1.7 resistance to social influence ❤️

Key terms

Resistance to social influence = the ability to withstand the social pressure to conform with the majority or to obey authority

Social support = the presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same. Act as models to show that resistance is possible

Locus of control = the sense we have about what directs events in our lives. Internals believe they are in control, externals believe in luck/fate and external forces

Social support

Resisting conforming

  • the pressure to conform can be resisted if there are other people who are not conforming

  • Asch found that conformity decreased when the confederate didn’t conform

  • Act as a model for independent behaviour

Resisting obedience

  • the pressure to obey can be resisted if there are other people who are not obeying

  • Milgrams found that obedience decreased when a ‘teacher’ confederate was disobedient

  • Act as a model for independent behaviour

Evaluation

Real world research support

  • Albrecht evaluated teen Fresh Start USA, an 8 week programme to help pregnant adolescents to resist the pressure to smoke

  • They had social support through a mentor or buddy. This who had a buddy were significant less likely to smoke than the control group

Research support for dissenting peers

  • Gamson asked participants to produce evidence that would help an oil company run a smear campaign

  • Found high levels of resistance because participants were in groups

Social support

  • Allen and Levine found that social support does not always help (in a similar task to Asch)

  • Found that when the dissenter had poor eyesight and thick glasses, resistance was only 36%

Locus of control (rotter)

The LOC continuum

  • people are not just one or the other, its a scale

Resistance to social influence

  • those with a high internal locus of control are more able to resist pressures to conform or obey. As they take more personal responsibly and base decisions on their own beliefs

  • Those with a high internal locus of control are also more confident, more achievement orientated and have higher intelligence

  • This leads to greater resistance to social influence, also characteristics of leaders who need less social approval

Evaluation

Research support

  • Holland repeated milgrams study and measured whether participants were internals or externals

  • Found the internals showed higher resistance

Contradictory research

  • Twenge analysed locusts of control studied from over 40 years, found that people become more resistant to obedience and more external

  • We would expect people to be more internal if they are more resistant, suggests that its not a valid explanation

Limited role

  • Rotter suggests that LOC is not the most important factor in determining whether someone resists social influence

  • It depends of the situation, only affects behaviour in new situations. In old situations you behave in the same way as before.