7. Resistance to Social Influence

What is resistant to social influence?

The ability people have to withstand the social pressure to conform to a majority or authority

What is social support in relation to conformity?

The dissenting peer who differs from majority, acting as a “model” of independent behaviour. It breaks unanimity, reduces conformity

What is social support in relation to obedience?

A person who is openly disobeying, challenges the authority figure, making disobedience seem acceptable to cope later

What is locus of control (LOC)?

The extent to which a person believes they have control over events in their life.

Internal LOC?

“I am in control”

personally responsible for their actions, have greater resistance to social influence

External LOC?

“I am not in control”

place responsibility for their actions on outside forces, have greater need for social approval, less likely to resist pressure

Evaluation for Social Support

Research support (conformity)

Ev: Research created an Asch-like task, with a dissenter. 64% of pp refused to conform, when no social support only 3% refused. Ex: Dissenting peer acts as a model, encourages independence, showing the majority is no longer unanimous. L: High internal validity, as accurately explaining why pp resist.

Research support (obedience)

Ev: Research found high level of resistance. PP were in groups and were asked to help an oil company to ruin reputation of another, 29/33 groups rebelled. Ex: Shows when people have others to agree with them, they are more likely to resist pressure to obey. L: High external validity, realistic and can be applied in real world situations.

Evaluations for LOC

Research support

Ev: Research repeated Migrams study and measured whether pp were internals or externals, found 37% of internals didn’t continue, 23% of externals didn’t continue to the highest schlock level. Ex: Internals were less obedient that externals, pp who believe they have personal control over their behaviour are more likely to resist pressure. L: High internal validity, as results are consistent with what expected.

Simplistic explanation

Ev: Research found LOC only matters in new situations, in familiar situations past experience matters more. Ex: LOC is not a consistent predictor of resistance in all situations, as people often rely on previous experiences rather than beliefs about control when making decisions. L: Low external validity, may not apply to everyday life situations.