International early childhood resources from Educational Research Abstracts (ERA) online

Both adults and adolescents often conform their behaviour and opinions to peer groups, even when they themselves know better. The current study investigated this phenomenon in 24 groups of 4 children between 4.2 and 4.9 years of age. Children often made their judgements conform to those of three peers, who had made obviously erroneous but unanimous public judgements right before them. A followup study with 18 groups of 4 children between 4.0 and 4.6 years of age revealed that children did not change their ‘real’ judgement of the situation, but only their public expression of it. Preschool children are subject to peer pressure, indicating sensitivity to peers as a primary social reference group already during the preschool years.