Social support:

• STRENGTH:

  • research evidence for the positive effects of social support
  • For example Albrecht et al 2006 evaluated Teen Fresh Start USA, an eight-week programme to help pregnant adolescents aged 14-19 resist peer pressure to smoke
  • Social support was provided by a slightly older buddy
  • At the end of the programme those who had a buddy were less likely to smoke than a control group of pp who did not have a buddy

  This shows that social support can help young people resist social influence as part of an intervention in the real world
• STRENGTH:

  • research evidence to support the role of dissenting peers in resisting obedience
  • Gamson et al 1982 pp were told to produce evidence that would be used to help an oil company run a smear campaign
  • The researchers found higher levels of resistance in their study than Milgram did in his. This was probably because the pp were in groups so could discuss what they were told to do
  • 29 out of 33 groups of pp (88%) rebelled against their orders.

  This shows that peer support can lead to disobedience by undermining the legitimacy of an authority figure.