Active learning ideas
This topic shifts the focus from why people follow to why they resist. Students investigate the psychological mechanisms that allow individuals to remain independent in the face of majority pressure or unjust authority. The curriculum focuses on two primary explanations: social support and the personality trait known as Locus of Control. This is a crucial area of study as it balances the often-bleak findings of conformity research with evidence of human resilience and agency.
Activity 01
Groups research a historical figure, such as Rosa Parks or a conscientious objector, and identify whether their resistance was likely due to social support or an internal locus of control. They present their findings to the class.
What role does social support play in resisting conformity?
Activity 02
Provide students with various everyday challenges, like failing a test or winning a game. They must explain how someone with an internal versus an external locus of control would react in each situation.
How does an individual's locus of control affect their likelihood to obey?
Activity 03
Students act out a conformity scenario where one person is pressured to agree with a wrong answer. They then repeat the scene with a 'supporter' who agrees with the participant to see how the pressure dissipates.
Can independent behaviour be taught or encouraged?
A few notes on teaching this unit
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Locus of Control is a fixed personality type.
Clarify that Locus of Control exists on a continuum and can change depending on the situation or life experience. Peer discussion helps students see that they might have an internal locus for academics but an external one for sports.
Social support only helps if the supporter is right.
Explain that Asch found any dissenter, even one who gives a different wrong answer, reduces conformity. Hands-on modeling of the Asch variations helps students visualise how the break in unanimity is the key factor.
Methods used in this brief
Conformity and Obedience
An examination of Asch's research on conformity and Milgram's research on obedience. Students will evaluate situational variables and psychological explanations for why individuals yield to group pressure or authority.
8 methodologies
Minority Influence and Social Change
Investigating how a minority can change the views of a majority through consistency, commitment, and flexibility. The topic connects these psychological principles to historical movements for social change.
8 methodologies