The presence of support from someone else makes it easier to resist social pressure, as the individual feels more confident in their own decision and therefore more confident to reject the majority position if someone else is doing so too
resisting obedience
The presence of other people who disobey (disobedient models) can serve to reduce obedience. Another person disobeying seems to act as a role model and empowers the observer to also disobey - challenges legitimacy of authority figure
Supporting evidence from conformity research
Evidence for this explanation comes from one of Asch’s (1951) variations. In one of the variations, one of the confederates was instructed to give the correct answer throughout
Alternative explanation
There may be other factors such as
confidence that may also contribute to individuals resisting social influence. It is believed that individuals find it much easier to resist social influence if they have real confidence in the correctness of their own answers.
