The Power of Peer-Pressure

I find it kind of kind of concerning that most people in our society are more likely to validate the answers of the majority of people rather than what they truly believe.

🧠 The experiment

I did some research and I found a study, it was called the Asch Conformity Experiments. (1951). Essentially, a bunch of people were greeted to another group of people who little did they know knew what the experiment was about. You see, there were two cards, a card with one vertical line, and the second one had three vertical lines of different lengths. The task of the participants is to choose which one of the three lines on the second card choosing between a, b, and c matches the length of the first card’s line with one being the obvious answer. They were told to say their answers out loud and it was formatted so that the people who knew what was going on would go first, saying the wrong thing on purpose, then it was up to the real participants to go with the crowd or stick to their belief. This has been successfully replicated many times and it getting so much worse that people are willing to call the colour black white.

📖 Personal Stories

Now, I've never had a direct friend do something terrible due to people asking them too. But, I was once at a birthday hangout with just five or so people, not too many kids were there. One of the kids didn't go to my school he was a really nice guy, but let me tell you the school he went too was HORRID, so many kids vaped and I heard him say there was once a pine tree in the toilet stall. (How does that even happen.) But regardless he was once put in a scenario where he was asked to hit a vape and he did it, all I remember him saying was that it was vile. Imagine how much damage that could do to someone that was just numb to it. If I'm being honest he was lucky it was just once otherwise he could've gotten so addicted, but he's good obviously everything was fine, it was just a close call. Moving on, I've never had an experience that awful and I'm thankful for that. Nevertheless, a toxic friend group never seems to lessen personal growth more than anything else.

Conclusion

Usually I'll try to end these with some sort of call to action but for this there isn't really much you can do. In most cases peoples actions vary extremely depending on their social anxiety, self-esteem and confidence. No matter what I say it probably won't change which way you lean, that being said trust your gut its really never as deep as you think it is so just say no if you genuinely believe someone is trying to use you or pull you down. Stay safe y'all thank you for reading, cheers.🙂