Psychology Chapter on Social Influence and Obedience

Dispositional Factors in Resisting Social Influence

• Individuals with a high internal locus of control (LOC) are more likely to resist social influence.
• They take responsibility for their actions and believe they can control their behavior.
• Conversely, those with high external LOC are more likely to conform and obey.
• They attribute outcomes to external factors like luck or fate.

Exam Question on Obedience

• People are more likely to obey authority figures in hospital settings.
• Outside of these settings, like a shop, obedience is decreased.
• Lack of uniform, different location, and lack of perceived legitimate authority contribute to reduced obedience.

Mark Scheme - Peer Mark

• AO2 = 4 reasons for reduced obedience to authority
• Lack of uniform signals a perceived loss of legitimacy.
• Change in location reduces the authority figure's perceived legitimacy.
• Any additional reasons must be relevant to the prompt.
• Merit is awarded based on details and elaboration of the reasons.

External Locus of Control

• External locus of control means behavior outcomes are beyond personal control.
• Associated with resignation, lower levels of effort, and lower levels of psychological adjustment, but a greater sense of satisfaction in non-responsive environments.
• Opposite of internal locus of control; better academic achievement, better interpersonal relations, greater effort to learn, positive attitudes to exercise, lower cigarette smoking, and lower blood pressure/heart attack rates have been linked to internal LOC.

Internal vs External LOC

• High internal LOC individuals actively seek out information, are more achievement driven and less likely to rely on others; demonstrating a higher resistance to social pressure.
• High external LOC individuals are more likely to be influenced by external factors, and are less inclined to exercise control over their personal lives.

Summary of the Influence of LOC

• People with a high internal LOC take responsibility for their actions and resist unreasonable orders and conformist behaviors.
• Individuals with a high external LOC often feel their actions have no impact and are thus more susceptible to obedience and conformity.

Holland (1967)

• Holland (1967) found no correlation between locus of control and obedience in Milgram's study.
• Blass (1991) re-analyzed the data and found that those with higher internal LOC resisted obedience, particularly when they felt manipulated by experimenters.

Lack of Ecological Validity

• Some studies, like Asch's study, use artificial procedures and are not realistic representations of real-life situations.
• The findings of these studies may not generalize to real-life independent behavior, such as jury decisions.

Too Simplistic Explanation

• Situational factors can also influence obedience (e.g. victim proximity, disobedient peers) making personality factors such as LOC inadequate explanations on their own.
• Milgram's studies demonstrate these situational factors significantly impacting obedience rates.

Mixture

• It is likely that people with a high internal LOC are better equipped to resist social pressure, but strong situational pressures can still lead to conformity or obedience.
• Milgram's variations demonstrate the interplay between personal inclinations and situational demands.