I don’t think you can spend very long with a group of adolescents without seeing a manifestation of what’s often referred to as “peer group pressure”: The supposition that kids do stuff because all their friends do it, too.

There’s no doubting it exists. I’m sure that you can think of plenty of examples of it from your own experience.

When I was in High School I was regularly described as a “problem student”. Whether that was because I was a pathologically troublesome teenager or because I was simply bored and frustrated with the education system, I’m not sure.

I am sure that I heard the canned speech about the impact of peer group pressure on my behavior more times than I care to recall.

I mixed in some rather interesting social circles during that period of my life, to be sure. Much to my parents’ exasperation I regularly chose to associate with the smokers, the long-haired, heavy metal loving kids, the academically challenged and the general misfits of the school.

As a result, I found myself in a lot of situations and participating in a lot of activities that were at best dangerous, at worst illegal and perhaps (in some cases) even potentially lethal.

Now my point is this: It’s pretty clear that if I had chosen instead to hang out with the “goody-two-shoes” kids, I probably wouldn’t have spent so much time in the Principal’s office or in detention. The peer group was undoubtedly a catalyst. But by calling by behavior a result of the influence of “peer group pressure” I think we’re kidding ourselves:

• We’re kidding ourselves that the inclination to go along with what our friends are doing is a conscious process. Especially as an adolescent where concepts as “identity” and “maturity” are being constantly redefined on a daily basis.
• We’re kidding ourselves that by pointing out that kids are doing what they are doing because of peer group pressure will actually cause them to have a “lightbulb moment” about it, and be instantly capable of switching off that unwanted behavior.

Peer group pressure is social proof.

Social Proof, if you’re unfamiliar, is the phenomenon whereby, when faced with uncertainty about required behavior, an individual looks for consistent patterns in the behavior of people around them and models their behavior on that.

There’s volumes of evidence on this (go check Wikipedia if you’re interested.)

If you’re attempting to influence a young person, talking to them about “Peer group pressure” is probably counter-productive. It’s like talking to them about gravity: Would you expect someone, having realised the effect of gravity, to be able to unshackle themselves from it and fly?

Social Proof is a human characteristic. It’s a survival mechanism. You don’t want to be the antelope running toward the lion when the rest of the herd is running the opposite direction.

I don’t like labeling it “Peer Group Pressure” for a few reasons:

• Firstly it carries the suggestion that the peer group conspires to influence an individual toward unwanted behavior.
• Second it carries a negative connotation. You never hear teenagers who work together to achieve positive results referred to as having done so “under the influence of peer group pressure”.
• Finally it neglects other, broader influences on the child’s behavior: Social conditioning, environmental concerns and parental, cultural and gender conditioning.

Behavior is not created in a vacuum.

If you’re attempting to influence a teenager (or indeed any person) to change the way they behave, you need to consider the entire spectrum of possible influences on that behavior.

Telling kids that they behave in an inappropriate way simply because they associate themselves with the “wrong” people does everyone a disservice.

• It teaches young people that people they like may be fundamentally “bad”, bringing into question their moral compass.
• It teaches young people who fail to counter the effects of social proof (an instinctive trait common to all humans) that they may just be failures.
• It teaches young people that they be incapable of thinking for themselves, that they are stimulus-response animals at the mercy of external pressures.

The phenomenon exists. No doubt about it. But it’s only one piece of the puzzle. If you want to influence someone, you’re going to need to look deeper than a blanket diagnosis of “peer group pressure” if you want to be able to influence them in an effective way.