Resistance to social influence

Question 1

Social support- conformity

Answer 1

• Social support can help people to resist conformity. The pressure to conform can be reduced if there are other people present who are not conforming. As we saw in Asch’s research, the person not conforming doesn’t have to be giving the ‘right’ answer but simply the fact that someone else is not following the majority appears to enable a person to be free to follow their own conscience. This other person acts as a ‘model’.
• However, Asch’s research also showed that if this ‘non-conforming’ person starts conforming again, so does the naïve participant. Thus the effect of dissent is not long lasting.