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Resistance to Social Influence - Locus of Control

Last updated 22 Mar 2021

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In some cases people can resist the pressure to conform or obey because of their personality. Rotter (1966) proposed the idea of locus of control , which is the extent to which people believe they have control over their own lives.

People with an internal locus of control believe that what happens in their life is largely the result of their own behaviour and that they have control over their life. Whereas people with an external locus of control believe that what happens to them is controlled by external factors and that they do not have complete control over their life.

Consequently, Rotter suggested that individuals with an internal locus of control are more likely to resist the pressures to conform or obey, in comparison to individuals with an external locus of control.

Research supports the idea that individuals with an internal locus of control are more likely to resist the pressure to obey. Oliner & Oliner (1998) interviewed non-Jewish survivors of WWII and compared those who had resisted orders and protected Jewish people from the Nazi’s, in comparison to those who had not. Oliner and Oliner found that the 406 ‘rescuers’, who had resisted orders, were more likely to have a high internal locus of control, in comparison to the 126 people who had simply followed orders. These results appear to support the idea that a high internal locus of control makes individuals less likely to follow orders, although there are many other factors that may have caused individuals to follow orders in WWII and it is difficult to conclude that locus of control is the only factor.

Furthermore, research also supports the idea that individuals with an internal locus of control are less likely to conform. Spector (1983) used Rotter’s locus of control scale to determine whether locus of control is associated with conformity. From 157 students, Spector found that individuals with a high internal locus of control were less likely to conform than those with a high external locus of control, but only in situations of normative social influence, where individuals conform to be accepted. There was no difference between the two groups for informational social influence. This suggests that normative social influence, the desire to fit in, is more power than informational social influence, the desire to be right, when considering locus of control.

• Informational Social Influence
• Normative Social Influence
• Locus of control
• Spector (1983)
• Oliner & Oliner (1998)

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Explanations Of Resistance To Social Influence

March 4, 2021 - paper 1 introductory topics in psychology | social psychology.

• Back to Paper 1 - Social Psychology

Description, AO1 Explanations of Resistance to Social Influence:

Explanations of Resistance to Social Influence Definition-  The ways in which individuals attempt to withstand perceived attempts to threaten freedom of choice. For what reasons are able to stay independent and not conform or obey.

We will explore 2 reasons 1.  Social Support                2.  Locus of Control

• Social Support  Conformity is at its most powerful when there is  ‘unanimity’  from the group (e.g. everyone is in agreement). A  dissenter (i.e. someone going against the crowd) breaks this unanimity and   provides the participant with  moral support   this then ‘frees’ the participant to give their own answer or disobey a given order.  Dissenters make  disobedience and non-conformity an option  that the individual may not have considered without them.

Evidence to demonstrate/support the role of social support as a way of resisting social influence (AO3):

(1) POINT:  Research from  Asch  supports the idea that social support leads to more independent behaviour and resistance of social influence.  EXAMPLE:  For example, when Asch introduced a dissenter who gave the correct answer on his lines test, Asch saw a decrease in conformity (from 32% to 5%).  EVALUATION:  This is a strength because it shows that social support is important in bringing about independent behaviour and reducing social influence.

(2) Point:  Research has demonstrated that when participants are joined by a dissenter, the level of conformity within a group falls.

Allen and Levine found that in conditions  one and two there was a significant drop in the level of conformity compared to condition three  where there was no support for the lone participant.  Evaluation:  This is a strength because the research from Allen and Levine supports the idea that social support  (even unreliable dissenters)  can decrease the level of conformity and lead to more independent behaviour.

(3) POINT:  Research from  Milgram  supports the idea that social support leads to more independent behaviour and resistance of social influence.  EXAMPLE:  For example, when Milgram introduced a 2 dissenters who refused to obey the authority figure, one dissenter refused to obey passed 150 volts, the second refused to obey at 210 volts, this lead 9 out of 10 participants to refuse to obey to shock the learner at 450 volts.  EVALUATION:  This is a strength because it shows that social support is important in bringing about independent behaviour and reducing social influence.

• Locus of Control   Rotter (1966)  This refers to a person’s  perception  of personal control   over their own behaviour . It is measured along a dimension of  ‘internal’  (where people take responsibility for control over their behaviour) to  ‘external’  (where people believe their behaviour is controlled by luck or external influences).

(a) Internal Locus of Control:

A person believes they can affect the outcomes of situations

• Take personal responsibility for their actions
• No need for external approval
• Likely resist social influence

(b) External Locus of Control:

A person believes things turn out a certain way regardless of their actions

• Do not take responsibility for their own actions
• Can lack confidence
• Seek approval from others
• Not likely to resist social influence

Evaluation, AO3:

Evidence to demonstrate/support the role of locus of   control as a way of resisting social influence  (conformity)

(1) Point:  Research has demonstrated the influence of locus of control in resisting social influence.  Evidence:   Shute (1975)  exposed undergraduates to peers who expressed either conservative or liberal attitudes to drug taking and found that undergraduates with an internal LoC conformed less to expressing pro-drug attitudes. This means that people with internal LoC were less influenced by the liberal peer views.  Evaluation:  This is a strength because the research supports the idea that having an internal LoC increases resistance to conformity and leads to more independent behaviour as Rotter’s theory suggests.

(2) Point:  Further research offers support for the assumption that individuals with internal locus of control are more likely to resist social influence.  Evidence:  Atgis (1998)  carried out a meta-analysis of studies looking at the relationship between locus of control and conformity. He found a positive correlation (of 0.37) between external locus of control and persuasion.  Evaluation:  This is positive as it shows that externals are more easily persuaded and so it can be implied that internals are likely to be less persuaded and therefore show higher rates of resistance to social influence.

Evidence to demonstrate/support the role of locus of  control as a way of resisting social influence  (obedience):

(1) Point:  Further research has supported the fact that personality plays an important role in resisting obedience to authority.  Evidence:  Elms and Milgram (1974)  set out to investigate the background of disobedient participants by following up and interviewing a sub-sample of those involved in Milgram’s experiments. Milgram found that disobedient participants had a high internal locus of control.  Evaluation:  This is a strength as  the research supports the idea that a high level of self-esteem and a high rating if internal control can lead to more resisting obedience and that locus of control is an important factor in an individual’s ability to resist social influence.

(2) Point:  Further research has supported the fact that personality plays an important role in resisting obedience to authority.  Evidence:  Schurz (1985)  found no relationship between LoC and obedience among Austrian participants who gave the highest level of what they believed to be painful, skin-damaging bursts of ultrasound to a learner.  Evaluation:  This is a  weakness  because it demonstrates that there may not be a link between internal LoC and resisting social influence. However, those with internal LoC tended to take more personal responsibility for their actions than externals this suggests that a sense of personal control (an internal LoC characteristic) may be related to resistance to social influence.

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Social Influence – Resistance to Social Influence

• Revision Notes

RESISTANCE TO SOCIAL INFLUENCE

Explanations for resistance to social influence.

• Social support – people may resist pressures to conform or obey if they have support from someone else who agrees with them and disagrees with the majority. This encourages them to act more independently and oppose any pressures of conformity / obedience. Asch: there were two real participants, so they felt more comfortable saying their answers Milgram: disobedient confederate refused to obey at a certain point and the obedience from the real participant fell to 10%
• Size of the group – if there are less participants, the conformity levels drop as the individual feels more comfortable to act independently – there is less pressure to conform / obey Milgram: Gameson (1982) found higher levels of resistance in their study than in Milgram’s because the participants in Gameson’s study were in groups. In the study, 29 out of 33 groups of participants rebelled against the given orders
• Giving answers in private – people are less likely to resist if they give their answers in private as they don’t know what the others are saying; they wouldn’t know if they are ‘wrong
• Locus of control – this concept was proposed by Rotter and refers to the extent to which an individual believes they have control in their lives over their actions and behaviours. It can be measured on a scale from ‘internal’ to ‘external’. internal LOC – individuals with an internal LOC believe they have a great amount of control over their lives and take accountability for their successes / losses. Internals are also more likely to resist influence as they can confidently demonstrate independence and are less likely to ‘follow the crowd’ or follow an order they believe is ‘wrong’ external LOC – individuals with an external LOC believe that many things which happen to them are outside of their control. They appoint their successes / losses to ‘fate’ or ‘luck’ or other circumstances outside of their control. Externals are less likely to resist influence as they avoid personal responsibility for their behaviour and have require social approval

Case Study (LOC): Oliner and Oliner 1988

• Interviewed two groups of Non-Jewish people who lived through the Holocaust and Nazi Germany
• Compared 406 people who had protected and rescued the Jews from the Nazis to 126 people who had not done this
• Found that the group who rescued the Jews had scored demonstrating Internal Locus of Control
• Allen and Levine (1971) – found that conformity levels reduced when introducing a dissenter in a study very similar to Asch’s. Even if the dissenter wore glasses and claimed they had poor eyesight, conformity levels decreased; this supports the theory that having social support increases the resistance to conformity / obedience
• Holland (1967) – found that in a study like Milgram’s, 37% of people with an Internal Locus of Control refused to obey the maximum shock level, in comparison to 23% of people with an External Locus of Control. This supports the link between Locus of Control and resistance to obedience
• Twenge et al (2004) ­– found that throughout time periods, Americans have become more resistance to obedience, and they possess a more External Locus of Control. This contradicts the link discussed between locus of control and resistance to social influence as those with an external locus of control are supposed to be less likely to resist

Author: Kasra Daemi

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The Oxford Handbook of Social Influence

Department of Psychology, Northeastern University

Psychological Sciences, Purdue University

Jerry M. Burger, Santa Clara University

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The study of social influence has been central to social psychology since its inception. In fact, research on social influence began in the 1880s, predating the coining of the term social psychology. The area's influence continued through the 1960s, when it made seminal contributions at the beginning of social psychology's golden age, but by the mid-1980s, interest in this area had waned. Now the pendulum is swinging back, as seen in growing interest in motivational accounts. The chapters in this volume, written by leading scholars, cover a variety of topics in social influence, incorporating a range of levels of analysis (intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intragroup) and both source and target effects. The book also includes chapters on theories that are most relevant to social influence, as well as a set of chapters on social influence in applied settings. This text can contribute to the renaissance of interest in social influence in a variety of ways. Some chapters show us that it is time to reexamine classic topics in social influence in the context of what has been learned since the original research was conducted. Others show how integrations/elaborations that advance our understanding of social influence processes are now possible. The chapters also reveal lacunae in the social influence literature and suggest future lines of research. Perhaps the most important of these will take into account the change from traditional social influence that occurs face-to-face to social media–mediated influence that is likely to characterize many of our interactions in the future.

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