evaluation

• social support - strength - support from research

  one strength is research evidence for the positive effects of social support

  Albrecht et al evaluated teen fresh start USA, an eight-week programme to help pregnant adolescents aged 14-19 resist peer pressure to smoke. social support was provided by a slightly older mentor or 'buddy'
• social support - strength - support from research pt 2

  at the end of the programme adolescents who had a 'buddy' were significantly less likely to smoke than a control group of participants who did not have a 'buddy'.

  this shows that social support can help young people resist social influence as part of an intervention in the real world.
• social support - strength research pt 1

  another strength is research evidence to support the role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience

  Gamson et al's participants were told to produce evidence that would be used to hero an oil company run a smear campaign.
• social support - strength research pt 2

  the researchers found higher levels of resistance in their study than milgram did in his. this was probably because the participants were in groups so could discuss what they were told to do, 29 out of 33 groups of participants (88%) rebelled against their orders.

  this shows that peer support can lead to disobedience by undermining the legitimacy of an authority figure.
• social support - strength r s pt 1

  Allen and Levines research supports the idea of social support as an explanation for resistance to social influence

  in an asch type task, when the dissenter was someone with apparently good eyesight, 64% of genuine participants refused to conform. when there was no supporter at all only 3% od participants resisted.
• social support - strength r s pt2

  However, the study also showed that social support does to always help. this is because when the dissenter had obviously poor eyesight, resistance as only 36%.

  this questions the validity of the social support explanation in the context of resisting social influence.
• locus on control - limitation - contradictory research part 1

  one limitation of LofC as an explanation for resistance to social influence is evidence that challenges the link between LofC and resistance

  twenge analysed data from American locus of control studied conducted over a 40-year period. the data showed that, over this time spam, people became more resistant to obedience but also more external.
• locus of control - limitation - contradictory research part 2

  this is a surprising outcome, if resistance is linked to an internal locus of control, we would expect people to have become more internal.

  this suggest that locus of control is to a valid explanation of how people resist social influence.
• locus of control - strength - support from research part 1

  one strength of LofC as an explanation for resistance to social influence is research evidence to support the link between LofC and resistance to obedience.

  Holland repeated Milgram's baseline study and measured whether participants were internals or externals.
• locus of control - strength - support from research pat 2

  he found that 37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock level, whereas only 23% of externals did not continue. in other words, internals showed greater resistance to authority in a milgram - type situation.

  this shows that resistance is at least partly related LofC, which increases the validity of LofC as an explanation of disobedience.
• locus of control - limitation - limited role of LoC part 1

  many studies show that having an internal LofC is linked with being able to resists social influence

  However, rotter points out that LofC is not necessarily the most important factor in determining whether someone resists social influence, as LofC role depends on the situation.
• locus of control - limitation - limited role of LoC part 2

  a persons LofC only significantly affects their behaviour in new situations. if you have conformed or obeyed in a specific situation in the past, the chances are you will again regardless of whether you have a high internal or high external LofC.

  the fact that other factors contribute to resistance to social influence question the validity of LofC as an explanation of resistance.