When does peer pressure start? Early. Very early in life.

© 2020-2024 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved

Peer pressure and social conformity starts long before adolescence. When faced with a choice between telling the truth and backing a popular falsehood, even 4-year-old children will buckle. Yet kids also possess the ability to question — and even reject — majority opinion. What can we do to encourage children to think for themselves?

Image this situation. You and three other people are sitting in adjacent booths, and you’ve each got a copy of the same book.

You open to the first page. You see a picture of a family of bears. On the next page, you see a picture of just one member of that family.

Now suppose I ask you to tell me who’s featured in the solo picture.

Is it Papa Bear? Mama Bear? Baby Bear? You’ve heard the other people claim that the character is Papa Bear. But you see very clearly that it’s Baby Bear. What do you say?