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Essay about Resisting Negative Peer Pressure

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“Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to what individuals perceive as normal of their society or social group. This influence occurs in small groups and society as a whole, and may result from subtle unconscious influences, or direct and overt social pressure. Conformity can occur in the presence of others or when an individual is alone” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformity) Has there been a time when you suddenly found yourself watching a group of teens communicate and they all seemed to be doing something different from what you can see? How did this make you feel? Did you feel like you had to conform to their way of communicating to each other? If so you just failed victim to your desire …show more content…

As a child moves through the educational system, by the time they reach six grades, influences of people their own age increase dramatically. This increase may be in different areas or situations from that of their parents. At this stage influences from peers and families tend to not be in opposition. As the teen continues to move through the system opposition once again resurfaces between parents and peers. The teen has now reached the ninth grade conformity among peers is once again strong. As teens become more social they start to have conflicts between parent values and their antisocial standards. Adolescent independence increases in the ninth grade and met with resistance from parents. Once teens reach high school and start their college years they start to find identities of their own and conformity to what was peer influences start to decrease, peers and parents have now found a way to consist in many ways. Scenario: Joe is a transfer football student form a rival cross town school. His new football team mates are a team that hang out during school and play together outside of school. Joe has been a model student at his other school and has plans to attend a major college. He has no problem staying focused on school work, and plans to pursue a career in business. When the other members of the team decide to get Mohawk, Joe was hesitant. He knew having a Mohawk was not a good look for business

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