Peer pressure

Overview

Peer pressure (the pressure to match the people around you) refers to the psychological pressure, unspoken or open, that pushes an individual to go along with the opinions and actions of the majority in a group. In social psychologist Solomon Asch's 1951 conformity experiments, when everyone around them chose a clearly wrong answer, about 75% of the participants went along with the majority at least once. People tend to put belonging to the group ahead of being right.

Peer pressure in question boxes

Peer pressure works in question boxes too. When a particular topic takes off in a popular question box, some people feel, "I have to send a question on that topic too." When the person answering states a particular opinion, it becomes harder to send a question that goes against it.

"Everyone is praising them, so I have to praise them too." "Everyone is sending funny questions, so I have to try to get a laugh too." This kind of peer pressure can make questions less varied. It shows up when someone actually wants to send a serious question but sends a joke question instead to match the mood.

Breaking free from peer pressure

The good thing about a question box is that it's anonymous. When you're anonymous, you can stay relatively free from peer pressure. There's no need to read the mood of the room. You can just ask what you really want to ask.

For the person answering, too, it's important not to go along too much with what followers expect. Write "the answer you really think," not "the answer your followers want." An answer that caters to the majority may go over well in the short term, but in the long run it can water down the personality of the person answering. Being a place where you can share your honest thoughts instead of conforming is also one of the strengths of a question box.