scholarly journals Mechanisms and Processes of Peer Contagion

Psychology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Chan ◽  
Michaeline R. Jensen ◽  
Thomas Dishion

Peer contagion refers to the process of mutual influence that occurs between an individual and a peer. Historically, peer contagion has included influence on behaviors and emotions with potential negative developmental consequences, including aggression, bullying, weapon carrying, disordered eating, drug use, and depression. Increasingly, however, “contagion” of positive behaviors and emotions is being investigated as well. Nevertheless, in general, the study of peer influence and contagion processes has been a relatively recent one, with increased interest since the late 20th century. Mechanisms of peer influence like peer coercion, deviancy training, and even evolutionary and neural explanations for peer effects are all being increasingly studied in natural and laboratory settings. Much of the literature on peer influence focuses on childhood and adolescence, and for good reason. An abundance of evidence suggests that peer influence is strongest and most impactful among youth, though to a lesser degree adults can still be subject to social influence by their peers. Additionally, adolescence in particular seems to be a critical developmental period for social and neural processes critical to engaging with peers. Peer influence need not be intentional; in fact, individuals may engage in relationship behaviors that satisfy immediate needs for an audience or companionship, and inadvertently influence themselves or others. Peer influence processes are ubiquitous, occurring both in natural peer interaction settings and intervention settings that purposely aggregate children and adolescents together. The issue of peer contagion in intervention settings is an important one, with evidence suggesting at least some interventions that aggregate high-risk youth can have unintended, harmful iatrogenic effects.

2020 ◽  
Vol 223 (15) ◽  
pp. jeb210542
Author(s):  
Lara D. LaDage

ABSTRACTThe production of new neurons in the brains of adult animals was first identified by Altman and Das in 1965, but it was not until the late 20th century when methods for visualizing new neuron production improved that there was a dramatic increase in research on neurogenesis in the adult brain. We now know that adult neurogenesis is a ubiquitous process that occurs across a wide range of taxonomic groups. This process has largely been studied in mammals; however, there are notable differences between mammals and other taxonomic groups in how, why and where new neuron production occurs. This Review will begin by describing the processes of adult neurogenesis in reptiles and identifying the similarities and differences in these processes between reptiles and model rodent species. Further, this Review underscores the importance of appreciating how wild-caught animals vary in neurogenic properties compared with laboratory-reared animals and how this can be used to broaden the functional and evolutionary understanding of why and how new neurons are produced in the adult brain. Studying variation in neural processes across taxonomic groups provides an evolutionary context to adult neurogenesis while also advancing our overall understanding of neurogenesis and brain plasticity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Kornienko ◽  
Thao Ha ◽  
Thomas J. Dishion

AbstractThe confluence model theorizes that dynamic transactions between peer rejection and deviant peer clustering amplify antisocial behavior (AB) within the school context during adolescence. Little is known about the links between peer rejection and AB as embedded in changing networks. Using longitudinal social network analysis, we investigated the interplay between rejection, deviant peer clustering, and AB in an ethnically diverse sample of students attending public middle schools (N = 997; 52.7% boys). Adolescents completed peer nomination reports of rejection and antisocial behavior in Grades 6–8. Results revealed that rejection status was associated with friendship selection, and adolescents became rejected if they were friends with others who were rejected. Youth befriended others with similar levels of AB. Significant patterns of peer influence were documented for AB and rejection. As hypothesized, rejected youth with low AB were more likely to affiliate with others with high AB instead of similarly low AB. In contrast, nonrejected youth preferred to befriend others with similarly high or low AB. Results support an updated confluence model of a joint interplay between rejection and AB as ecological conditions that lead to self-organization into deviant clusters in which peer contagion on problem behaviors operates.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prerna ◽  
Naved Iqbal ◽  
Akash Kumar Mahato

Peer contagion describes a mutual influence process that occurs between an individual and a peer and includes behaviors and emotions that potentially undermine one’s own development or cause harm to others. The influence process often occurs outside of awareness; participants may not intend to influence their peers, but they engage in relationship behaviors that satisfy immediate needs for an audience or companionship, and these behaviors inadvertently influence themselves or others. It can be of two types positive and negative peer contagion. Negative peer contagion include- aggression where as positive would include altruistic behavior. Different ways to reduce peer contagion would that include evaluation of aggression, intervention strategies for youth. The present study conducted on 250 adolescents (age between 13 to15). Then on the basis of screening total number of 120 subjects were selected and divided into two equal groups of 60 subjects; each group had 30 low and 30 high quality of friendship group. They were selected from different schools of South Delhi. Tools used in the study are Aggression Questionnaire, Self-report altruistic scale (SRA), Quality of friendship questionnaire; Quality of friend (Interview schedule).The result suggested that there is no interaction between quality of friend and the quality of friendship in the positive peer contagion. But desirable friend and undesirable friend and high and low quality of friendship can distinguished on the positive peer contagion. On the negative peer contagion there is interaction between the quality of friendship and quality of friend and also high quality of friendship is highly related to it, also negative peer contagion is more related to undesirable friend.


2020 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 100794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Pei ◽  
Nina Lauharatanahirun ◽  
Christopher N. Cascio ◽  
Matthew B. O’Donnell ◽  
Jean T. Shope ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-74
Author(s):  
V.A. Bazhanov ◽  

The article considers the reasons according to which the development of cognitive research and, first of all, neuroscience is taking place in the context of reinterpreted from the stand­point of modern science I. Kant’s ideas on apriorism. We claim that significant sums of money are being spent to provide these studies in both civil and military areas, for their re­sults directly affect the prospects for creating artificial intelligence, the analysis of big data, and important progress in the treatment of various mental and psychological pathologies. It is emphasized that nowadays special attention is paid to I. Kant’s heuristically rich idea re­lated to the activity of consciousness and the subject of cognition, which is contained in his teaching on apriorism. This idea has ontogenetic foundation. Attention is drawn to the fact that when modeling the neural processes that are involved in the mechanisms of predicting the behavior of a subject, concepts formalized in T. Bayes’ theorem are used, which allows the neuroscience to expand the “Kantian” brain model with a Bayesian one. We assume that the concept of biocultural constructivism, which connects the processes of mutual influence of brain activity, culture and society, suggests that representatives of different civilizations have different cognitive strategies (analytical and holistic thinking systems) that correlate with the density of certain genes within their limits and thus, gene-cultural interaction sys­tems emerge. It puts forward the question of the boundaries of the de-anthropologization of human knowledge.


2021 ◽  
Vol 147 (7) ◽  
pp. 719-747
Author(s):  
Matteo Giletta ◽  
Sophia Choukas-Bradley ◽  
Marlies Maes ◽  
Kathryn P. Linthicum ◽  
Noel A. Card ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Giletta ◽  
Sophia Choukas-Bradley ◽  
Marlies Maes ◽  
Kathryn Linthicum ◽  
Noel Card ◽  
...  

For decades, psychological research has examined the extent to which children’s and adolescents’ behavior is influenced by the behavior of their peers (i.e., peer influence effects). This review provides a comprehensive synthesis and meta-analysis of this vast field of psychological science, with a goal to quantify the magnitude of peer influence effects across a broad array of behaviors (externalizing, internalizing, academic). To provide a rigorous test of peer influence effects, only studies that employed longitudinal designs, controlled for youths’ baseline behaviors, and used “external informants” (peers’ own reports or other external reporters) were included. These criteria yielded a total of 233 effect sizes from 60 independent studies across four different continents. A multilevel meta-analytic approach, allowing the inclusion of multiple dependent effect sizes from the same study, was used to estimate an average cross-lagged regression coefficient, indicating the extent to which peers’ behavior predicted changes in youths’ own behavior over time. Results revealed a peer influence effect that was small in magnitude (β ̅ = 0.08) but significant and robust. Peer influence effects did not vary as a function of the behavioral outcome, age, or peer relationship type (one close friend vs. multiple friends). Time lag and peer context emerged as significant moderators, suggesting stronger peer influence effects over shorter time periods, and when the assessment of peer relationships was not limited to the classroom context. Results provide the most thorough and comprehensive synthesis of childhood and adolescent peer influence to date, indicating that peer influence occurs similarly across a broad range of behaviors and attitudes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitch Prinstein ◽  
Matteo Giletta

Over the past 50 years, a large body of work has demonstrated that during childhood and adolescence peers are strong socialization agents influencing youth development across a wide array of behavioral domains. In this paper we highlight how this long-standing research focus on peer influence may benefit from undertaking new directions that have been largely neglected in prior work. Specifically, we propose and discuss five main issues that we believe future peer influence studies should aim to address: (1) extending the examination of peer influence to multiple potential sources of socialization, beyond close friends; (2) examining peer influence effects over shorter time frames, and in real time; (3) testing indirect forms of peer influence; (4) extending the conceptualization and measurement of peer influence susceptibility; (5) examining positive and adaptive forms of peer influence. The integration of recent theoretical and methodological advances from other disciplines will allow peer influence researchers to answer these and other exciting questions to better elucidate how and when peers are more likely to influence youth development.


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