kmaples posted on March 11, 2011 14:58
If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you follow them? A new study from Temple University suggests that you might be tempted.
Researchers found that teenagers make worse decisions in the presence of friends than when they’re alone.
During the study, a group of teenagers 14-18 played a driving simulation game where they were rewarded for finishing in a certain amount of time. Teens crashed 60 percent more times when they knew their friends watched from another room.
“When they made these decisions while their friends were watching them, the ‘go for it’ part of the brain was more involved in the decision-making than when they were alone,” Temple research assistant Dustin Albert said.
This ‘go for it’ system is the ventral striatum in the brain, which is associated with reward, risk and addiction. The reward in this case, according to Albert, is getting through the game faster and impressing friends.
However, adults and college-aged kids did not have this same brain activity and made the same decisions when friends were watching as when they were alone.
“These findings are more consistent with there being a biological component to it (making bad decisions),” Albert said. “They go along with theories of how the adolescent brain works and what goes on with sensation-seeking and impulse control that we’ve developed based on studies.”
School psychologist Samantha DeWood also thinks the decision-making process is partially fueled by teenage psyche.
“Kids especially have a need for acceptance, approval and belonging,” DeWood said. “This need is vital to a teen. They are pressured or influenced by their friends because of that need to belong.”
Senior DJ Yockey notices this influence in his decision-making.
“When you’re with your friends, you’re put to peer pressure, wanting to do the cool things, stupid things that you know you’d get in trouble for,” he said.
Besides the neurological findings of this study, another theory of why teenagers are influenced like this more so than adults is that they lack life experiences.
“The parts of the brain that are regulating behavior are still developing (in teenagers),” Albert said. “Your brain changes in response to your experiences. As a teenager, you haven’t had as many.
“If adolescents make bad decisions with their friends, it’s partly because they haven’t had to make that many decisions in that situation.
You learn how to control your behavior, and your brain responds to that learning.”
Freshman Jennifer Norton tries to ignore the pressure she sometimes feels from friends.
“I try to be my own person. If someone tries to get me to do something, I know how to say no and walk away from that person,” Norton said.
To make better decisions, DeWood believes you have to surround yourself with a positive group of people.
“During your teenage years, you’re in flux—you’re not a kid and you’re not an adult, and that’s hard for a lot of people,” DeWood said.
“If you surround yourself with positive peers, you’re likely to be influenced by them in a good way.”
This is an edited version of this story. To read the full version, check out the March issue of Blue & Gold.