To discover the effects of peer pressure on younger people as compared to older people, and to see which type of peer pressure used will create the most response to peer pressure.
Purpose
To discover the effects of peer pressure on younger people as compared to older people, and to see which type of peer pressure used will create the most response to peer pressure.
Hypothesis
Younger people will be more prone to peer pressure, and more will respond to the joke situation.
Background Info:
Peer pressure has many definitions, but one meaning. Peer pressure can be about conformity (Bailey 1). It revolves around influence, compliance, persuasion, brainwashing, thought control and social psychology (Rhoads 5-8). Many statements are written about how to cope with peer pressure, what causes it, and why it is present. In this experiment, we will see how easily people can be persuaded by peer pressure.
There are many forms of peer pressure. Some come in the form of media, or propaganda. Messages from TV, radio and magazines shoot by us everyday, most go unnoticed but subconsciously, they are picked up (Rhoads1-2). Media propaganda is a mild form of peer pressure. The most familiar form occurs with people your own age. Your friends are probably the most influential people you will ever encounter. They pressure you into the kind of clothes you wear (Mozer 2). They can pressure you into gangs, cults, sex, drugs and alcohol (Lingren 2, Bailey 1).
Two more forms of peer pressure are direct and indirect . Direct peer pressure can come in the form of a challenge or pressure to behave a certain way. This is probably the most common type of the two. Pressure into cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol usually come form direct peer pressure. Indirect can come subtly and quietly, sometimes unconsciously. For example, at a party, one person may feel indirect peer pressure to drink alcohol, just because everyone else is doing it. This person may do this for many reasons; so that others won't ask why he hasn't drunk any alcohol, or just to feel like he fits in (Bailey 1-2).
Peer pressure isn't always bad though. There are good peer pressures as well. Role models provide for good peer pressure. A teacher can be an example of good peer pressure. Teachers influence kids, and hope that it comes at the right time for a adolescent or teenager so that they can make the right decision (Bailey 4). There are direct and indirect influences in good peer pressure as well. For example, direct, good peer pressure can be as simple as a mother telling her child to sit upright at the dinner table. Indirect, good peer pressure can come when a person loses a friend to an alcohol-related death. No one has told this person to drink or not to, but he has made up his mind that he will not drink now (Bailey 4-5)
Sometimes parents appear clueless as to what their children are experiencing in today's peer pressure. As Mark Mozer, Ph.D. said "Drat those kids of mine! You'd think they'd have the decency to communicate those things with me!" Some parents just have to talk to the their kids. Mozer says it best when he says "Teach your kid that life is an adventure, and he'll sat his sights higher than clothing fads....Peer pressure needn't be all that big a deal...The real issue is confidence...Pump up your kids spirits..."
Peer pressure doesn't reside only in the child-adolescent-teenager group. Adults experience peer pressure as well. Thought not as recognized, adult peer pressure can be serious. In the comic routine entitled Joining the Cult by Adam Sandler, Sandler tries to convince another actor to join a cult. Though comic, this clip shows an important point. Peer pressure in adults is not uncommon. In the script, Sandler presses on until the reluctant actor gives in and joins the cult.
Cults are a dangerous result of peer pressure among teenagers as well as adults. Most cults are destructive cults, ...
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Peer pressure doesn't reside only in the child-adolescent-teenager group. Adults experience peer pressure as well. Thought not as recognized, adult peer pressure can be serious. In the comic routine entitled Joining the Cult by Adam Sandler, Sandler tries to convince another actor to join a cult. Though comic, this clip shows an important point. Peer pressure in adults is not uncommon. In the script, Sandler presses on until the reluctant actor gives in and joins the cult.
Cults are a dangerous result of peer pressure among teenagers as well as adults. Most cults are destructive cults, and use methods such as brainwashing and mind control. There are four main types of cults; Religious (the most common), Psychological, commercial, and political. An example of a political cult was Nazism. Don't think that cults only contain wackos with severe problems. It is found that prior to their joining, two-thirds of cult members were "normal" people with normal lives. Only a small percentage of them are the weird ones we hear so much about. Most cults would rather not have these wackos. Some reasons for joining a cult include low self-esteem, a bad relationship, a job loss, or just depression. People turn to cults for comfort and acceptance (Rhoads 9-15). Cults can change people, such symptoms include personality changes, big changes in values and morals, changes in diet, exclusion form family events, inconsistency, and simplistic reasoning (Sagarin 16).
Another form of this type of peer pressure is gangs. Gangs usually are found in inner-city neighborhoods, among lower-income families (Lingren 2). Gangs are another dangerous form of the need for acceptance. Many people join gangs for the acceptance of others, comfort, or because of others with the came ideas and values.
Peer pressure is all about influence. Kelton Rhoads has defined influence into six categories. The first is social influence. Influence causes change, so it is easy to understand why this is the definition most dealt with peer pressure. Peer pressure causes change in people. It can change their beliefs, values, morals and actions. Changing your attitude is called the second definition, persuasion. Persuasion involves giving logical arguments to try to convince you into trying to do something. Persuasion can be good or bad. Good persuasion can be when you are persuaded into giving a donation to a worthy cause. The third definition is compliance. Compliance works quickly because the target doesn't have to agree, just perform the behavior. Take for example this scenario. Loitering in a certain parking lot is illegal. Stick the Backstreet Boys in there to play live music and the place will be swarmed with people. No one told them to come and agree with the loitering, but they did anyway. The fourth definition is Propaganda. Propaganda is found in the media mostly. Propaganda is found strongly in television, newspapers, radio, and magazines. Bad propaganda is most reputable with Hitler. Good propaganda can be an advertisement to not smoke. The fifth definition is brainwashing, or thought control. This is probably the lowest form of influence. It involves compliance, persuasion, and propaganda. It alters one's beliefs with other beliefs; more than often these beliefs are bad and destructive. The sixth and final definition of influence is social psychology. Social psychology is the study of beliefs, behaviors and attitudes of a person (Rhoads 6-8). All of these definitions combined explain the powers behind influence and peer pressure (Rhoads 6-8)
Works Cited
. Bailey, William J. Peer Pressure and Other Social Pressures- IPRC INFOsite <http://www.drugs.indiana.edu/drug_info/peer_pressure.html>
2. Lingren, Herbert G. Adolescence and Peer Pressure, NF95-211 Dec.1995 <http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/family/nf211.htm>
3. Mozer, Mark Peer Pressure <http://www.imageplaza.com/parenting/peerpres.html>
4. Rhoads, Kelton Cult Influence Tactics April 1999 <http://www.influenceatwork.com/cult.html>
5. Rhoads, Kelton Cult Influence Tactics 2 April 1999 <http://www.influenceatwork.com/cult2.html>
6. Rhoads, Kelton Everyday Influence Apr. 1999 <http://www.influenceatwork.com/everyinfl.html>
7. Rhoads, Kelton Persuasion, Compliance & Propaganda April 1999 <http://www.influenceatwork.com/definit.html>
8. Rhoads, Kelton What Can Influence Do? April 1999 <http://www.influenceatwork.com/whatcan.html>
9. Sagarin, Brad Cult Defense Tactics 1997 <http://www.influenceatwork.com/cultdef.html>
Materials
Fourteen people ranging from the age of 10-18, 14 people aged over 18, Two identical pictures of a triangle, Comfortable setting.
Procedure
. (Young people) Begin by informing four people of this experiment. These four people will remain constant throughout the experiment.
2. Introduce one person to join into a setting with the other four pre-selected people. Tell a joke that makes no sense. Instruct the first four to laugh. Record the observations of the introduced person into your data table. Repeat this until you have recorded the observations of 10 people (not including the pre-selected four).
3. Using the same process described above, introduce two identical pictures of triangles, labeled "A" and "B." Instruct the first four to identify the larger triangle as triangle "B." Ask the introduced person which triangle is larger. Record observations. Repeat this until the data for 10 people has been collected.
4. Instruct one of the members of the first four to make a strange sound. Let the members know to say that this sound is that of a lark. Introduce another person. Let the sound be made. Ask all what the sound was. Record observations of each person until 10 people have been introduced.
5. Ask the question, "What color is the sky?" Instruct the first four to answer as "navy blue." Introduce the fifth person and ask the question again. Record observations. Repeat until 10 people have been introduced.
6. Repeat steps 1-5, but this time, use people aged over 18. Record all observations.
Data
Table 1A
Table 2A
Table 3A
Tably 4A
Table 1B
Table 2B
Table 3B
Table 4B
Conclusion
In the experiment, it seemed that the younger people were more prone to peer pressure than the older people. Some of the subjects gave into peer pressure, and some displayed their own originality and unwillingness to give into peer pressure. The first part of my hypothesis was correct that more young people gave into peer pressure than older people. The second part, however, was incorrect. More people gave into the situation involving triangles and the sound situation (tables 2A and 2B). I was surprised to see that two young people gave into the color of the sky (table 4A). One simply went with navy blue and another said "Well I will say navy blue since everyone else has." One possible reason that one person went with navy blue is because maybe they were nervous, or maybe they, for some reason, did not remember what color navy blue was. None of the adults, as expected, went with navy blue as the color of the sky. This may have been due to older people's resistance to peer pressure, or familiarity with the subject. Many younger people seemed to go with triangle B (table 2A) Some stated that the triangles were the same size. Others stated A was larger, and even one person said "I'm saying A because everyone else is saying B." The people that said B was larger clearly gave into peer pressure. On the subject of the sound part, many people said "Yea, that sounds like a lark to me" (table 3A and 3B). These people clearly gave into peer pressure. Some people laughed at the joke (table 1A and 1B). A problem with this is maybe the joke was actually funny to them, because of its randomness. Nevertheless, there were people that hesitated, looked around, and laughed with the other that were laughing.
his proves that some people, when placed in a situation with other peers who all agree on one thing, will give into peer pressure. Group dynamics can be used to persuade people. Stories have been told where one person was placed in a room with 100 people. All the people in the room claimed that the sky is red, and in a matter of minutes, they had the guy believing that the sky was indeed red. I posed this question to others and one response was "I would just agree with them, just to make them stop asking the question." This could be an example of individuality and resistance to this type of peer pressure, or this person could not be aware of the actual power peer pressure has.
Not many problems were encountered in this experiment. A few people answered the questions humorously, maybe they knew what the experiment was about. These people answering in this way may have disrupted the results of the experiment. In the future, I may have to pick people that I know don't have such a potent sense of humor.
In the future, this experiment may be used in further research on peer pressure. Results could be used to find out which kind of peer pressure people give into. This could help in the fight against destructive cult practices, and could help dissect the persuasive efforts of others when pressuring their peers.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Leigh Ann Collinsworth, who gave me the idea for this experiment, and John Murkinson, who supposedly gave the idea to Leigh Ann. Thanks to Pam Leach for use of the setting for with this experiment took place, and thanks to all those who participated in this project.
Abstract
This experiment exists to study the effects of peer pressure on younger people as compared to older people. In the experiment, there are four parts for younger people and four parts for older people. In the procedure, each group is told a joke. Four pre selected were preinformed to laugh at it. The other people are observed as to whether or not they gave into peer pressure. In the next part, the subjects are asked to identify the larger of two triangles, which are actually the same size. Next, they must identify a sound, after the first four have identified it as something else. Finally, they are asked of the color of the sky, after the first four have identified it falsely. The process or repeated with older people. My hypothesis is that younger people will be more prone to peer pressure, and they will give into the joke-telling situation. The results prove the first part of my hypothesis correct, but the second part wrong. More people went with their peers when identifying triangle size and when identifying the mystery sound. Two younger subjects gave into the color of the sky situation, but no older subjects did. Some laughed at the joke, but maybe because it was funny to them. My conclusion stated that this data may be used in the future against negative forms of peer pressure. It could be used to find ways to fight destructive cult peer pressure.
Zachary May
2-12-00
3rd
