Kindergarten peer monitors tamed disruption better than teachers could alone
In a remedial kindergarten class at the University of Kansas, three especially disruptive children calmed down once teachers began awarding points for good behaviour. Then the best-behaved classmates were appointed peer monitors, handing out the points themselves. Disruption among the three fell to average rates of 1, 8 and 11 percent.
Peer pressure is influence, direct or indirect, from people who share our interests, experiences or status. It can shift beliefs, values and behaviour toward a group's norms. Formal membership is unnecessary: people feel it in political parties and schools, in loosely defined cliques, and even as part of a crowd. Organisations, not just individuals, can succumb. Pressure is enforced through sanctions ranging from a disapproving glance to threats and violence, and whether sanctions work depends heavily on what members expect.
The Kansas study took place at the Edna A. Hill Child Development Laboratory. Children earned points for tasks like sitting on the mat at reading time, and three points by day's end won a prize. Researchers saw some improvement when teachers ran the system, but the sharper drop came after peers took charge. Imitation runs deep in childhood; children copy friends, parents, singers and YouTubers alike.
Adolescence is when susceptibility peaks, so much so that peer pressure has been called a hallmark of the teenage years. Conformity is strongest over style, taste, appearance and ideology. Popularity brings opportunities but can also raise risk-taking when a group rewards it. Allen and colleagues found that how susceptible 13- and 14-year-olds were predicted not just later yielding to pressure but also depressive symptoms, falling popularity and more acting out. Peer influence is well established in starting nicotine and alcohol use, though parental monitoring is linked to less use, and genes play a part: adolescents with a genetic predisposition tended to have close friends who were heavy users and were more vulnerable to them.
Pressure also works in the other direction, nudging young people toward volunteering, schoolwork or service projects. In one private survey, the Social Pressure Index, college students reported the least comfort voicing private views in public, and the pull of peer approval generally fades with adulthood.
Source: Peer pressure
