Who doesn’t recognize it: a nagging mother about that one ‘nice’ blue and white sweater that you never wear anymore. It was expensive, it looks so nice on you, it’s so hip and it’s a beautiful fabric! According to your mother… But you really can’t wear that crazy thing anymore, you can already see yourself walking with it, no way! Until one morning you come downstairs with that blue and white sweater. Your mother is completely cheered up in an instant and you pretend that you put the sweater on for her anyway. Meanwhile, you think of all those popular guys at school who recently got a sweater like that…
What is peer pressure?
People have been living in groups for as long as we can imagine. Whether you belong to a particular group is largely up to you. Yet there are also groups that you automatically become a member of at birth (think of your family and the neighborhood in which you live). In these groups, people interact with each other in a certain way and the behavior of the group members is often coordinated. This is the result of peer pressure. Group pressure is the pressure that group members experience so that their behavior is attuned to the behavior of the group. It is quite possible that this behavior is not in accordance with the personal views of a particular person. When a particular person feels willing to adapt to the rules of the group, we call it conforming. In principle, no one can escape peer pressure and conformity, not even the most individualistic person. The difference, however, lies in the way in which the experience of peer pressure is expressed.
Types of peer pressure
It is possible to make a distinction within the phenomenon of peer pressure. You can imagine that there is a difference between the pressure that unintentionally encourages young people to light up a cigarette and the pressure from your classmates or colleagues that you experience every day (whether unconsciously) when choosing your clothes. We can briefly divide group pressure into three types: unconscious adjustment, implicit group pressure and explicit group pressure.
Unconscious adaptation
The ‘mildest’ form of peer pressure is called unconscious adaptation. If there is unconscious adaptation, the group does not exert pressure on a group member in the form of words or threats. The person adapts, as it were, of his own free will because he wants to belong to the group and only wants to receive positive reactions from the group. The person does not actually consciously experience this form of peer pressure as pressure, but he thinks that his adjustment comes entirely from his own will.
Implicit peer pressure
A second form of peer pressure is called implicit peer pressure. Even with this form of peer pressure, the group does not express exactly what is despised of a particular person. Yet the person has the idea that the group expects something from him and because he is often afraid of a negative reaction, he tries to adapt as best he can and tries to meet the group’s expectations. You would say that this is very difficult since the group does not express its expectations explicitly, but the person infers the group expectations from how the other group members behave. Even though the group does not express its expectations, a person already experiences this pressure as peer pressure. Implicit peer pressure can be experienced in the form of fear.
Explicit peer pressure
A third, and most clear, form of peer pressure is called explicit peer pressure. In this form of peer pressure, a certain group member is, as it were, forced to adapt to the demands of the group. The group makes it clear exactly what is expected of the group member and often threatens certain sanctions if the group member does not comply. These sanctions can be of a physical, psychological or material nature. Explicit peer pressure is experienced by most people as a form of threat.
The sanctions associated with whether or not to adapt to the group’s rules are in many cases negative, but this is not a fixed rule. It is quite possible that the individual himself also benefits from a certain sanction. The majority of sanctions are based on the well-known learning system of punishment and reward. The better an individual adapts to the group and its rules, the more he will be valued and the better his position in the group becomes. In principle, the promotion system in companies is a system of such nature.