Resistance to social influence
The spec says: Explanations of resistance to social influence, including social support and locus of
control.
Social support
The idea that the presence of people who resist pressure to conform or obey will encourage others
to do the same, to break the unanimous position of the majority.
Conformity- Asch research Obedience- Milgram’s research
Findings show how conformity is reduced when Finding show that obedience is reduced with the
there is a peer who gives a dissenting answer presence of a different opinion, it frees the
Asch found conformity reduced to 5.5% when participants to act from their own conscience.
one confederate gave a differing answer from Obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when the
the rest of the group even if it was clearly wrong. participants were joined by a disobedient
confederate
Therefore, people are more likely to resist
obedience if an allie is willing to join them.
Locus of control: Proposed by Rotter, this is the concept of how much a person believes they control
what happens in their lives and can be measured on a scale from high internal to high external.
Internal LOC: Believe they have great control over life and take responsibility for their actions and
consequences. More likely to resist social influence and demonstrate independent behaviour with
less need for social approval.
Harry is confident he will get the job because he revised hard for the interview – Internal LOC
External LOC: Feel that many things which happen are outside of their control, and attribute
successes and failures to luck, fate, or other outside circumstances. externals are less likely to resist
influence, as they are less likely to take personal responsibility for their behaviour and have more
need for social approval.
Hollie checks her horoscope daily to see if she will have a good or bad da y – External LOC
Evaluation A03
Support for the LOC: Holland repeated Milgram’s study and measured whether participants had an
internal or external LOC. 37% of internals stopped obeying before 450v and significantly less of the
externals stopped, suggesting internals are less likely to obey and shows a link between locus of
control and resistance to obedience, research into conformity has also provided similar evidence
that internals are more likely to resist the pressure to conform. (Developed) however meta-analysis
by Avtgis et al. on studies of conformity and LOC found a correlation of +0.37 (weak positive) for
externals and conformity suggesting there is support for the role of the LOC, though it is quite weak.
Contradictory evidence by Twenge et al found that over time, Americans have become more
resistant to obedience, but have also become more external in their locus of control. This weakens
the suggestion that having an internal locus of control leads to resistance to social influence.
The spec says: Explanations of resistance to social influence, including social support and locus of
control.
Social support
The idea that the presence of people who resist pressure to conform or obey will encourage others
to do the same, to break the unanimous position of the majority.
Conformity- Asch research Obedience- Milgram’s research
Findings show how conformity is reduced when Finding show that obedience is reduced with the
there is a peer who gives a dissenting answer presence of a different opinion, it frees the
Asch found conformity reduced to 5.5% when participants to act from their own conscience.
one confederate gave a differing answer from Obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when the
the rest of the group even if it was clearly wrong. participants were joined by a disobedient
confederate
Therefore, people are more likely to resist
obedience if an allie is willing to join them.
Locus of control: Proposed by Rotter, this is the concept of how much a person believes they control
what happens in their lives and can be measured on a scale from high internal to high external.
Internal LOC: Believe they have great control over life and take responsibility for their actions and
consequences. More likely to resist social influence and demonstrate independent behaviour with
less need for social approval.
Harry is confident he will get the job because he revised hard for the interview – Internal LOC
External LOC: Feel that many things which happen are outside of their control, and attribute
successes and failures to luck, fate, or other outside circumstances. externals are less likely to resist
influence, as they are less likely to take personal responsibility for their behaviour and have more
need for social approval.
Hollie checks her horoscope daily to see if she will have a good or bad da y – External LOC
Evaluation A03
Support for the LOC: Holland repeated Milgram’s study and measured whether participants had an
internal or external LOC. 37% of internals stopped obeying before 450v and significantly less of the
externals stopped, suggesting internals are less likely to obey and shows a link between locus of
control and resistance to obedience, research into conformity has also provided similar evidence
that internals are more likely to resist the pressure to conform. (Developed) however meta-analysis
by Avtgis et al. on studies of conformity and LOC found a correlation of +0.37 (weak positive) for
externals and conformity suggesting there is support for the role of the LOC, though it is quite weak.
Contradictory evidence by Twenge et al found that over time, Americans have become more
resistant to obedience, but have also become more external in their locus of control. This weakens
the suggestion that having an internal locus of control leads to resistance to social influence.
