Resisting Social Influence

• what is social support?

  • someone supporting their point of view making an individual more likely to resits the pressure to conform or obey if they have an ally
  • individuals who have support for their point of view no longer fear being ridiculed allowing them to avoid normative social influence
  • individuals who have support for their point of view are less likely to obey orders and feel better able to resist the pressure if there is another person present who also does not obey
• strengths of social support

  • asch research support idea of social support in conformity: when one of the confederates was instructed to give the correct answer throughout conformity dropped to 5%. tbis demonstrated that if the participant has support for their belief then they are more likely to resist the pressure to conform. suggests social support lowers the pressure of the group making it easier to demonstrate independent behaviour
  • milgram research: two additional confederates refused to go on and withdrew from the experiment early. obedience dropped from 65% to 10%
• what is locus of control?

  • the extent to which people believe they have control over their own lives
  • external locus of control: believe what happens to them is controlled by external factors and that they do not have complete control over their life. this means they are more likely to conform or obey and less likely to show independent behaviour
  • internal locus of control: believe what happens in their life is largely the result of their own behaviour and that they have control over their life. they are more likely to be independent and find it easier to resist pressure to conform or obey
• strength of locus of control

  • nomothetic approach to establish general laws on behaviour relating to characteristics displayed by those scoring high or low on Rotter's internal/external scale