Chapter 5: Peer Groups

peer groups

groups of individuals of approximately the same age

how are cliques formed?

similar preferences: * school * cultural * antisocial activities

Social Media and Friendships

• Frequent online communication with friends can help bring friendships closer. • easier to speak openly • + online time on other activities can weaken friendships • Affirming friendships online can strengthen bonds but because everything is so public, it can also lead to jealousy. • Teens with a lot of friends benefit from social media use whereas teens with fewer friends tend to suffer from it.

involvement in antisocial behavior

* more antisocial friends = more likely engage in antisocial behaviors * juvenile delinquency: most juvenile crime occurs in groups

school achievement

* sharing academic goals * more likely to take classes friends are taking * friend group originates from school, more likely to do well academically

Statistics

6 in 10 teens spend time with their friends online on a daily or near-daily basis roughly 4 in 10 teens cite "too many obligations" as a reason they don't spend more time with friends teens are more likely to say social media makes them feel more included and confident rather than excluded or insecure a majority of teens have been the target of cyberbullying, with name-calling and rumor-spreading being the most common forms of harassment

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Selection vs. Socialization

Adolescent's characteristics influence their choice of friends? Adolescents' friends influence each other's characteristics both: • Adolescents behavior becomes more like friends' over time. • Socialization à day-to-day activities and preferences (clothes/music/etc.) • Selection à stronger than socialization when it comes to problem behaviors. • SES and Family strongly related to friend networks.

Which of these is a reason peer groups change from childhood to adolescence?

For most adolescents, social settings become larger and more anonymous.

Interventions for Anti-social Behavior

Iatrogenic Effects • Unintended, negative consequences of a treatment or intervention • Argument: low-risk, first-time juvenile offenders should remain in the community to avoid iatrogenic effects. - Iatrogenic Effect of Incarcerating Antisocial Youth together?

crowds groups consist of

Reputation based clusters (e.g., "jocks") - Help define identities

cliques consist of

Smaller Group of Friends - Main social context

The process of grouping individuals within social institutions on the basis of chronological age is called

age grading.

Baby Boom

The period following World War II, during which the number of infants born was extremely large.

reference groups

a group against which an individual compares him or herself

ethnography

a type of research in which individuals are observed in their natural setting.

relational aggression

acts intended to harm another through the manipulation of his or her relationships with others, as in malicious gossip

The main reason that reactive aggression is associated with unpopularity and greater problems with peers is that reactive aggression is characterized by a combination of

aggression and poor emotion regulation or lack of social skills.

instrumental aggression

aggressive behavior that is deliberate and planned

reactive aggression

aggressive behavior that is unplanned and impulsive

24% said a mostly negative effect

among those who said negative, major reasons were bc of: * bullying/rumor spreading * harms relationships/lack of in person contact * unrealistic views of other's lives

31% said a mostly positive effect

among those who said positive, major reasons were bc of: * connecting with friends/family * easier to find news/info * meeting others with same interests

cohorts

baby boomers gen X Millennials gen Z

cyberbullying

bullying that occurs over the internet or via cell phones

peer groups can consist of

cliques crowds cohorts

prefigurative cultures

cultures in which society is changing so quickly that adults are frequently socialized by young people, rather than the reverse.

Postfigurative cultures

cultures in which the socialization of young people is done primarily by adults

cofigurative cultures

cultures in which young people are socialized both by adults and by each other.

Nevaeh and Abigail are seventh graders. Neither is in a popular group, and neither is an outcast. The two girls get along well and voluntarily spend time together in and out of school. Neither has frequent interactions with other students. What would a psychologist call this relationship?

dyad

Dan planned a party and invited his whole English class by passing out personal invitations. Dan accidentally forgot to make an invitation for Sam. Sam assumed he intentionally wasn't invited and became angry at Dan for excluding him. This is an example of

hostile attributional bias.

perceived popularity

how much status or prestige an individual has

sociometric popularity

how well-liked an individual is

crowds

large, loosely organized groups of young people, composed of several cliques and typically organized around a common shared activity

gangs

organized peer groups of antisocial individuals

According to researchers, adolescents prefer spending time with peers over spending time with family members because

peers place less emphasis than do family members on following rules.

Spending time with family helps adolescents develop a sense of ______, while spending time with peers helps them develop ______.

responsibility; intimacy

Which of the following contributed to the rise of age segregation in contemporary society?

rise of secondary education

In early adolescence, ______ friendships are common, but in late adolescence, ______ friendships begin to occur more.

same-sex; opposite-sex

cliques

small, tightly knit groups of between 2 and 12 friends, generally of the same sex and age

age grading

the process of grouping individuals within social institutions on the basis of age

hostile attributional bias

the tendency to interpret ambiguous interactions with others as deliberately hostile

What is the most effective way to respond to a bully, according to research findings?

to do nothing or to walk away

iatrogenic effects

unintended adverse consequences of a treatment or intervention