Resistance to social influence

• What is one reason people resist social influence?

  Social support
• How does social support help resist conformity?

  Encouragement from others to disagree
• What effect does disobedience of others have on obedience?

  It makes it easier to resist obedience
• Who first proposed the concept of locus of control?

  Rotter
• What does an internal locus of control imply?

  You are responsible for your life events
• How do people with a high internal locus of control behave?

  They resist pressures to conform or obey
• What characterizes an external locus of control?

  Life is controlled by external forces
• What is independent behavior?

  Not influenced by group norms
• What is anti-conformity?

  Refusal to conform based on principle
• What traits are associated with anti-conformity?

  High self-esteem and low anxiety
• What is reactance in social influence?

  Doing the opposite of what told
• What is illegitimate authority?

  Questioning the authority figure's trust
• How can personality traits affect disobedience?

  They can influence resistance to authority
• What concept did Seligman study related to obedience?

  Learned helplessness
• What is learned helplessness?

  Belief that actions won't affect outcomes
• How does learned helplessness affect obedience?

  Increases susceptibility to obedience
• What are the advantages of resisting social influence?

  • Evidence from Albrecht et al (2006) in Teen Fresh Start USA - Found that those who had a mentor were less likely to smoke than a control group of pps who didn’t have mentors - evidence for social support
  • Support from Gamson et al (1982) on dissenting peers - in a smear campaign 29 out of 33 groups of pps rebelled due to social support
  • Evidence from Holland (1967) repeated Milgram's study but after measuring LOC of ppts - found that internals showed greater resistance to authority
• What are the disadvantages of resisting social influence?

  • Contradictory research by Twenge et al (2004)
  • Increased resistance but more external locus of control
  • Challenges validity of locus of control as an explanation
• What did Albrecht et al (2006) find about mentoring and smoking resistance?

  Mentored adolescents smoked less than controls
• What was the outcome of Gamson et al (1982) study on group resistance?

  88% of groups rebelled against authority
• What did Holland (1967) discover about internals in Milgram's study?

  Internals showed greater resistance to authority
• What did Twenge et al (2004) find about obedience trends over 40 years?

  People became more resistant but more external
• Why do people resist social influence?

  • Social support
  • Locus of control - proposed by Rotter
  • Independent behaviour - individual isn't influenced by norms of the grp
  • Anti-conformity
  • Reactance = process when you do the opposite of what you are told to do to protect your personal freedom
  • Illegitimate authority