Resistance to Social Influence

Last time, we saw the strengths and weaknesses of authoritarian  personality theory, and we saw that…

We saw that one strengths of authoritative personality theory is that it explains why some people obey more than others. 

But one weakness of authoritative personality theory is that it can’t explain why whole cultures obey.

We’ve also looked at Milgram’s revolutionary study of obedience.

Milgram’s study gave some groundbreaking insights into why people obey destructive orders..

Like when people in Germany obeyed the order of the Nazis, leading to millions of Jews being killed.

Milgram showed that most people are capable of obeying destructive orders, and that obedience is often caused by the situation that people are put in.

But in Nazi Germany, not everyone obeyed the Nazis. Some people actively disobeyed them.

For example, a group of teenagers called the Edelweiss Pirates disobeyed the Nazis by actively helping Jews escape the country and sabotaging Nazi machinery. 

The Edelweiss Pirates didn’t give in to the pressure to obey, even when it seemed like everyone else in the country was obeying. They resisted.

Now, when a person withstands and doesn’t give in to the pressure to obey or conform, we call this resistance to social influence.

Resistance to social influence can happen when someone resists direct orders from a person of authority.

Like how the Edelweiss Pirates resisted the Nazis.

Or how some of Milgram’s participants resisted the experimenter and decided to quit the study.

But resistance to social influence can also happen when someone resists the influence of the majority.

And when people are influenced by the majority, we call this…

When people are influenced by the majority, we call this conformity.

Like how the Edelweiss Pirates felt pressure to fit in from all the German people who were obeying the Nazis.

So, resistance to social influence can involve disobedience and non-conformity.

So, when Kanye West decided to get up onstage at the VMAs and criticise the judges for picking Taylor Swift for best music video award, even though he knew everyone would judge him, what was he doing?

When Kanye West decided to get up onstage at the VMAs and criticise the judges for picking Taylor Swift for best music video award, even though he knew everyone would judge him, he was resisting social influence by displaying non-conformity.

And if Justin Bieber decides to go onstage in a leopard print bathing suit, even though his manager told him not to, what can we say about Justin?

But what makes some people resist social influence?

We’ll look at some reasons why people resist next.

But first, to recap, resistance to social influence is when…

Resistance to social influence is when a person withstands the pressure to obey or conform.