Peer pressure
influence that a peer group, observers or individual exerts that encourages others to change their attitudes, values, or behaviors to conform the group norms. A group trying to convince a person to do something they are unwilling to do.
Peer pressure is a direct or indirect influence on peers, i.e., members of social groups with similar interests and experiences, or social statuses. Members of a peer group are more likely to influence a person's beliefs, values, religion and behavior. A group or individual may be encouraged and want to follow their peers by changing their attitudes, values or behaviors to conform to those of the influencing group or individual. For the individual affected by peer pressure, this can have both a positive and a negative effect on them.
Social groups include both membership groups in which individuals hold "formal" membership (e.g. political parties, trade unions, schools) and cliques in which membership is less clearly defined. However, a person does not need to be a member or be seeking membership of a group to be affected by peer pressure. An individual may be in a crowd, a group of many cliques, and still be affected by peer pressure. Research suggests that organizations as well as individuals are susceptible to peer pressure. For example, an organization may base a decision on current trends to receive more affection or grow a following group.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Peer pressure” as influence that a peer group, observers or individual exerts that encourages others to change their attitudes, values, or behaviors to conform the group norms. A group trying to convince a person to do something they are unwilling to do. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as influence that a peer group, observers or individual exerts that encourages others to change their attitudes, values, or behaviors to conform the group norms. A group trying to convince a person to do something they are unwilling to do. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q784843. The Library of Congress control number is sh88002571. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Peer pressure” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.