Social support

• Social Support - if other people present and not giving in to social pressure, you will be less likely to. This person acts as a “model” and provides confidence.
• Asch and Milgram implemented social support in their studies. Asch showed that when we have an ally, conformity levels drop significantly. From 32% to 5.5%. In Milgram’s study, when there was a disobedient peer, obedience dropped to 10%.
• Social Support AO3. There is research support for social support reducing pressure to conform. In one of Asch’s variations, a confederate was instructed to give the correct answer throughout the trials. In this variation, conformity dropped to 5%. This demonstrates that if a ppt has support for their belief they are more likely to resist the pressure to conform. This suggests that social support lowers the pressure of the group making it easier to demonstrate independent behaviour.
• Social Support AO3 - there is research support for social support reducing pressure to obey. In one of Milgram’s variations, the real ppt was paired with two additional confederates, also playing the role of teacher. These confederates refused to go on and withdrew from the experiment early. The percentage of ppts that went up to the final voltage dropped from 65% to 10%. This shows that if the real participant has support for their desire to disobey, they are more likely to.