Resisting Social Influence
Social Support
Why will people resist conforming?
The presence of people who resist pressure to conform can help others to do the same
What are dissenters and how do they influence resisting conformity?
These people are known as dissenters – they make other people feel more comfortable to not conform to the group. Normative conformity is reduced.
What did Asch find regarding of social support?
Asch (1956) – a dissenter in one of his variations giving the correct answer reduced conformity to drop from 36% to 5.5%
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Evaluation
One strength of social support of a type of resisting social influence is research support from Allen and Levine. They carried out a study similar to Asch’s dissenter variation. They found conformity decreased when there was a dissenter present, even when the dissenter worse glasses. This is a strength as it shows that you will go against people when there is someone else resisting too. Therefore, this means that social support as a good type of resistance against social influence as it gives it good reliability.
Locus of Control
Definition of locus of control – the sense that people have about what directs the events that take place in their life
Internal locus of control?
The things that happen to an individual are controlled by themselves. E.g. if an ILC individual got a job it would be because they worked hard for it
External locus of control?
The things that happen to an individual are controlled by outside sources, not how they act or behave
Which type of locus of control will be able to resist social influence and why?
Internal locus as they have power and control – less likely to go into the agentic state; less normative; more self-confident and achievement orientated; they control and make their own decisions
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Evaluation
One limitation of locus of control as a form of resisting social influence is contradictory evidence from Twenge et al. People were found to become more resistant to obedience but also more external. This contradicts what is said according to the locus of control explanation for resistance to social influence. This is a limitation as there suggests that there are other factors involved in why someone may resist social influence. Therefore, this means that locus of control as an explanation of resisting social influence is a limitation as it doesn’t support it as there are other factors.