AO1 - Social Support

• People can resist pressures to conform or obey when they receive social support. (1) This is because having an ally gives us confidence and support making it possible to resist the pressures to conform or obey and remain independent in our behaviour. (1) Individuals who have support for their point of view no longer fear being ridiculed, allowing them to avoid normative social influence. (1)
• Resisting conformity

  • Individual must identify with the ally and see them as a role model of independent behaviour in order to resist conforming
  • Individuals who have support for their point of view no longer fear being ridiculed, allowing them to avoid NSI
• Resisting obedience

  • Ally acts as a model of dissent (someone who rebels against a majority opinion) for the individual to copy, and this frees the person to resist obedience and act from their own conscience
  • In certain situations, having other allies leads to diffusion of responsibility - the individual feels less responsible for their actions if there are others who are acting the same way, so the consequence of resisting is shared