Resistance to social influence

Resistance to social influence

1. Social support

   • enables us to resist pressures from a majority to conform or obey
   • social support breaks the unanimity of the majority
   • disobedient peers act as role models which a person can base their own behaviour

2. Locus Of Control

   • a person's perception of personal control of their behaviour
   • internal
     • what happens to them is a result of their own ability and effort
     • rely less on others opinions which enables them to resit social influence
   • External
     • what happens to them is due to external factors e.g. influence of others or luck
     • take less personal responsibility for their actions & are less likely to display independent behaviour & more likely to accept others influence

3. Evaluation

   • LOC generally helps resist pressure to conform
     • Spector (1982)there is a correlation between LOC & predisposition to normative social influence, but no correlation to informational social influence
     • externals > conform because of normative social influence, but LOC not significant when informational social influence
     • high degree of internality is only helpful when conformity occurs to gain approval
   • Social support doesn't have to be valid
     • even if support not convincing can still use to resist pressure
     • Allen & Levine (1971) study dissenting confederate wore thick lensed glasses during visual task, even tho support was not valid conformity reduced
     • Suggests any form of social support is effective but more so when valid
   • Trend in LOC research
     • Twenge et al (2004) meta-analysis young americans increasingly believed luck influenced their fate more than their own actions
     • LOC scores become substantially more external over time
     • may be due to the increasingly levels of alienation experienced by young people & tendency to explain misfortunes by outside forces in latter years of 20th century
   • Social support - Real Applications
     • e.g. in the Rossenstrasse protest during WW2, german women challenged gestapo agents threatening to open fire if they do not disperse
     • women demanded husbands & sons were released, support they gave each other eventually resulted in this happening
     • Supports Milgram's findings that a disobedient confederate gives a person the confidence to resist obeying
   • Internals - characteristics to resist
     • internals are more achievement orientated and actively seek out info, compared with externals
     • Hutchins & Estey (1978) high internals are also able to better resist coercion from others
     • suggests having an internal LOC is a powerful factor in resisting social influence