Resisting Pressures to Obey Social Influence Resisting Pressures to Obey

Internal Locus of Control External Starter Sketch the locus of control diagram. What is the supporting research for the locus of control? Internal Locus of Control External A person believes that their behaviour is caused primarily by their own personal decisions and efforts A person believes that their behaviour is caused primarily by fate, luck or by other external circumstances

Gender differences in conformity Griskevicius et al (2006) found an interesting gender difference in nonconformity. When men and women are looking for a partner, women are more likely to conform to what they think others want, whereas men tend to become nonconformist in their behaviour. This fits with the evolutionary explanation of male behaviour when seeking romantic partners– being different offers something unique to prospective partners!

Resisting Social Influence Some people can easily resist the pressure to conform. These people may be more aware of the situational pressures around them and are more equipped to deal with them. Such people are aware of their own thinking (e.g. The belief that authority figures actually know what they are doing) can distort their perception of a situation, and can engage in critical thinking that goes beyond what other people think about the situation. We will now look at the strategies used to resist the pressure to conform and obey authority.

Resisting Pressures to Conform The role of allies In one of Asch’s variations the presence of a ‘dissenter’ or ally caused conformity rates to plummet. This could be due to informational social influence (the need to be ‘right’) The presence of the ally gives an independent assessment of reality and makes the individual feel more confident when rejecting the majority position.

Resisting Pressures to Conform The role of allies Allen and Levine (1971) conducted a task similar to Asch. There were three conditions: The supporter had very poor vision (shown by glasses with thick lenses) – invalid social support Supporter had normal vision – valid social support No social support for the lone participant The findings were that the valid social supporter had much more impact, showing that the presence of an ally is very important, but more so when they are perceived as offering valid social support.

The nonconformist personality People who do not respond to majority influences are normally independent and unconcerned with social norms, and sometimes they do not even know what the social norm is. Some people are predisposed to actively oppose the norm and are said to have an anti-conformity personality. Such people would deliberately dress in a way that is different from others.

 Evaluation  People will conform to a majority in order to be liked (normative social influence) when they are asked to judge something in physical reality (e.g. in the Asch study where lengths of lines are judged. However, when moral judgements are to be made, the costs to one’s personal integrity is higher. Hornsey et al (2003) found that there was little movement towards a majority on attitudes of moral significance to the individual (e.g. cheating) even when this involved public (not just private) behaviours.

Practice Questions Tanya has recently moved with her family and started a new school. She wants to fit in and be liked by everyone but the other girls are particularly unkind. They pick on some of their classmates and often are badly behaved in lessons. Identify one factor that explains how people resist the pressure to conform. [1 mark] Outline advice that you might give to Tanya, based on your knowledge of psychology. [3 marks] Outline what research has shown about how people resist pressures to conform. [6 marks]

Obedience Milgram (1963) Aim: To discover whether ordinary people will obey a legitimate authority even when required to injure another person. Procedure: See left image. Findings: 65% went to 450v Conclusion: People are astonishingly obedient to authority when asked to behave in an inhumane manner. This suggests that it is not evil people who commit evil crimes but ordinary people just obeying orders.

Resisting Pressures to Obey -Insights from Milgram’s Research- While a high proportion of participants went to the full 450v, some defied the experimenter and Milgram was interested in the situational factors which helped the individual to defy authority. In some of Milgram’s variations it was possible to see the obedience rate drop. For example, when in a downtown office conformity dropped to 48%. This tells us that status is a key factor (i.e. Yale has a higher ‘status’ or reputation than a rundown office). Resistance is also increased when the participant could see the victim or if there was other confederates present. So, being aware of your actions or having social support increases resistance.

Resisting Pressures to Obey -Moral Considerations- Kohlberg was a colleague of Milgram. He presented Milgram’s volunteers with some imaginary dilemmas. They were not about how you would behave in a situation, but why you would behave in a particular way. He found those who had high moral principles were more likely to resist obedience. Those with few moral principles would obey the experimenter completely.

Resisting Pressures to Obey -Social Heroism- Zimbardo (2007) suggests that while the majority will obey authority, those that don’t are heroes. Heroes are those who are willing to make sacrifices for the good of society. Social heroism is about putting yourself at risk in pursuit of an important principle. It can be costly though; loss of social status, loss of credibility, or even torture and death can result. The best known hero is probably Nelson Mandela. He was imprisoned for 36 years for his resistance of government apartheid policies in South Africa. A less well-known hero is Michael Bernhardt. He was a US soldier who refused to obey authority and shoot unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War. When questioned he said ‘I can hardly do anything if I know it is wrong’

Question Marking You will now be given two questions to mark. They are not very good attempts! You need to give them a mark then you need to write your own answer to the question.

Outline what research has shown about how people resist pressures to obey authority. [6 marks] Milgram found that when the teacher could see the victim, they were less likely to obey the authority figure. This means that we should see the victim and think about the consequences of our actions. Milgram also found that people were more able to resist the authority figure when they were out of the room. When other people refused to give any more electric shocks, participants refused to carry on. He also found that when he moved the experiment to some run-down offices only half the participants went all the way to 450 volts, which shows that status is important in obedience. 3/6 This answer has selected the appropriate evidence but has failed to twist it around as evidence of resistance rather than obedience.

It is against the law to drop litter in public places, yet many people disobey this law. Using your knowledge of psychology, explain why some people disobey the law. [4 marks] Some people disobey the law because they think it is an unjust law. They think it isn’t really so bad to drop litter and therefore judge that this is a law which is ok to disobey. It is more important to obey laws such as not killing or stealing, and less important morally to obey laws of littering. They may know that dropping litter is a bad thing, but do it anyway. 2/4 There is no psychological evidence in this answer. There is no explanation of studies to demonstrate knowledge of the topic being examined.