Resistance to Social Influence

• How can social support help resist conformity?

  • The fact that someone else is not following the majority is social support
  • Dissenting confederate enables naive participants to be free and follow their own conscience, acting as a 'model' of independent behaviour
  • Confederates dissent gives rise to more dissent as the majority is no longer unanimous and pressure to conform can be resisted
• How can social support help resist obedience?

  • Milgram - rate of obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when joined by a dissenting confederate
  • Other person's disobedience acts as a model of dissent for participant to be free to act from their own conscience
  • Dissenter challenges legitimacy of the authority figure, making it easier to disobey
• What are Rotter's locusts of control?

  • Internal LOC: things that happen are largely controlled by themselves
  • External LOC: things that happen are outside their control
  • LOC is a scale and individuals vary in their positions on it
• How do locusts of control affect resistance to social influence?

  • High internal LOCS can resist pressures to conform or obey easily because they base their decisions on their own beliefs and don't depend on others' opinions
  • High external LOCs are particularly susceptible to obedience
• What research support is there to strengthen the positive effects of social support?

  • Albrecht et al. - programme called Teen Fresh Start USA tried to help pregnant adolescents resist peer pressure to smoke by giving them an older mentor
  • Those with a mentor were less likely to smoke than a control group without one
  • Shows social support can help young people resist social influence in the real-world
• What research support is there to strengthen the role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience?

  • Gamson et al. - told participants to produce evidence that would help an oil company run a smear campaign
  • 88% of participants rebelled against these orders after discussing in groups what they were told to do - showing peer support can lead to disobedience as it undermines the legitimacy of an authority figure
• What research supports the link between locusts of control and social responsibility?

  • Oliner and Oliner (1988) interviewed 406 people who protected and rescued Jews from Nazis during the holocaust and 126 people who did not
  • Rescuers found to have an internal LOC and scored high on measures of social responsibility
• How does contradictory research weaken the link between locusts of control and resistance?

  • Twenge et al. conducted a meta-analysis of LOC studies conducted over a 40 year period from 1960 to 2002
  • Found that people became more resistant to obedience but also more external, going against expectations that resistance is linked to an internal LOC
  • Shows LOC is not a valid explanation of how people realistically resist social influence