Explanations of resistance to social influence

• Social support


  Seeing other people resisting orders or the pressure to conform, which increases our confidence in resisting social influence ourselves
• Locus of control


  The idea that a person has an individual sense of control over their lives, ranging from high internal to high external
• High internal locus of control


  • Feels their actions control their lives, have responsibility for their actions, and are less concerned by social approval
• High external locus of control


  • Feels their lives are controlled by external forces like other people, fate, or the government
• The majority of people have a locus of control somewhere in the middle of the internal and external extremes
• People with a high internal locus of control are much more able to resist pressures to conform or obey
• Having an internal locus of control


  Increases ability to resist orders and pressure to conform
• Research on locus of control

  • Holland's replication of Milgram's study found 37% of those with an internal locus of control refused to continue to the highest shock level, compared to 23% of those with an external locus of control
• Even with an internal locus of control, the majority (63%) still obeyed the authority figure in Milgram's study
• Research on social support

  • In Asch's variations, having a Confederate disagree with the group significantly reduced conformity from 32% to 5.5%
• Resistance to social influence

  • 24% didn't conform in a single critical trial in Asch's study
  • 35% refused to obey the experimenter and shock all the way up to 450 volts in Milgram's study
  • Most of the guards refused to perform the aggressive role in Zimbardo's study
• A significant number of people, though perhaps not the majority, are able to resist social pressure