Our first topic for the semester is peer pressure brought to you by Youngil. Your colleague would like you to read the following articles:
http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/76/Peer-pressure.html - for general information, as well as
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-04-04-teen-brain_N.htm?csp=34 and http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070824/OPINION/708240308/1144/OPINION for more specific examples or cases.
I believe he will fill you in with details on some of the questions you might have. Please, address them to him directly.
Be sure to read the articles carefully AND prepare your word list BEFORE you post your opinion.
I am looking forward to a exciting discussion about it on Friday, September 7.
Have fun and take care,
Kinga
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13 comments:
Hi, this is Youngil. This week’s blog discussion topic is “peer pressure” as you know. I just want to give some basic idea why I picked up this topic and introduce you to the articles that I chose.
Peer pressure is psychological forces that present around us as long as we are living in a society (You may get some basic idea about it from the first article). You may not feel it everyday but if you think about it just for a moment, you will find that it has huge impact on almost every respect of your life like what you are wearing, eating, talking, studying and even thinking (think about why do you have iPOD if you have one). Peer pressure affects all age groups, so we will live with this regardless of our age. Peer pressure effect is also widely studied in the industry field and applied to management, quality controls and sales strategies to let people buy and work more without recognizing it. So now, people not even recognize it, they actively use it.
Peer pressure is a very natural phenomenon and that’s why it always sticks to us. Human beings are supposed to be influenced by peers since we want to belong to somewhere, conform to social norms and be accepted by some one we trust. At the same time we pursue independence, freedom, self-esteem and liberation since we are very unique person who can not be compared to others. These two aspects lead us to the problem of decision making and choice of values in our behavior. Some people may be affected more by peer pressure while other people may not. Some people may take action by peer pressure while other people may resist against it. That action may work in a positive way, sometimes it can lead to a tragedy.
Article from USATODAY argues that educating teenagers about peer pressure has no effect on preventing them from risky behaviors based on recent scientific results and they suggest enforcing high level of regulation may be more effective than simple education. Second article from our local community news paper, Journal and Courier, is the opinions of people about Wade Steffey case, which argue that this is a tragedy caused by peer pressure which is not discussed enough to reveal the real underlying problem.
So I think we can start to discuss about the articles, how do you think about it or what’s your personal experience related with the issues. Thanks.
Peer pressure is definitely a strong force within one's body forcing it to do various things for the good as well as bad. We have enough of examples and real life situations for the bad part of peer pressure but we can also look into how peer pressure has benefited people? Example: An individual within a group excels academically because of his peers performing well. He was forced to act in such a manner to be accepted by the group or society in general. So i think it is profitable to talk about this topic in the way it has benefited people.
Please reply so we can further discuss the pros and cons of peer pressure
People liked to talk about peer pressure all the time, no matter they are in the school or at home. For me, I think peer pressure can definitely affect teenagers more because the friends who around one will bring the most effect to the one. For example, a teenager who has a famous brand car will look cooler, so others will try to get a cool car also. Every teenage has vanity to oneself, he or her just want to get good stuffs. However, peer pressure is not only happens in bad ways, there are some good ways. For example, if one person’s grade is the lowest on the class, then he will try to work hard to the average with everyone else. As the idea from the article, “Peer pressure by itself is neither positive nor negative.” It gives us a good explaining of peer pressure, so that we know it is a good topic to discuss.
I believe that all of us have felt the thing called 'peer pressure'. Every person that socialize with other people will actually feel this peer pressure. Peer pressure can affect almost all of the aspects of our life depending on how we react to the pressure.
Some people are just ignorant to the pressure that they are not affected by peer pressure and some people are very affected to the pressure that they can easily be affected by the pressure.
I agree with all of my three friends above that peer pressure can work in a positive way and can also work in a negative way. In my opinion, positive and negative peer pressure depend on the society that we belong to. if we are in a good society, then basically the peer pressure is going to be a positive one. although sometimes the peer pressure can be negative.
Well, overall I think peer pressure is a natural phenomenon that happens when we are in a society. The negative effect of peer pressure can be reduced by choosing the right society for us and to always be conscious of what are we going to do.
*sorry guys, i deleted my first comment to do a little revising*
The primary focus I would like to accomplish is peer pressure among teenagers. I also would like to add some of my observations during school period. Teen ages are the time where we tend to seek our self-identity and this is why sometimes we do and listen to what others have done and said.
All of us pass through the adolescent period when enrolling in junior high school and in high school. Therefore, this is the period that will determine our personalities in the future. Peer pressure can influence both positive and negative effects. According to my observations during my high school period, the negative effects tend to be more common. My classmate’s behavior changed after he started hanging out with the wrong people. My friends tended to do what the popular crowd did because they didn’t want to be isolated from the school society. This made most of us not eager to do what we believed to be true, because of peer pressure.
Although we know that the influence of the negative effects is strong, we can actually stand against it if we are able to defend our ideal. One of my friends in high school managed to fight the entire class’s idea to eat after visiting our friend’s father funeral. After much deliberation, the class followed his decision to get back to the school immediately. Therefore, it really depends on whether we decide to follow the flow of peer pressure or to stand and defend our own way of thinking.
I think the "peer pressure" might be somewhat familiar to the most of people in all kinds of world, because it may accompany with any social activities.
After I read the first article, I sympathized with it very much, especially about adolescent peer pressure. I think many people might have experienced strong peer pressure when they are teenager. I remember that felt many kinds of peer pressure during that age. Some of them influenced me in positive way, while the others stressed me out.
I think the most important in here is that how do we cope with peer pressure effectively when we face to it, rather than neglect it. As long as we are living in any forms of societies, it is difficult to be kept away from it. Peer pressure always comes along with social activity.
So, as my opinion
Peer pressure is natural phenomenon, that is at anywhere in our daily lives.
When we face it, we better to cope with it; not to be stressed out or neglect it.
I think this topic is very nice one to discuss about.
Thank you
Human beings, disregarding the race, age or sex, are vulnerable to peer pressure. In my opinion, it is due to our innate necessity to belong in a group or society. Indeed, it can actually have a positive effect on people. Such case can be seen when for example, a student who was not motivated at all to excel academically suddenly gets involved in an environment where all of his or her peers are studying hard and trying to do their best. Obviously, that student would want to belong in that group and will end up trying to be like the peers. However, in this discussion, I would like to bring up mainly the negative effects and cases I have witnesses and experienced.
I have been affected by peer pressure many times in life and I cannot deny that even now, I sometimes get affected. Most times it would be for something materialistic. Today, we live in a society where brand is everything for many of us. Even though my parents always try to teach me that all that vanity is superficial and ultimately does not benefit me, when I see my friends and other significant others like my cousins with a really fancy clothing or high-tech, I have to have it too. I know that this is very burdensome for my parents but I get blinded by all this materials that I don't really need. I do think that even though some of us are really wealthy, we should all be aware of if that certain material really is necessary before purchasing it because everybody has it.
Another case is where someone consumes alcohol because of peer pressure. I have witnessed this many times but the worst case was when an acquaintance of mine died because he drank so much. He never liked to drink past the point where he cannot control himself but that day he drank more than what his body could hold because he was in a trip with his friends and his friends told him that at least that day he had to get drunk. Worst thing that could have happened actually happened. When his friends went out for more partying, he was laying down in the bed drunk to the point where he could not control himself. He got himself on the bed facing upwards and eventually vomited and choked to death with his own vomit. This is an example of a terrible result from peer pressure.
The point I would like to make on this topic is that it is really bad if not toxic to do something that one is really not willing to do because of peer pressure. It will bring negative results and it should be stated clearly that there will be no long-term benefits at all.
I think that most of us
instinctively have the peer pressure for ourselves. The peer pressure is a competitive spirit between the colleague. Now people in this period experience a struggle for existence, so we are in this college to be successful in the future. If you did not want to be better, you would not have the peer pressure. I my case, even a friencd will be my competitor if he or she has same goal with me. I do not believe a person who says that he does not care about his competitors. As a human being, we all have a hope to be better than others. In my opinion, the extreme peer pressure will have a reverse effect on us, but the proper peer pressure will bring positive effect on our way to the goal.
Everybody has felt peer pressure at one time in their lives. Whether it’s having a cigarette, a drink, or experimenting with drugs. In my case I was never influenced by my friends to drink or smoke. Instead I was the one who was pressuring everybody else. But in most recent days I have been pressured into trying drugs for the first time with some of my friends. I have always been against drugs my whole and I will not change my mind just to fit in with my friends. Since my "friends" only want to get high I hardly see them anymore and I fear that our relationship as friends in headed towards an end. If I had said yes and cracked under the pressure none of this would have happened and we would still be friends. But, I have my morals and values and I will not change them for anybody. Living by you’re own moral code can be especially difficult in today’s world that demands conformity. You are either with the crowed or not. Society now a days smiles upon people who conform to what everybody else is doing, and frowns upon people who rather steer away from the crowed.
In conclusion al I have to say is that you should not crank under peer pressure. Know that you are an individual with your own values and that nobody can make you do anything that goes against them. And if this so called friend will not leave you alone until you’ve done it. Then I don’t think that he is such a good friend.
What is peer pressure, as my understanding, it is a kind of pressure or impact from the people who have the same age as you. But I think this pressure can be classified into two kinds of pressure----good pressure and bad pressure. Good peer pressure could get you involved in activities like youth groups, volunteering, or team sports. Your friends can be a source of sympathy, companionship and understanding—all good things. Bad peer pressure encourages irresponsible and sometimes illegal behavior. You may feel pressured to try all kinds of things, such as smoking, drinking, drugs, etc. The words“just try it once”can be really dangerous.
So distinguishing the two kinds of pressure is most important for us, if we can be impacted by active pressure to go forward, which will be beneficial.
Our life is surrounded by peer pressure. Throughout elementryschool, middle school and highschool, I'm sure everyone has atleast experienced it once. Often the peer pressure passes on from our closest friends , however they probably passed it unintentionally. For example, a group of friends started to smoke cigarettes, and this new kid just joined in this gropu of friends recently. So the group of kids starts to "enforce" the peer pressure on the new kid, by teasing him/her with "come on, its only a puff, it wont do you any harm!", or "well if you're going to whimp out like that, I guess you're just not cool enough to hang out with us." These situations are the most common scenerios when teenagers experience peer pressures. In the end, the teenagers would get triggered by the peer pressure and give in their rights to say no to them.
However, passing teenage life doesn't automatically mean that you have passed on the peer pressure too. As I mentioned eralier, peer pressure is everywhere, in your adulthood, peer pressure can still exist, either its at your work, or with your "grown" adult friends, the peer pressure is still on, but this time, the pressure might get worsened, moving on from just smoking cigarettes to smoking marijuana or heroin.
These peer pressure are actually preventable, while you experience it, you still got your rights of saying "no" and still be cool in the same time. Saying no doesnt mean you aren't a cool person, it just means that you know your ways to be cool without those cigarettes or drugs, and its those people who pressures you to do it doesn't know how to enjoy life the normal way, and be cool with their own styles. Therefore, although peer pressure is everywhere in our life, we still got the chance and rights to say no and protect ourselves.
Peer pressure is something we have to live along with in our everyday lives. I think peer pressure is something that we cannot avoid or prevent by understanding it. I have seen a lot of examples of peer pressure around me. Many of my freinds started smoking tabaco because their freinds smoke tabaco, and in some case their friends forced them to start smoking.
As many of the people above mentioned, peer pressure is not always a negative thing. It can work in somewhat neutral ways, like buying certain products that are popular with everybody around us. An example of positive peer pressure is competition. As our peers excel in certain areas such has study or sports, we want tot improve to match or even get better than our peers. This kind of peer pressure helps us to improve in many areas.
I think the important thing is to have the knowledge to determine which peer pressure is negative and which one is positive. Having good knowledge of peer pressure enable us to choose and take the positive affects of peer pressure, and reject the negative ones.
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