Social support

• How can the pressure to conform be resisted?

  If there are other non-conformers present
• What is social support?

  Someone else not conforming to the majority
• How can the pressure to obey be resisted?

  If there is another person seen to disobey
• Another person's disobedience acts as a 'model' of dissent for the participant to copy, freeing them
• The disobedient 'model' challenges the legitimacy of the authority figure, making it easier for others to disobey
• Another person's non-conformity gives rise to more non-conformity because it shows the majority is no longer unanimous