h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If all the ones in a group are my peers (i.e. same social background and ideas, ideals) there should be little pressure. It only developes when there are some who are (perceived to be) better and if they manage to set a standart, this creates pressure to archieve that standart as well, imo.

Tube

Can't really add much, just wanted to say I agreed.

OK maybe the name 'peer pressure' is a little misleading. True peers are people identical to yourself, but that's not going to happen as everybody's different.

A lot of peer pressure happens when children try to do things to impress their peers, which they would not normally do. Children - usually boys - almost always have a competitive spark which makes them try and stand out as the coolest/hardest/whatever. And so it's a chain reaction, not starting from anything in particular, if you see what I mean.

I do agree with Peregrin, but I think that there are more or less two types of peer pressure among young children. The first (which Peregrin described) to which boys are more likely to exhibit, and the second, which girls are the most likely examples. The second is an overwhelming desire to become "one of the mob" and not to stand out, as they percieve being different as a form of embarrasment. This, I think, stems from the way in which their parents have disciplined them in public places, subconciously giving the message - don't go there, no one else is, therefore it is wrong.

One more thought on the subject, though, it reminds me of a scene in Life of Brian when someone states "We're all Individuals!", the crowd yells, then one character yells "I'm not!".

This is true insofar as it goes.

But people often feel pressure to 'outdo' their peers even if they are among equals. Henceforth, they hope to outlive their physical presence in the group. Admittedly, it's not usually pressure put upon the indiv to do this, but the fact they feel it at all indicates that ones 'peers' are instrumental in creating it.

Whoops - "hence" instead of "henceforth"

IMHO, the thing that matters is not the "peers" involved. The important thing is the self-image of the pressuree. As Tube said, peer pressure appears when people are among those that they see as better than themselves (although it appears in the inverse situation also due to the need to impress.) In any form of peer pressure, the motivation of the pressuree is invariably to increase that pressuree's status. If one sees oneself in the healthiest view possible- no better or worse than anyone else- then this motivation disappears and one can logically guage the value of all actions and self-changes. And doing that makes me happy

It is possible for people when they are at school to get in with 'the wrong crowd' (as our parents called them.) When I did that my parents decided that I probably wasn't worth the trouble. 20 years on, I still smoke and I can still drink most people under the table. Now that I have children I am aware of how damaging my parents' attitude has been. They always seemed to be caught up with their own problems so that mine, as a mere child, must have been trifling. I hope I am never going to be that dismissive of my own childrens' teenage stresses. On a lighter note, my attitude has been for ages that I really do not care what anyone thinks of me. I am ME, and if they have a problem with that, f*** 'em!!!