Understanding Peer Pressure
The goal of this exercise is to understand the strong influence
of peer-to-peer interactions, the social norms of their peer group,
and the importance of good decision-making skills.
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- Begin by leading your students in a discussion of the things that
people they know do to "fit in" with their friends. Talk about
areas such as hairstyles, clothes, music, and slang/language. Make a
list on the board of the things they discuss.
- Make sure your students understand that peer pressure can be both
positive and negative! Lead your students in a discussion of whether
each thing they listed is an example of positive or negative peer pressure
and label each on the board. An example of positive peer influence would
be a student who belongs to a peer group of drug-free youth. An example
of negative peer influence would be belonging to a peer group that hangs
out on the corner across the street from the school during lunch to
smoke cigarettes.
- Break your students up into small groups. Assign your students to
search Prevlink and youth magazines for examples of situations that
their peers might find themselves in. Have them discuss what they have
done or could do in similar situations.
- Finally, assign your students to write a"situation" paper.
They need to describe the situation, the positive or negative peer pressure
applied, the decision-making process they used to determine their action,
and finally the action they chose to take.
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