resistance to social influence

Subdecks (2)

Cards (24)

  • define resistance?
    ability for people to withstand social pressure to conform to majority & obey authority
  • 2 explanations of resistance?
    1. situational - social support
    2. dispositional - locus of control
  • social support - resisting conformity?
    • people resist pressure to conform as they have an ally - someone who supports their point of view
  • asch example of resistance?
    when another person is present in group who resists pressure to conform & behaves in their own way makes others less likely to conform
  • having an ally?
    • builds confidence & allows individual to remain independent
    • individual who have support for their pov no longer feel ridiculed - allows them to avoid NSI
    • more likely to resist pressure to conform
  • social support resisting obedience?
    • presence of disobedient peer leads to others also resisting pressure to obey authority figure
    • theres a dissenter so builds confidence & allows individual to remain independent
  • social support & diffusion of responsibility?
    the more people who disobey the less severe the consequences are likely to be
  • 2 * for social support?
    1. evidence to support from asch
    2. evidence to support from milgram
  • * evidence from asch?
    • unanimity variation - confederate said different answer to majority
    • gave ally/dissenter causing conformity to decrease from 75% to 5%
    • felt less pressure to say answer of majority group
    • resistance to conformity is higher when theres social support of an ally
    • provides us with confidence in our ideas - avoid need to use NSI as we do not feel ridiculed by group
  • * evidence from milgram?
    • variation - confederate disobeyed orders of experimenter & refused to give electric shock
    • obedience levels dropped to 10%
    • resistance levels were 90%
    • when social support of disobedient peer present feel less pressure to obey
    • more likely to remain in autonomous state
  • X reductionist?
    • reduces social influence to 1 explanation that being social support
    • pro - likely to be accurate as it examines only 1 component - great detail & scientific
    • eg conduct lab experiments so evs are controlled
    • con - ignores other factors that could be involved - personality
    • cannot explain why everyone resists
    • does not take into account all factors
    • holistic approach would be better
  • what is locus of control?
    • whether we think we control our own behaviour/something else
    • can be internal or external
    • describes extent to which an individual feels in control of what happens to them
  • strong external locus of control?
    • when someone believes what happens to them is due to external forces in environment - luck/fate/other people
  • strong internal locus of control?
    • describes someone who believes they are in control of what happens to them
    • these people are more likely to resist social influence - feel responsible & accept consequences of their actions as their own
  • 2 * for locus of control?
    1. evidence to support from oliner & oliner
    2. evidence to support from holland
  • * evidence to support from oliner & oliner 1998?
    • interviewed non jewish people who lived during holocaust in germany
    • g1 - those who protected & rescued jews from nazis
    • g2 - those who did not help
    • found that those who helped scores indicating internal l.o.c
    • people with internal l.o.c believe theyre in control of own actions
    • more likely to disobey & not conform
    • more likely to resist
  • * evidence to support from holland 1967?
    • conducted replication of milgrams original study
    • found that those who more likely disobey had internal l.o.c
    • shows people with internal l.o.c more likely to disobey & resist social influence pressure
  • X metholodogy problems?
    • questionnaires used to measure l.o.c
    • some p may lie to give socially desirable answers
    • inaccurate data is collected
    • cannot be certain that internal l.o.c explains resistance