A peer group is a social group consisting of humans. Peer groups are an informal primary group of people who share a similar or equal status and who are usually of roughly the same age, tended to travel around and interact within the social aggregate Members of a particular peer group often have similar interests and backgrounds, bonded by the premise of sameness. However, some peer groups are very diverse, crossing social divides such as socioeconomic status

Socioeconomic status

Socioeconomic status is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family’s economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education, and occupation...

, level of education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, race, creed

Creed

A creed is a statement of belief—usually a statement of faith that describes the beliefs shared by a religious community—and is often recited as part of a religious service. When the statement of faith is longer and polemical, as well as didactic, it is not called a creed but a Confession of faith...

, culture

Culture

Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

, or religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

.

Developmental psychology

Developmental psychologists

Developmental psychology

Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...

, Lev Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was a Soviet psychologist, the founder of cultural-historical psychology, and the leader of the Vygotsky Circle.-Biography:...

, Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget was a French-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology"....

, Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson was a Danish-German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on social development of human beings. He may be most famous for coining the phrase identity crisis. His son, Kai T...

, and Harry Stack Sullivan

Harry Stack Sullivan

Harry Stack Sullivan was a U.S. psychiatrist whose work in psychoanalysis was based on direct and verifiable observation .-Life and works:Sullivan was a child of Irish immigrants and allegedly grew up in an...

, have all argued that peer relationships provide a unique context for cognitive, social, and emotional development, with equality, reciprocity, cooperation, and intimacy, maturing and enhancing children's reasoning abilities and concern for others. Modern research echoes these sentiments, showing that social and emotional gains are indeed provided by peer interaction.

JR Harris suggested in The Nurture Assumption

The Nurture Assumption

The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do is a book written by Judith Rich Harris, with a foreword by Steven Pinker, originally published 1998 by the Free Press, which published a revised edition in 2009. It has been published in at least 20 languages...

that an individual's peer group significantly influences their intellectual and personal development. Several longitudinal studies support the conjecture that peer groups significantly effect scholastic achievement, but relatively few studies have examined the effect on tests of cognitive ability. There is some evidence that peer groups influence tests of cognitive ability, however.

Bonding and functions of peer groups

• Serve as a source of info.

Peer groups have a significant influence on psychological and social adjustments for group individuals. Peer groups provide perspective outside of individual’s viewpoints. Members inside peer groups also learn to develop relationships with other in the social system. Peers, particularly group members, become important social referents for teaching members customs, social norms, and different ideologies.

• Teaches gender roles.

Peer groups can also serve as a venue for teaching members Gender roles. Through gender-role socialization

Socialization

Socialization is a term used by sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, political scientists and educationalists to refer to the process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs and ideologies...

 group members learn about sex differences, social and cultural expectations. While boys and girls differ greatly there is not a one to one link between sex and gender role with males always being masculine

Masculine

Masculine or masculinity, normally refer to qualities positively associated with men.Masculine may also refer to:*Masculine , a grammatical gender*Masculine cadence, a final chord occurring on a strong beat in music...

 and female always being feminine

Feminine

Feminine, or femininity, normally refers to qualities positively associated with women.Feminine may also refer to:*Feminine , a grammatical gender*Feminine cadence, a final chord falling in a metrically weak position...

. Both genders can contain different levels of masculinity and femininity. Peer groups like gender roles can consist of all males, all females, or both male and female. Peer groups can have great influence or peer pressure

Peer pressure

Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to group norms. Social groups affected include membership groups, when the individual is "formally" a member , or a social clique...

 on each other’s gender role behavior depending on the amount of pressure. If a peer group holds to a strong social norm, member will behave in ways predicted by their gender roles, but if there is not a unanimous peer agreement gender roles do not correlate with behavior

• Serves as a practicing venue to adulthood.

Adolescent Peer groups provide support for children, and teens as they assimilate into the adult society decreasing dependence on parents, and increasing feeling of self-sufficiency and connecting with a much larger social network. this is “a period in which individuals are expanding their perspective beyond the family how to and learning negotiate relationships with others in the social system. Peers, particularly group members, become important social referents” Peer groups also have influence on individual member’s attitudes, and behaviors on many cultural, and social issues such as drug use, violence, academic achievement and even the development and expression of prejudice.

• Teaches unity & collective behavior

Peer Groups “ provide an influential social setting in which group norms are developed, and enforced through socialization processes that promote within-group similarity. Peer groups cohesion is determined, and maintained by such factors as group Communication

Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

, Group consensus, and Group conformity

Conformity

Conformity is the process by which an individual's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are influenced by other people.Conformity may also refer to:*Conformity: A Tale, a novel by Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna...

 concerning attitude and behavior. As members of peer groups interconnect, and agree, a normative code arises. This Normative code can become very rigid deciding group behavior, and dress. Peer group individuality is increased by normative codes, and intergroup conflict. Member Deviation from the strict normative code can lead to rejection from the group.

Peer pressure

The term peer pressure

Peer pressure

Peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer group in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to group norms. Social groups affected include membership groups, when the individual is "formally" a member , or a social clique...

 is often used to describe instances where an individual feels indirectly pressured into changing their behavior to match that of their peers. Taking up smoking

Tobacco smoking

Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the resulting smoke is inhaled. The practice may have begun as early as 5000–3000 BCE. Tobacco was introduced to Eurasia in the late 16th century where it followed common trade routes...

 and underage drinking are two of the best known examples. In spite of the often negative connotations of the term, peer pressure can be used positively.

Further reading

• An evolutionary perspective on children's motivation in the peer group. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 19(1), 53-73. Full text
• Insko, C.A. Et.al. (2009). Reducing intergroup conflict through the consideration of future consequences. European journal of social psychology, 39(5), 831-841.