Resistance to social influence

• Asch found that the presence of social support enables an individual to resist conformity pressure from the majority. in one of the variations in his study, the introduction of an ally who also gave the right answer caused conformity levels to drop steadily
• The social support offered by the ally led to a reduction in conformity from 33% to just 5.5%. The most important aspect of social control appears to be that it breaks the unanimous position of the majority
• Supporters and dissenters are likely to be effective in reducing conformity because by breaking the unanimity of the majority, they raise the possibility that there are other ways of thinking or responding
• The presence of an ally provides the individual with an independent assessment of reality that makes them feel more confident in their decision and better able to stand up to the majority
• It’s often difficult to take a stand against authority because the obedient behaviour of others makes even a harmful action appear acceptable. However, their disobedience can change that perception
• Research has shown that individuals are generally more confident in their ability to resist the temptation to obey if they can find an ally who’s willing to join them in opposing the authority figure
• Disobedient peers act as role models on which the individual can model their own behaviour. Individuals are able to use the defiance of peers as an opportunity to extricate themselves from having to cause any further harm to a victim as a result of obedience
• Allen and Levine (1969) studied whether the response position of the person providing social support made any difference to a participant resisting the majority. The researchers suggest that a correct first answer produces an initial commitment to the correct response that endures even though other group members disagree
• Rees and Wallace (2015) showed that the social support provided by friends helped adolescents resist conformity pressure from the majority. within lab-based experiments on social influence it was consistent that the social support offered by non-drinking friends can decrease the odds of a non-drinker deciding to consume alcohol, even when faced with the conformity pressures of the drinking majority