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Start Talking!
Know! The
Effect of Peer Presence
7/16/2017
We all know the heavy influence peer pressure can have on a tween/teen,
especially when it comes to risk-taking behaviors like drinking,
smoking and using other drugs. But are you aware of the impact the mere
presence of peers can have on an adolescent’s decision-making, without
any coercing or encouragement at all?
Psychologists from Temple University were curious to know why it is
that otherwise good kids seem to make poor decisions when they are
among their peers. In seeking an answer to this question, they used
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans on teens, college
students and adults to determine if there are differences in brain
activity when making decisions alone versus with their friends. What
they found is that, “teen peer pressure has a distinct effect on brain
signals involving risk and reward,” which may explain in part why youth
are at greater risk for bad behavior when their friends are watching.
To test how the presence of peers influences risk-taking, the
researchers had the various age groups individually engage in a
simulated driving game, where the goal was to reach the finish line as
quickly as possible, offering cash prizes as incentive. The
participants had to make decisions about obeying traffic signals; they
could, for instance, slow down as they approached a yellow light and
get delayed, or race through it and risk crashing, which would cause an
even longer delay. The youth and adults each played four rounds, half
of which they played alone. For the other two rounds, they were told
their same-sex friends who accompanied them to the study, were watching
them play in the other room.
Among the adults and college students, there was no significant
difference in the decisions they made regardless of friends watching or
not. However, the teens ran about 40 percent more yellow lights and had
60 percent more crashes when they knew their friends were watching. The
part of the brain that is associated with reward activity also
increased in teens when they knew their friends were watching. In other
words, the typical teenage brain seems to view it as high risk = high
reward.
Laurence Steinberg Ph.D, an author of the study and psychology
professor at Temple University says these findings give a new view on
peer pressure, since their peers were not even in the same room as the
participants. Simply knowing their friends were watching caused the
teens to take risks they otherwise would not have taken on their own.
It is important to know that while the brain reaches maximum size
between ages 12-14, it continues to grow and develop through a person’s
early 20’s. One of the last brain regions to mature is the prefrontal
cortex; the control center for looking ahead and sizing up risks and
rewards. The limbic system (which is responsible for emotional
responses) however, develops earlier. The relationship between the
already developed emotional center alongside the under-developed
self-control center sheds light on why teens act on emotion before
thinking it through.
While this study was only virtual, it falls in line with real-world
data that shows that car accidents among young drivers increase when
other teens are in the car. But this study is not just about teens
making decisions behind the wheel. Dr. Steinberg says it is about
parents needing to be aware that groups of teens need close supervision.
“All of us who have very good kids know they’ve done really dumb things
when they’ve been with their friends,” Dr. Steinberg said. “The lesson
is that if you have a kid whom you think of as very mature and able to
exercise good judgment, based on your observations when he or she is
alone or with you, that doesn’t necessarily generalize to how he or she
will behave in a group of friends without adults around. Parents should
be aware of that.”
Learn how to get the drug prevention conversation started at
StartTalking.Ohio.Gov.
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