Topic Summaries

Resistance to social influence

A-Level > Psychology > AQA > A-Level Psychology Topic Summaries > Social influence > Resistance to social influence
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Addiction

  • There are dispositional and situational factors that encourage us to withstand social pressures to obey.
  • Social support: is a situational factor because when people agree with you in a situation, it is easier to resist the pressure to conform. This was explored in Asch’s variations where he showed that with social support, conformity rates rapidly decrease.If someone agrees with us, it gives us confidence to speak out.
  • Locus of control (LOC): 👥 Rotter (1966) examined the sense of control people believe they have over their own lives. Locus of control refers to the control that external or internal forces have over events in their lives. He believed that everyone can be placed on a scale: you can lie on the eternal LOC end or the internal LOC end. He tested this by using a questionnaire. He found that people with a high internal LOC are more likely to resist social pressures as they accept more responsibility for their actions, so are unlikely to look to authority for guidance. They are active seekers of information and generally regarded as more intelligent. They are also achievement oriented based on their own expectations which gives them less of a need for social approval.

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