resistance to social influence

• social support definition

  the presence of people who resist pressures to conform to the majority or to obey others, this ability to withstand social pressure is influenced by both situational and dispositional factors
• social support - resisting conformity

  the pressure to conform is resisted when other people are there, in Asch's study the confederate not conforming to the majority answer gives the participant the chance to follow their own conscience
• social support - resisting obedience

  the pressure to obey is resisted when another person is seen disobeying, in one of Milgrams variations the participant is joined by a disobeying confederate as disobedience dropped from 65%-10% making it easier for others to disobey
• social support evaluation strengths

  real world research support - having an older 'buddy' helps resist the peer pressure to smoke, this shows that peer support can help young people resist social influence as part of an intervention in the real world

  
  

  research support: Allen and Levine (1971) - replicated Asch's study and found that conformity decreased when support was there
• locus of control definitions


  refers to the sense we each have about what directs us in out lives, internals believe that we are mostly responsible for what happens to them where as externals believe its a matter of luck or other external forces
• locus of control and resisting social influence

  people with a high locus of control are more able to resist pressures to conform or obey as they tend to base their decisions off their own beliefs rather than depending on the opinions of others, they tend to be more confident and higher inteligence
• locus of control evaluation strengths

  research support - Holland (1967) repeated Milgram's research and measured participants locus of control - 37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock where as only 23% externals didn't continue
• locus of control evaluation limitations

  Rutter (1982) found that the locus of control only had an influence on resisting social influence in some circumstances so it doesnt apply to all situations