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Social influence in adolescence as a double-edged sword
Lucas Molleman1,2,3, Simon Ciranka3, Wouter van den Bos1,3
1Developmental Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|June 29, 2022
Summary
Peer influence on adolescents shifts from social assimilation to prioritizing personal views during development. Early adolescence is a critical period for interventions to positively shape social learning and developmental trajectories.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Social Neuroscience
Background:
- Social learning is crucial for human adaptation and cooperation.
- Adolescence is a key period where social environments shape socio-cognitive skills.
- Peer influence in adolescence, often linked to negative outcomes, can also yield positive effects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the domain-general factor of social information use in adolescents.
- To examine how positive and negative peer influences impact behavior and belief formation.
- To identify developmental changes in social information processing during adolescence.
Main Methods:
- Conducted experiments with 146 adolescents aged 10-20.
- Assessed responses to peer influence on rule-following and prosocial behavior.
- Utilized a belief formation task to analyze social information assimilation versus personal prioritization.
Main Results:
- Exposure to disobedient peers increased rule-breaking; selfish peers decreased prosociality, especially in early adolescence.
- Compliant peers enhanced rule compliance, and fair peers boosted prosocial behavior.
- Younger adolescents assimilated social information more, while older adolescents prioritized personal views, indicating a decline in social information use.
Conclusions:
- Positive and negative peer effects stem from a domain-general social information use factor that diminishes with age.
- Early adolescence represents a critical developmental window for leveraging peer influence in interventions.
- Interventions during early adolescence can positively shape developmental trajectories by optimizing social learning.
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