resistance to social influence

• what are the two reasons to resist social influence?

  • locus of control
  • social support
• What is locus of control?

  psychological concepts that refer to how strongly people believe they have influence over their experiences
• what is Internal LOC

  the belief that events in life can be influenced by oneself, and actions are ones own choice and responsibility.
• What is external LOC?

  the belief that that outside factors such as luck, fate or 'the stars' influence one's daily life and decisions.
• which LOC scored high on the I-E scale?

  internal
• Which LOC is more resistant to social influence and why?

  • Internal
  • they have more confidence in their own actions within a situation so rely less on the opinions and actions of others.
• what did Milgram and Elm's find about LOC and obedience? 


  Those who were disobedient in their original study scored a higher internal LOC.
• what did Atvgis find a correlation between?

  Higher results of conformity and higher external LOC.
• what was the aim of Rotter's LOC research? 


  To investigate the effects of internal and external LOC on behaviour
• what was Rotter's method?

  He used meta analysis to measure participants perception of their ability to control outcomes.

  • Rotters I-E scale made participants choose 1/2 statements which they agreed with.
  • they totalled their answers to see if they had an internal or external LOC.
• what did Rotter find about the I-E scale?

  • Internals preferred to bet on certainties.
  • internals were more resistant to influence from others
  • internals were less likely to take up addictive behaviours
• What did Rotter conclude?

  these personality traits were more likely to come from cultural factors, socio-economic differences and parenting styles.
• Evaluation of the I-E scale

  • randomised order of answers prevented demand characteristics
  • filler questions made spotting demand characteristics easier
  • both statements can be interpreted differently, and agreed with both
  • political elements of the statements can be temporally influenced.
• what is minority influence?

  situations where a smaller group of people influence the behaviours and beliefs of other people.
• which type of conformity is minority influence likely to be and why?

  • Internalisation
  • you are more likely to consider the characteristics of the topic rather than the people, questioning whether what you are doing is correct and therefore changing your beliefs to be 'correct'.
• why is consistency important for minority influence?

  it is important to increase the amount of interest from others by showing commitment to an alternative, disrupting the established norm to produce doubt from the majority.
• What are the two types of consistency?

  • Synchronic
  • diachronic
• what is diachronic consistency?

  where the minority have been saying the same message for a long time
• what is synchronic consistency?

  where the minority all agree on the same message.
• why is commitment important for minority influence?

  to increase the amount of interest that a majority has in their cause, by drawing attention to its importance
• why is flexibility important for minority influence?

  if the minority are seen as inflexible and uncompromising, the majority are unlikely to change, as they view the minority negatively. Instead, the minority should be prepared to adapt their view and accept counter arguments.