Resistance to Social Influence

• Resisting conformity


  pressure to conform can be reduced if there are other people present who aren't conforming

  in Asch's study - not conforming doesn't have to be the 'right' answer but simply fact someone else isn't following majority appears to enable a person to be free to follow their own conscience.

  showed if 'non-conforming' person starts conforming again, so does naive ppt
• Resisting Obedience


  pressure to obey can be reduced if there's another person who's seen to disobey

  one of Milgram's variations, rate of obedience dropped to 10% when genuine ppt was joined by a disobedient confederate.

  ppt may not follow disobedient person's behaviour but point is other person's disobedience acts as a 'model' for ppt to copy that frees him to act from his own conscience
• Internal LoC


  people believe what happens in their life is largely result of their own behaviour and they have control over their life

  - take personal responsibility for their actions

  - confident

  - no need for external approval

  likely to resist social influence
• External LoC


  people believe what happens to them is controlled by external factors and they don't have complete control over their life.

  - don't take responsibility for their own actions

  - can lack confidence

  - seek approval from others

  not likely to resist social influence
• Resistance to social influence

  1. if person takes resposibility for their actions + experiences then they're more likely to base their decisions on their own beliefs rather than depending on opinions of others and resist pressure from others

  2. people with high internal LoC tend to be more self-confident, more achievement-oriented, higher intelligence and less need for social approval.

  personality traits lead to greater resistance to social influence these are also characteristics of leaders, have much less need for social approval than followers
• Strength - support for role of dissenter in resisting conformity

  Allen and Levine found conformity decreased when there's one dissenter in Asch type study.

  occurred even if dissenter work thick glasses and said had difficulty with vision.

  Strength - study supports idea resistance isn't motivated by following what someone else says but enables someone to be free of pressure from group
• Strength - support for role of dissenter in resisting obedience

  Gamson et al found higher levels of resistance in their study than in Milgram's. probably as ppts in Gamson's study were in groups.

  in study, ppts had to produce evidence that would be used to help oil company run a swear campaign.

  Gamso's study, found 29/33 groups of ppts (88%) rebelled against this.

  Strength - supports idea peer support links to greater resistance
• Strength - support for link between LoC and resistance to obedience

  Holland repeated Milgram's study, measured whether ppts were internals or externals.

  results showed 37% of internals didn't continue to highest shock level and only 23% of externals didn't continue

  internals showed greater resistance, increasing validity of LoC explanation and confidence that can explain resistance
• Weakness - contradictory research

  Twenge et al analysed data from American obedience studies over 40yrs

  data showed people have become more resistant to obedience but more external

  resistance were linked to an internal LoC then would expect people to become more internal.

  Weakness - challenges link between internal LoC and resistance, but results may be changing society where things are increasingly outside personal control
• Weakness - role of LoC may be exaggerated

  Rotter et al found LoC is only important in new situations - little influence in familiar situations where previous experiences are always more important.

  means people who have conformed or obeyed in specific situations in past are likely to do so again, even if they have high internal LoC.

  Weakness - suggests LoC can only explain a limited range of situations where people might resist social influence