Pressure from a teen’s peers will guide the actions an adolescent performs. Whether or not the adolescent decides to subdue to this pressure will shape their identity and personality. Once considered to be the “I wasn’t thinking” response to actions involving peer pressure actually is a phenomenon common among the adolescent brain (Dreifus). In the presence of their friends teens are actually twice as likely to take part in risks they know to be inexcusable behavior. “Having friends nearby doubles the number of risks they take… certain part of the brain is activated by the presence of peers in adolescents, but not in adults.” (Dreifus). Peer pressure will dictate many of the teenager’s actions differently than someone who doesn’t comply with these pressures.
Cultural influences will guide the social identity an adolescent will take on. Most adolescents follow the current culture and will become any certain identity to “fit in”. The following are examples of what qualities of culture shape the identities of the adolescents; academics, religious functions and the “everyone does it” saying. Academics follow the generalization that if he doesn’t try then why should I try? (“Adolescent Development”). Often leading to an attitude found undesirable by parents. If an adolescent’s current culture is for staying devout to their God, then they will often follow this attitude to fit in and be like everyone else. The “everyone does it” saying is mainly used to make an individual give into a current cultural blemish and is related to peer pressure. The factors of peer pressure and cultural influences greatly impact the identity an adolescent forms. These factors are related, often being used in contention with the other, and can combine to affect a human for the rest of their life.
"Adolescent Development." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.
Dreifus, Claudia. "Developmental Psychologist Says Teenagers Are Different." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 30 Nov. 209. Web. 9 Oct. 2012
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Everyone knows about the negative affects of peer pressure. However, peer pressure can be positive; it is also not as scary as some may believe. "Studies show that, almost always, peer influence is weaker than adults believe" (Black, 2002). Adults tend to underestimate middle school children and their ability to make decisions on their own. When a child commits a wrongdoing, parents automatically want to blame peer influence. Yet research has shown that young adolescents are not necessarily drawn into certain behaviors by peer pressure, rather they decide to be more like their peers on their…
- 1400 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
The psychosocial development stage during adolescence is the search for identity. Psychosocial development encompasses the way peoples understanding for themselves, one another and the world around them changes during the course of development.…
- 508 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Adolescence is probably the hardest stage of development anyone will every experience. It is a time of growth that is the most crucial in defining who one will be as they get older. Adolescence is the age things begin to change emotionally and physically. It is already difficult enough without life 's complications of peer pressure, unexpected disappointments, and finding out the ones we look up to end up letting us down the most. Peer pressure tends to have more of an effect on children with low self-esteem. If a child feels compelled to fit in, the teen may do things that go against his or her beliefs simply to be part of the group.…
- 3861 Words
- 16 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Peer pressure is all around us, and peer pressure is an issue we will have to deal with throughout…
- 821 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Adolescence describes the transitional stage in a teenager’s life, from childhood to adulthood, where an individual evolves physically, psychologically, emotionally, cognitively and socially. It is a defined social category that is expressed through immaturity and unpredictability and allows an individual to learn and discover their sense of self and identity. The idea of adolescence came into perspective after children were expected to take on adult roles as soon as they were mature enough to, going straight from puberty to adulthood. As society changed and moulded, so did the ideas about life stages, which is evident in Erikson’s theory.…
- 1101 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Can you truly judged someone's identity if you don’t even know your own? Teens will always judged someone because they don’t have an identity. In reality they are in the same boat because they know their own either, maybe they pick on the others because someone else is judging them and they can’t help the urge to discriminate someone else. Teens try to find a clique to fit into, sometimes they try to fit into the wrong clique and get shut down and as a result they get messed up in the head and commit serious and even fatal decisions. All over the web there are sites that help teens find their identity. There are ways one can find their identity such as: encouraging self discovery, acknowledge natural abilities, value uniqueness, or highlight…
- 135 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Beatriz Luna conducted an experiment to show the ways that teens and adults react when they are told not to do something they have a natural impulse to do. The participants needed to watch a screen and when a blinking light appeared, they needed to resist looking at it and look in the opposite direction. “To succeed, you must override both a normal impulse to attend to new information and curiously about something forbidden,” It is harder for the kids and teens to resist looking at something they are not supposed to. The results showed that with practice and motivation teens can resist looking at the blinking light. However, by age 20 it became easier for them to not look at the light because they are able to use the part of their brain that controls decision making. Studies also show that teens take more risks when they have a friend present. The pressure to impress their peers, causes teens to act more recklessly than they would if they were…
- 1203 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Teenage years can be a challenging time for many individuals. Beginning at the age of 11 through 20, adolescence is defined as a “transitional period in the human life span, linking childhood and adulthood” (Santrock 2009). At this point, the person is no longer a child, but not yet an adult. This makes it a very critical and sensitive time frame for identity formation.…
- 1284 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
As a parent I always wanted to know what causes teenagers to take risk and make bad decisions. Turns out it has nothing to do with how smart they are and everything to do with their brains lack of ability to control impulses and the fact that their brains are not fully developed. In this paper I will touch on the brain of adolescence compared to the adult brain and the peer pressure of decision making and risk taking.…
- 2093 Words
- 9 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Self-structure is what defines the term, identity. Identity is made of what drives an individual, the abilities they have, what they believe, and their personal history (Marcia, 1980). Identity is one of the main struggles in an adolescents’ life. It is very important that children receive the proper guidance while entering their adolescence from their parents and peers. Although they like to believe that they are capable of developing on their own, adolescents need parental guidance to develop their path of identity development.…
- 1145 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
During these past years of high school, everybody, including myself, has gone through many tough times. It would be safe to say that even the people who are not searching for a future related to education have been stressed out wanting to perfect their transcript for college. I believe the identity of a student can be defined based on how they handle challenges that will heavily affect their future. I, for instance, identify myself as a competitive person. There are several factors that I believe influence my character. First of all, my interest of always wanting to know more about the advancements in technology throughout the world, can say that I always look into the success of the future. The reason why I like to learn about innovating…
- 393 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
It is believed that children’s behavior can be influenced by their peers due to the pressure they face in their lives, particularly in the school. Peer pressure is defined as the feeling obtained by an individual when a person of a similar age pushes or influences you to make a particular choice which may be positive or negative (Peer Pressure Bag of Tricks, n.d.; Fanti and Henrich, 2010). Meanwhile, behavior is defined as the action or reaction a person has under particular circumstances based on reactions or responses by other people (WordNet Search – 3.1 (n.d.)).…
- 2692 Words
- 11 Pages
Powerful Essays -
adolescence is a very delicate period in one 's life. It arouses various internal conflicts, as an adolescent is neither a child and nor an adult yet. It is a very challenging period for the parents too, as parenting teenagers involves coping with their moods and behavioral changes. There are basically three stages which every child goes through, although the ages at which the child experiences these and the duration of each stage varies. Here are the three stages of adolescent development.…
- 9061 Words
- 37 Pages
Better Essays -
The choices we make build our future and guide our lives. Each choice that we decide on has an impact on our life whether it is good or bad. Through past experiences, some of the choices I have made have had unfortunate consequences. It is decisions like such, which we learn from and grow as individuals. However, many choices have rewarding and satisfying outcomes nonetheless. Most of our choices will affect not only us but often those around us as well. Because of the potential impact that choices can have on others surrounding us, it is important that we make certain decisions with great care and think through them thoroughly. The decision to make choices by the assistance of peer pressure has impacted the young adults during the 20th century substantially. Though many teenagers are excited to have the independence of making decisions, they often don’t do it without an opinion or two from friends. All decisions have their positive and negative facts however it is how you choose to deal with them that will determine how you handle everyday situations.…
- 1146 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Peers become an important influence on behavior during adolescence, and peer pressure has been called a hallmark of an adolescent experience. Peer conformity in young people is most pronounced with respect to style, taste, appearance, ideology, and values. Peer pressure is commonly associated with episodes of adolescent risk taking (such as delinquency, drug abuse, sexual behaviors, and reckless driving) because these activities commonly occur in the company of peers. Affiliation with friends who engage in risk behaviors has been shown to be a strong predictor of an adolescent's own behavior.…
- 5945 Words
- 24 Pages
Better Essays