Resistance to Social influence

• Social influence- the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or obey authority, influenced by situational and dispositional factors
• Social support- a situational factor which is associated with diffusion of responsibility (the more people who disobey, the less severe the consequences). The presence of people who resist pressures to conform or obey can help others to do the same, the support acts as a model to show others that resistance is possible
• Resistance to social influence- Asch (conformity):

  • Confederate breaks unanimity by giving the correct answer.
  • Conformity drops from 32% to 5%

  Resistance to social influence- Milgram (obedience):

  • Disobedient confederate goes against the experimenter and is in the room with the pps
  • Obedience drops from 65% to 10%

  This happens because confederates model independent behaviour- pps can go against the majority/ authority figure and can follow their own beliefs.
• Evaluation of social support:

  • Alternative explanation- Allen & Levine (1969) the response position of the social support impacts resistance to conformity. Asch-type study where the defiant confederate gives the correct answer first (rather than fourth). Pps are more likely to resist conformity
  • Allen & Levine (1971) Asch-type study. Defiant confederate with good eyesight, 64% didn't conform. No social support, 3% didn't conform. Defiant confederate with bad eyesight (glasses), 36% didn't conform
• Evaluation of social support:

  • Supportive evidence- Albrecht et al (2006) 8 week programme to help pregnant 14-19 year olds resist peer pressure to smoke. Social support= an older mentor.
  • Those with a mentor were less likely to smoke, compared to a control group without mentors, suggesting that the presence of a mentor as social support reduced the pressure to conform
• Rotter (1966) Locus of control (LOC)- a persons perception of personal control over their own behaviour which is measured on a scale, internal (dispositional) factor
• Internal LOC- people who believe that the things that happen to them are largely controlled by themselves, due to ability and effort (e.g. doing well in an exam due to hard work)
• External LOC- people who believe that the things which happen to them are outside of their control and are influenced by luck or fate (e.g. doing well on a test because of easy questions)
• Someone who has an internal locus of control is more likely to be able to resist social influence than someone with an external locus of control.
• Why is an internal LOC better at resisting social influence?:

  • Active seekers of useful info- less likely to rely on other's opinions, less vulnerable to influence
  • More likely to be leaders (authority)- more persuasive
  • More likely to display independent thoughts and behaviour
• Theoretical value of LOC- Twenge et al (2004) meta analysis of American LOC studies from (1960-2002) which showed that young Americans had increasingly higher external LOC scores over time.

  • Could be due to social desirability bias
  • Temporal validity- range of data over 40 years- shows societal changes
  • Cultural bias towards America, low generalisability to other countries
• Supportive evidence of LOC- Holland (1967) replicated Milgram's baseline study, measuring whether pps had internal or external LOC. 37% of internal pps didn't continue to 450 volts (social resistance shown). 23% of externals didn't continue- shows those with an internal LOC show greater resistance to authority.

  • HOWEVER LOC is measured on a continuum with no definite traits- increases social desirability bias.
• Theoretical value of LOC- Spector (1983) found a significant correlation between LOC and NSI in 157 undergraduates. External LOC were more likely to conform than internal LOC in situations of NSI (where people conform to fit in). No relationship between LOC and ISI (conforming to be right).

  • Low internal validity- cannot establish cause and effect due to use of correlation