Social Support & Loci of Control
- Psychologists use the term Independent behaviour to describe behaviour which seems not to be influenced by other people. This happens when a person resists the pressures to conform or obey
Social support
Resisting conformity and obedience
- Resisting the pressure to conform can be easier if there are others also resisting the pressure to conform
- When someone else is also not conforming, this will appear to be social support and allows the person to follow their own conscience
- The same can be seen with resistance to obey
- If another person is seen to disobey, it allows the person to also disobey as it challenges the legitimacy of the authority
Evaluation
- Albrecht et al (2006) evaluated a programme designed to help pregnant teenagers resist smoking
- Social support was provided to some of the teenagers by an older mentor
- At the end of the 8 week programme, they found the participants who had a mentor were less likely to smoke than the control group who did not have a mentor:
- This shows that social support can helps young people resist social influence in the real world
- Therefore, it has strong practical applications
Locus of control:
- Locus of control is the extent to which we believe we have control over our own behaviour and life
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- External Locus of Control: When a person feels they do not have control over their own lives and believe their life is controlled by external factors
- Internal Locus of Control: When a person feels they have control over their own life and behaviour
- People with a high internal locus of control are believed to be able to resist the pressure to conform and obey
- They tend to be more self-confident, intelligent and achievement-orientated, which provides them with personality traits that give them greater resistance to social control
Evaluation
- Holland (1967) repeated Milgram's baseline experiment and found that 37% of those participants who were measured to have a high internal locus of control did not continue to the highest shock, whereas only 24% of participants who were measured to have a high external locus of control did not continue to the highest shock level:
- This shows those with a high internal locus of control have a greater resistance to authority
- However, Rotter (1982) suggests our locus of control only has influence in new situations
- If they have previously obeyed or conformed to a situation, it is likely they would do so again, no matter whether their locus of control is internal or external
