Resisting social influence

• What is independent behaviour?

  Acting of your own accord, disregarding opinions of others, NOT conforming nor obeying
• Why do some people need to act independently in society?

  Leadership -> Willingness to make unpopular decisions that may benefit people (Practical use)
• What percentage of people acted independently (did not conform in any of the trials) in Asch's original study of conformity?

  25%
• What percentage of people acted independently (did not obey all the way up to 450V) in Milgram's original obedience study?

  35%
• How many nurses in the Hofling study did not obey the order from the doctor?

  Only 1
• What factors made people less likely to conform in Asch's variations on his original study?

  • Lower group size
  • Social support - break unanimity
  • Individual differences
  • Answers kept private (lack of judgement)
• What factors made people less likely to obey in Milgram's variations?

  • Proximity
  • Less reputable location
  • Authority figure's legitimacy, e.g. uniform
  • Presence of dissenting peers (Social support)
  • Responsibility shift (agentic) - blame on others
• Asch's explanations on social support

  He showed that if there was a non-conforming ally the conformity drops to 10% however if they start to conform again the participant also conformed so the change is short-lived
• What was Allen and Levine (1971)'s replica of Asch's experiment?

  • Ally wore thick glasses, implying he had poor vision
  • Conformity in real participants dropped still showing it was not because they were relying on the information he gave but rather enabling the p's to free themselves from the group pressure
• Why does uncertainty of status and legitimacy of person giving orders resist pressures to obey?

  Milgram: Shift of location - office lacks status in comparison to Yale

  Bickman + Milgram: Uniform - status, hierarchal
• Why does increasing sense of responsibility resist pressures to obey?

  Touch proximity: Personal reflection, knowledge of fault
• What is locus of control?

  A person's perception of personal control over their own behaviour
• What does an internal locus of control mean?

  High level of personal control over an individual's life and behaviour, takes personal responsibility
• What does an external locus of control mean?

  Belief that life is determined by environmental factors, such as luck

  'Wrong place, wrong time'
• What questionnaire was used to measure whether someone had an internal or external locus of control?

  Rotter's locus of control scale
• What did Oliner and Oliner (1988) conduct to study locus of control?

  • Interviewed two groups of non-Jewish people who had lived through the Holocaust and Nazi Germany
  • Compared 406 people who had protected and rescued Jews from the Nazis and 126 who had not done so
  • Found that the group who rescued Jews demonstrated an internal locus of control
• What did Blass (1991) conduct in relation to Milgram's study and locus of control?

  • Meta-analysis of a number of variations of Milgram's study
  • Found that p's with an internal locus of control were more likely to act independently
  • However, research evidence was mixed
• What did Twenge (2004) discover about obedience and time change?

  From analysing data from American studies of obedience, he found that resistance to obedience had increased over time but so has externality
• What is externality?

  A concept that involves the impact of external influences, often unforeseen or unintended, on an individual's thoughts, feelings, or behaviours
• What Rotter (1982) argue with the locus of control in different situations?

  He argued that locus of control is more important in new situations, in familiar situations we tend to refer back to previous experience
• Does research support a link between locus of control and independent behaviour?

  YES
• What are the methodological problems with the questionnaire used to measure locus of control?

  • Forced choice
  • Hypothetical