resistance to social influence

• resistance to social influence:

  refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or to obey authority. this ability to withstand social pressure in influenced by both situational and dispositional factors
• social support:

  the presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same. these people act as models to show others that resistance to social influence is possible
• locus of control (loc):


  refers to the sense we each have about what directs events in our lives. internals believe they are mostly responsible for what happens to them. externals believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces
• social support; resisting conformity:

  pressure to conform can be resisted if there are others not conforming. the fact that someone else is not following the majority is social support and enables the naive participant to be free to follow their own conscience. the confederate acts as a model of independent behaviour so their dissent allows for more dissent as the majority is no longer unanimous
• social support; resisting obedience:

  pressure to obey can be resisted if there is are others not obeying. in one of milgram's variations, obedience decreased from 65% to 10% when there was a disobedient confederate. the other person's disobedience acts as a model of dissent for the participant to copy and frees him to act from his own conscience. the disobedient model challenges the legitimacy of the authority figure, making it easier for others to disobey
• rotter (1966) proposed locus of control as a concept concerned with internal vs external control. people with an internal loc believe that the things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves, whilst people with an external loc believe that the things that happen to them are outside their control
• loc continuum:

  people aren't strictly either internal or external. loc is a scale and individuals vary in their position on it. high internal loc is at one end of the continuum and high external loc is at the other
• locus of control; resisting social influence:

  people with a high internal loc are more able to resist pressures to conform/obey. this is because if a person takes personal responsibility for their actions and experiences they tend to base their decisions on their own beliefs rather than depending on others. people with an internal loc also tend to be more self confident which leads to greater resistance to social influence as they need less social approval
• evaluating social support; real world research support:


  strength

  • research support for the positive effects of social support
  • albrecht (2006) evaluated a programme helping pregnant adolescents to resist pressure to smoke where social support was provided by an older buddy
  • those who had a buddy were significantly less likely to smoke than the control group who didn't have a buddy
  • therefore social support can help young people to resist social influence in real world interventions
• evaluating social support; research support for dissenting peers:


  strength

  • research evidence to support the role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience
  • gamson (1982) told participants to produce evidence that would be used to help an oil company run a smear campaign
  • higher levels of resistance were found than in milgram's study as participants were in groups so could discuss what they were told to do
  • 29/33 groups resisted against their orders
  • therefore peer support can lead to disobedience by undermining the legitimacy of an authority figure
• evaluating social support; explanation:

  extra

  • allen and levine (1971) showed that social support can help people to resist the influence of a group
  • in an asch style study, when the dissenter had good eyesight 64% participants resisted conformity, however when there was no supporter, only 3% resisted
  • however when the dissenter had poor eyesight, resistance was only 36%, showing that social support doesn't always help
• evaluating locus of control; research support:


  strength

  • there is research evidence to support the link between loc and resistance to obedience
  • holland (1967) repeated milgram's baseline study and measured participants loc. he found that 37% of internals disobeyed, whilst 23% of externals disobeyed
  • therefore this shows that resistance is partly related to loc, which increases the validity of loc as an explanation of disobedience
• evaluating locus of control; contradictory research:


  limitation

  • there is evidence that challenges the link between loc and resistance
  • twenge (2004) analysed data from american loc studies from a 40 year period and found that over this period people became more resistant but also more external
  • therefore loc may not be a valid explanation of how people resist social influence
• evaluating locus of control; limited role:


  extra

  • many studies (holland [1967]) show that having an internal loc is linked with high resistance levels, however rotter (1982) claims that loc is not the most important factor when determining a person's ability to resist social influence
  • loc's role depends on the situation as a person's loc only significantly affects their behaviour in new situations
  • if you have conformed/obeyed in a specific situation in the past, you are more likely to do the same again regardless of your loc