Is Peer Pressure Necessary?

A teenagers risk taking is a crucial part of their brains development and can significantly benefit their growth as a person. Recent test have shown that in social situations, teenagers are more likely to take risks. In the article, Beautiful Brains, the author, David Dobbs, discussed a study in which teenagers played a game alone, then with people in the room. “When teens drive the course alone, in what Steinberg calls the emotionally ‘cool’ situation of an empty room, they take risks at the same rates that adults do.” (Pbs.org) This shows that teenagers are capable of making good decisions and taking the same amount of risks as a developed adult. So many parents assume that they take unnecessary risk, when really, the teenager knows exactly

Peer pressure is the influence a peer group has on its members to fit into a particular way of thinking and behaving. When children are very young the major influences in their lives are their family and caregivers. Behaviour, attitudes and expectations in young children are learned from the modelling of others. This is the way we all learn, first from caregivers and then we include our peers when we start school and attend any activity away from family. Our Peers have a considerable influence on our behaviour and outlook on life as we all learn together. Youth spend large amounts of time with Peers, who are learning about themselves as they grow up.

Although peer pressure affects everyone, and I mean everyone, there are times where you are more vulnerable of falling for peer pressure. As we become more independent from our parents we become more prone to falling for peer pressure. This is because as we start to make our own choices we consider the long term effects of our actions less and we usually don’t know what we want most of the times anyways.

This essay will consider how each of the 5 psychological perspectives explain smoking. I will cover the psychodynamic, the behaviouristic, the biological, the cognitive and the humanistic approach.

The 3 Paragraphes part 1: Tobacco. Tobacco includes smoking and that’s it, smoking includes cigarettes and cigars. The same stranger and friend or friends who offered drugs thinks it’s a good idea to offer you cigarettes. If you think cigarettes are good for you, then you don’t know what smoking is. For the young ones reading this and don’t know what tobacco or smoking is, then i should probably tell them before it’s too late. The young ones who don’t want to read this then they should ask their parents, but i’m gonna tell them otherwise. Smoking or tobacco is when you have a cigarette or a cigar and you light it with a lighter, it’s really bad to smoke. Why is it so dangerous or bad to smoke? Because your lungs are getting more and more damaged the more you smoke, and that puts you in a high risk of lung cancer. And the

Peer pressure influences teenagers because they might not want to do the things that their friends do. Many teenagers will be victims of peer pressure because their friends think that they might not be good enough to be in their groups. Another thing is that they think they don’t fit in with their friends. Their friends are going to tell them something and they will actually do it then after that their friends laugh at them or make fun of them. Laurie Halse Anderson the author of “Speak” is saying that peer pressure is dangerous and can be more harmful when their is more than one person doing the pressuring. Melinda friend Rachel left Melinda to eat by herself because Rachel friends said that she can not eat with them anymore.

Peer pressure can be both good and bad. It can be good in the way of, say

More than ever in this society as children find the need to belong or fit in to the popular crowd in school for acceptance they often tend to mimic their friends behaviors. This is often a result of the individual child trying to find him or herself. The results however, are not always negative. In fact, there are some positive results that may occur as a result of copying their peers. Simply stated, “When teens surround themselves with people who make good decisions and who are involved with positive activities and choices, it makes the adolescent child want to be better” (Stock, 2010 pg.2). Positive peers influence adolescents and can drive the child toward improved confidence, and improved grades in school. Inversely, the same can be said for the adolescent child who decides that he or she wants to be like his or her friends who have a negative influence. Children who fall into this category are those that are of the bandwagon philosophy. Those negatively impacted by peers often show signs of lower grades in school, increased distance from family. In fact, “peer pressure can lead to experimentation with drugs and alcohol, and various high risks behaviors” (Fact Sheets, 2009 pg.1). The changes in the adolescent child can have lasting effects depending on which type of peer influences that child may be surrounded by. The negative impact of peer pressure can be strong; however there are also positive influences.

As I played outside, most of them came out to smoke. I picked up a couple cigarette buds that still burned, one day and I smoked what was left of them. It made me feel cool like James Dean to smoke, so I continued to, until my mom caught me. I wouldn’t even say she “caught me”, because I had no idea that I shouldn’t have done it. She dragged me into the store so quick that it felt like we teleported there. My mother yelled at me in front of everyone. That moment was my first memory of embarrassment. I learned that I shouldn’t have done it, so I stopped. As a kid you don’t quite have a sense of what’s wrong or right. You’re just at a phase where you constantly question everything and act on your curiosity. Well, I did…Most of the

Walking near the bank of the Miner’s River, Virginia took a long drag from her cigarette and blew smoke through her nostrils, a skill she learned in the second grade. Back then, she’d snatch half-smoked cigarettes from her father’s ashtrays and stuff them into her socks to smoke later.

I think peer pressure plays an important role in a young teen’s life. Sometimes it basically controls their life. It can also help with lying or doing

In study after study, peer pressure is associated in adolescents of all ethnic and racial backgrounds with at-risk behaviors such as cigarette smoking, truancy, drug use, sexual activity, fighting, shoplifting, and daredevil stunts. Again, peer group values and attitudes influence more strongly than do family values the level of teenage alcohol use. The more accepting peers are of risky behavior, and the more they participate in that behavior, the more likely a person is to do the same thing.

They pressured her unto believing that smoking was cool and that she would fit in by smoking and that smoking with her friends would bring them closer and would enhance their friendship. (Mentor, October, 2011). Ms. Jeanette says that when she started smoking she would often cravings during the day and while in school and would always think about the different ways to where she could go smoke a cigarette. She says that smoking would ease her mind and made her feel calm and at ease like it was her escape to other things. (Mentor, October, 2011). As a teen her parents did smoke and she says that also influenced her as a teen and made her want to smoke as well. (Mentor, October, 2011). She says that as she began to become her own person as she grew older she then realized that smoking was not cool, and she should not have done it. She still does not realize how smoking makes her fit in and made her and her friends closer. (Mentor, October, 2011).

There are various cause and effects of peer pressure. Peer pressure is pressure or influence from a person’s peers. Peers are often described people of the same age group or social group. Peers will feel the need to be in control and will often surround themselves with weak-minded or people with low self-esteem to have the do their bidding. The causes of peer pressure include the need to fit in, low self-esteem, fear of rejection, and at most time the need to feel safety and security from peers. The effects of peer pressure can be negative and also have the worst outcomes.

In society today, people tend to make decisions based on the actions and choices of others. Peer pressure is a very real issue that affects most of the teenagers of the world today. it is a dangerous form of persuasion. It causes teenagers to easily succumb to unethical activities under the influence and pressure of their friends. people see the effects of