them feel more confident in their decision  and better able to stand up against the majority.