resisting social influence

• Social support


  The pressure to conform can be resisted if there are other people present who are not conforming
• Social support


  • The confederate who is not conforming may not be giving the 'right' answer
• Social support


  The fact that someone else is not following the majority is social support. It enables the naïve participant to be free to follow their own conscience.
• Social support


  The confederate acts as a 'model' of independent behaviour. Their dissent gives rise to more dissent because it shows that the majority is no longer unanimous.
• Resisting obedience


  The pressure to obey can be resisted if there is another person who is seen to disobey
• Resisting obedience


  • In one of Milgram's variations, the rate of obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when the genuine participant was joined by a disobedient confederate
• Resisting obedience


  The disobedient model challenges the legitimacy of the authority figure, making it easier for others to disobey
• Locus of control


  Internal control versus external control
• Internals


  People who believe they are in control of their own lives
• Julian Rotter (1966) proposed locus of control (LOC) as a concept concerned with internal control versus external control
• Internal LOC


  Belief that things that happen are due to one's own actions and efforts
• Internal LOC


  • If you do well in an exam it is because you worked hard, if you don't do well it is because you didn't work hard
• External LOC


  Belief that things that happen are outside one's control
• External LOC


  • If they did well in an exam it was because they used an excellent textbook, if they failed they might blame it on the textbook or they had bad luck because the questions were hard
• LOC continuum


  People vary in their position on a scale from high internal LOC to high external LOC, with low internal and low external in-between
• People with high internal LOC


  • More able to resist pressures to conform or obey
  • Base their decisions on their own beliefs rather than depending on the opinions of others
• Characteristics of people with high internal LOC

  • More self-confident
  • More achievement-oriented
  • Have higher intelligence
• Resistance to social influence

  People with high internal LOC have much less need for social approval than followers
• Strength of research evidence

  • Positive effects of social support
• Teen Fresh Start USA programme

  1. 8-week programme to help pregnant adolescents aged 14-19 resist peer pressure to smoke

  2. Social support provided by slightly older mentor or 'buddy'

  3. At end of programme, adolescents with a 'buddy' were significantly less likely to smoke than control group without a buddy
• Social support


  Can help young people resist social influence as part of an intervention in the real world
• Strength of research evidence

  • Role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience
• William Gamson et al's study


  1. Participants told to produce evidence to help oil company run a smear campaign

  2. Higher levels of resistance found than in Milgram's study

  3. Probably because participants were in groups so could discuss what they were told to do

  4. 29 out of 33 groups of participants (88%) rebelled against their orders
• Peer support


  Can lead to disobedience by undermining the legitimacy of an authority figure
• Research evidence


  • Allen and Levine (1971) found that conformity decreased when there was one dissenter in an Asch-type study, even if the dissenter wore thick glasses and said he had difficulty with his vision
• Resistance to conformity


  • It is not just motivated by following what someone else says, but it enables someone to be free of the pressure from the group
• Research support - resistance to conformity