resistance to social influence

• 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