social support:

• Resisting conformity:

  The pressure to conform can be resisted if there are other people present who are not conforming.

  For example in Asch's research , the confederate who is not conforming may not be giving the 'right' answer

  Simply the fact that someone else is not following the majority is social support

  It enables the naive pp to be free to follow their own conscience

  The confederate acts as a 'model' of independent behaviour

  Their dissent gives rise to more dissent because it shows that the majority is no longer unanimous
• Resisting obedience:


  The pressure to obey can be resisted if there is another person who is seen to disobey

  In one of Milgram's variations the rate of obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when the genuine pp was joined by a disobedient confederate

  The pp may not follow the disobedient person's behaviour but the point is the other person's disobedience acts as a 'model' of dissent for the pp to copy and this frees him to act from his own conscience. The disobedient model challenges the legitimacy of the authority figure, making it easier for others to disobey.