explanations for resistance to social influence

• what % refused to conform in Milgrams study

  35
• what % did not conform in asch study

  32
• what is meant by resistance to social influence

  to refuse to accept or the influenced by something or someone and not succumb to social pressure
• what is the situational explanation for resistance to social influence

  social support
• what is social support

  an individual is more likely to resist the pressures to conform or obey of they have social support from a dissenting peer
• what can have the same affect as a social support

  the presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same
• what do dissenting peers act as

  models to show that resistance to social influence is possible
• what is some research support for the role of dissenting peer on resistance to social influence

  asch and milgram
• who do asch study support the role of the dissenting peer on resistance to social influence

  in the variation unamity when another confederate gave a different answer to the majority of the group conformity rates reduced from 32% to 6%
• how does asch results suggest for resistance to social influence

  social support in the form of dissenting peer reduced the pressure to conform and increased the likelihood of resistance to social influence
• why are people more likely to resist the pressure to confrom in Asch variation (ISI)

  true ps feel less doubtful of own answer and the knowledge of the group is more questionable as someone else has already disagreed with the majority
• why are people more likely to resist the pressure to confrom to the group in asch variation (NSI)

  group harmony has already been broken by another person standing out and not fitting in, this person has resisted the pressure of the majority already so the pressure on true ps is also lessoned
• how does milgram provide support for the role of a dissenting peer on resistance to social influence

  • he set up an experiment so that a naïve teacher was asking questions and shocking a learner at the same time as 2 confederate teachers
  • confederate teachers refused to obey the orders to carry on eith the questions and shocking
  • rate of obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when the ps had support to disobey
• what does milgrams support suggest

  if social support is available in the form of dissenting partner obedience is less likely as pressure to obey is reduced and therefore resistance is more likely
• why are people more likely to resist the pressure to obey in milgrams study

  someone else has already disobeyed the experimenter and this may make the true ps question the legitimacy of AF and reduce the pressure on them to obey as someone has already disobeyed, this is also likely to put the true ps in the autonomous state where they feel fully responsible for their actions and therefore more likely to disobey
• what is a limitations of social support

  concentrating on situation factors such as social support means that you may be overlooking important dispositional factors, research such as that by rutter suggests that some personality factors are important in influencing whether somebody resist the pressure to oeby or conform
• what is a strength of social support (research evidence) (PEEL)

  P - research evidence supports the link between social support and resistance to social influence

  E - acsh carried out a variation of his study for 'unamity' where a dissenting peer gave a different answer from the majority

  E - it was found obedience reduced from 32% to 6%

  L - therefore this suggests that social support helps to resist to social influence and therefore their is good scientific evidence to support the link between social influence to social influence
• what is a limitation of social support (only explanation) (PEEL)

  P - a limitation is that social support may not be the only explanation for resistance to social influence

  E - locus of control is another explanation that can be used to explain resistance of social influence, LOC is state that resistance to social influence is due to difference within peoples personality

  E - whether they placed control within themself or outside of themselves, those who accept that the things that happen to them are controlled by themselves are more likely to resist social influence

  L - this suggests that social support may not be the only explanation as to why someone resist social influence LOC may also be a contributing factor
• what is the disproportional explanation for resistance to social influence

  locus of control
• what was rotter

  he first proposed the concept of locus of control
• what is locus of control


  refers to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events in their life
• what is the locus of control

  a 29 item questionaries developed by rotter which measures whether a person has an internal or external locus of control
• what did rotter argue

  we can measure LOC using a scale which determines how much you believe you can influence events in your life or whether you believe they are down to luck or fate or someone
• what is high internal locus of control

  • outcomes are within your control
  • determined by hard work, attributions or decisions
  • great deal of personal control over their behaviour
  • more likely to take responsibility for it
  • seen as a product of their own ability and effort
  • more likely to be able to resist pressure to confrom or obey
• what is external locus of control

  • outcomes outside your control
  • determined by 'fate' and independent of your hard work or decisions
  • behaviour is caused by external influences such as fate, luck or someone
  • more likely to conform or obey because they don't believe their behaviour is in their control anyway
• what is a strength of locus of control (research evidence) (PEEL)

  P - research evidence supports the link between locus of control and resistance to obedience

  E - holland repeated Milgram's obedience study and also measured whether ps were high internal or external locus of control

  E - 37% of high internal locus of control scoring ps did not continue to the highest shock level, these individuals resisted the pressure to obey. Only 23% of those who were high external locus of control resisted the pressure and did not continue

  L - this shows that internals demonstrate greater resistance and therefore increases validity
• what is a limitation of locus of control (research support link) (PEEL)

  P - a limitation is not all research supports the link between locus of control and resistance

  E - twenge analyzed data from American locus of control studies over 40 years, showing that people had become more resistant to social pressure but also more external

  E - if resistance to social influence was due to an internal locus of control more people would be found as internals as resistance to social influence increases

  L - this challenges the link between internal locus of control and resistance
• what is a limitation of locus of control

  concentrating on individual personality differences such as Locus of control means that you may be overlooking important situational factors, research such as that of asch and milgrams suggest that some situational factors are important in influencing whether somebody resists the pressure to obey or conform