"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself." --Bruce Lee
"People! Come on! All of us are cutting history. Who wants to go take that stupid exam? We're going to BreadSticks instead. Let's go!" says the coolest kid in your class. Do you do what you know is right and go take the history exam? Or do you give in and go with the crowd? As you grow older, you'll be faced with some challenging decisions. Some don't have a clear right or wrong answer - should you practice the piano or text your girlfriend? Other decisions involve serious moral questions - should you cut class, should you lie to your parents? Making decisions on your own is hard enough, but when other people get involved and pressure you to make a certain
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However, sometimes peers influence each other in negative ways. For example, a few kids in school might try to get you to cut class with them or a kid in the neighborhood might want you to vandalize with him. A powerful negative peer influence can motivate a teen to make choices and engage in behavior that his or her values might otherwise reject. Teens who feel isolated or rejected by their peers or in their family are more likely to engage in risky behaviors in order to fit in with a group.
But why do kids give in to peer pressure? Some kids give in to peer pressure because they want to be liked, to fit in, or because they worry that other kids may make fun of them if they don't go along with the group. The need for acceptance, approval, and belonging is vital during the teen years. Others may go along because they are curious to try something new that others are doing. The idea that "everyone's doing it" may influence some kids to leave their better judgment, or their common sense, behind.
Anyway, nearly everyone ends up in a sticky peer pressure situation at some point. No matter how wisely you choose your friends, or how well you think you know them, sooner or later you'll have to make decisions that are difficult and could be unpopular. But these situations can be opportunities to figure out what are right for you. There is no magic for standing up to peer pressure, but it does take courage, YOURS! Here are some
Peer pressure can be used in many ways. Animal Farm is an allegory by George Orwell. It is about farm animals that weren’t satisfied of how their farm is run so they rebel. They make 7 commandments being “All animals are equal” the most important one. The book shows how total equality is hard to achieve and power corrupts. The novel uses peer pressure to control and manipulate what is happening on the farm. It is evident on how the action of the animals changes. It is evident on how Boxer’s way of thinking changes. It is also evident in the actions of the sheep and what it does to the other animals. Peer pressure plays a big role in this novel.
There's a famous quote by George Santayana that states “Those who cannot remember the past are commanded to repeat it” (The life of Reason, 1905) Do you believe that Santayana had a point by saying such as thing ? There’s a book called “The Crucible” which centers around the Salem witch trials that took place in Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 1690’s. There were signs of something that started off small but led to something bigger. Americans still see those signs today, but we chose to not learn from what happened in the past. The Crucible is a resource everyone could learn something from that could help us modern Americans.
But in a lot cases peer pressure is good and it is what drives people to do better. For example, in the story Going to Run all Night, Nilson faces the peer pressure of all the men in his squad for him to succeed so they would live. This peer pressure also drove him to never stop and give up because he want to help those men. Peer pressure today is spread around like candy at halloween, But no ever seems to realize it. You might put rely on a classmate to do his or her part in a group assignment, or you rely on you team mates to do their part in the game. The team also relies on you to do yours. Without this reliance or pressure for others to do their share, people would just be self centered jerks. They would be that one guy on you basketball team that thinks he can drive to the basket when the whole other team is inside the paint. Peer pressure is so common that no one looks at it this way. The only kind of peer pressure you hear today is the peer pressure to do drugs or drink. This might be a true statement that peer pressure is what influenced that person to drink or do drugs, but that doesn’t mean that peer pressure is strictly evil. Peer pressure is what NFL players face every time they step on the field. It is what pushes them to be the best they can be because it isn’t just their team relying on them it is the entire stadium hoping they do something amazing in the
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.
Growing up, my family often let us form our own opinions and perceptions. There is one specific event that occurred in my life that has led me to being more decisive without others opinions. That event was when I got my knee stuck in the teeth of an escalator. In short, my shoe got stuck in between two steps and when I went to run my knee cap dived into the teeth of the escalator. The pain was so intense that I couldn't move so my sister had to physically pull my knee out of the sharp blade. I ended up getting stitches on the Bauer Family's kitchen table. During the numbing process I was offered pizza or Jackie Bauer's Nintendo DS. At this moment I felt as though I had no decisions to make regarding my injury. Although my options with only one of them I took both the slice of pizza and Nintendo. Believe it or not this event is reason I don't have much influence of my decisions today. Choosing to eat pizza while in pain was not the best idea for I quickly regurgitated it, however, being able to choose between these two items helped develop the decision making I do today. In these moments of excruciating pain on the chilling kitchen table I was able to make a decision for myself, forgetting about my fleshy wound and instead focusing on the delicious pizza and Nintendo. As a result of this accident, I made the decision to attend Mercy High School. My decision on attending Mercy has nothing to do with the fact that I am a legacy. My mother and my sister both attended Mercy but I knew I needed decide if Mercy was the best place for me. After research and multiple shadowing days I decided that Mercy was indeed the right school for me. The school provides great resources for students to act on and I saw this as a great opportunity for my future. Making decisions without the oversight and perspective of other individuals has certainly proven that I am a
The purpose of this literature review paper is to navigate and explore different effects in society towards peer pressure, conformity and rebellion. This study attempts to answer the following research questions: How does peer pressure, conformity, and rebellion affects adolescents in society? The main goal of this review is to have knowledge of the effects of this three concepts such as: peer pressure, conformity and rebellion.
Growing up as a teenager (between the ages of 13-19), you are exposed to many forms of peer pressure. Some of these forms causes us to think “is this really worth trying/doing?”, or “will my popularity
There are two different types of peer pressure. Negative peer pressure is when teens feel pressured to do something they know is wrong. Positive peer pressure is when your friends push you to do something that is good and helpful to others. “Negative peer pressure can lead to, smoking, drinking, doing drugs, or stealing, or doing something you don't want to do such as cutting class or having sex.” (Unknown; Positive and Negative Peer Pressure). Teens may be tempted to give in to negative peer pressure because they want to be liked or fit in. They may also do it because they are afraid of being made fun of, or they want to try something other teens are doing.
Often times it can be difficult if not impossible to make what you think at that moment will be the right choice. One of the biggest factors that will hold people back is that to too often than not we are not completely clear on what type of result or outcome we want from a situation. Think about it, if you don’t really know what kind of result you want it is going to be pretty hard to know what choice is going to be the right one. So what do you do? You get a clear understanding, before you make any choice. Think about its effects in the long term, and short term. Knowing exactly what you want is very powerful. We have all heard the golden rule; do onto others as you would have them do onto you. This is probably one of the most important ideas to keep in mind when making good choices. When we are young a lot of us develop this me, me, me, attitude. We want all the toys, and we don’t want to share. Now this mentality may get us a lot of toys, but it defiantly doesn’t help you make friends. In this day and age a large part of personal success is based on working with others to achieve our goals. If we can help others get what they want, it will be much easier and they will be much more willing to help us get what we want. So when making any choice it is always ideal to think about how can I
"Statistics prove that 30% of teenagers have shoplifted at least once due to peer pressure. Over half of teenagers will experiment with alcohol. About 40% of teenagers have tried drugs," states Jeanie Lerche Davis author of Teenagers: Why Do They Rebel. The fact there is a new found freedom gives these adolescents opportunities to get pushed into doing the wrong thing. It begins with one person who is more rebellious than others to create the domino effect. When a child is a toddler, they are impressionable, they follow the lead of the adults in their lives. If they hear their parents say a curse word they will repeat it. Teenagers are impressionable in a very similar way and they’re stuck in the middle of learning who they are and who they want to be. If one friend shoplifts, they can easily get pressured into it, the same goes for alcohol and drugs. These things become cool, and when you're a teenager that's all that matters. In reality though doing these “cool” things are actually incredibly harmful, leading these teenagers down a wrong path.
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
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.
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.
Teenagers who are involved with peer pressure face many challenges with his or her own decision-making. Teens may be going through a phase of peer pressure and not even notice that they are being pressured (Peer Pressure 1). The peers who
Peer pressure has always been present and will also always be present. It is not a disease or a crime, it is an influence; either a negative or a positive one. Negative peer pressure is an influence put on a person to do something wrong, or something the person doesn’t want to do. This may be stealing, taking drugs, or other dangerous actions. If someone influences you into doing something like this it is considered a negative peer pressure. This is a major problem in most schools all around the world. Teenagers usually feel peer pressure when they feel unpopular between their friends, or when they want to be accepted in a group of other teenagers. The group is a place where one feels accepted, where he can feel good about himself, where he feels secure. It increases his self esteem, and it also enhances his self-image. Unfortunately, teenagers who want to be part of these groups, need to follow certain unpleasant routines, such as stealing, smoking, taking drugs, or drinking alcohol. Many times they do things that they would never have imagined themselves doing before meeting a new group of people. Some teens try to make the "right" decision so others will admire them. Having parents or other responsible adults they can turn to for help or advice is crucial at this point in a teen's life.