Main Idea Review: Peer Pressure

What is the main idea of this paragraph?

"Parents of teenagers often view their children's friends with something like suspicion. They worry that the adolescent peer group has the power to prod its members into behavior that is foolish and even dangerous. Such wariness1 is well founded: statistics show, for example, that a teenage driver with a sameage passenger in the car is at higher risk of a fatal crash than an adolescent driving alone or with an adult."

• Parents often have a logical understanding that their teenager’s friends will be a positive influence.

• Parents often have a genuine appreciation for their teenager’s friends because they are interesting to be around

• Parents often have legitimate concerns that their teenager’s friends can influence them to participate in risky behavior.

• Parents often have unreasonable worry that their teenager’s friends can influence them to participate in dangerous behavior.

What is the main idea of paragraphs 2-4? Psychologists Laurence Steinberg and Margo Gardner discovered that the presence of peers makes teenagers ______ to take dangerous risks.

Which statement from paragraphs 2-4 shows that this pressure can be used in a positive way?

• Older adolescents scored about 50 percent higher on an index of risky driving when their peers were in the room—and the driving of early adolescents was fully twice as reckless when other young teens were around

• In contrast, adults behaved in similar ways regardless of whether they were on their own or observed by others.

• As he and other researchers examined the question of why teens were more apt to take risks in the company of other teenagers, they came to suspect that a crowd's influence need not always be negative

• Now some experts are proposing that we should take advantage of the teen brain's keen sensitivity to the presence of friends and leverage it to improve education

What is the main idea of paragraphs 5-8? (Separate blanks with commas) Steinberg discovered that teens learn ____ and demonstrate ____ performance when they are surrounded by other adolescents than when they are alone.

What is the main idea of paragraphs 5-8? Separate your answers with commas: Steinberg discovered that teenagers' brains experience ____ rewards for risk-taking alongside their peers and teens learn ____ and demonstrate ____ performance when surrounded by peers than when alone.

Which quote from paragraphs 5-8 best supports the main idea from the previous question?

• The brains of teenagers, but not adults, showed greater activity in two regions associated with rewards (the ventral striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex) when they were being observed by same-age peers than when alone.

• In other words, rewards are more intense for teens when they are with peers, which motivates them to pursue higher-risk experiences that might bring a big payoff (such as the thrill of just making the light before it turns red)

• The results: Teens who played the Iowa Gambling Task under the eyes of fellow adolescents engaged in more exploratory behavior, learned faster from both positive and negative outcomes, and achieved better performance on the task than those who played in solitude

• “What our study suggests is that teenagers learn more quickly and more effectively when their peers are present than when they're on their own,” Steinberg says.

What is the main idea of paragraphs 9 & 10? Separate your answers with commas: Lieberman believes that the human brain learns & remembers information ____ effectively when given a ____ motivation to do so, especially for young people

What is the main idea of the section titled "The Social Advantage"? Separate your answer with commas: Teens are motivated to learn ____, so learning experiences that incorporate social aspects and ____ can help teens remember & use information more effectively.

Which quote from "The Social Advantage" best supports the answer to the previous question?

• If humans are generally geared to recall details about one another, this pattern is probably even more powerful among teenagers who are hyperattentive to social minutiae: who is in, who is out, who likes whom, who is mad at whom.

• Their penchant 4 for social drama is not—or not only—a way of distracting themselves from their schoolwork or of driving adults crazy. It is actually a neurological sensitivity, initiated by hormonal changes

• History and English could be presented through the lens of the psychological drives of the people involved. One could therefore present Napoleon in terms of his desire to impress or Churchill in terms of his lonely melancholy

• And although anxious parents may not welcome the notion, educators could turn adolescent recklessness to academic ends. “Risk taking in an educational context is a vital skill that enables progress and creativity,”

Which statement best highlights the central idea of the article?

• While peer pressure can have a negative effect on grades, it can positively impact self-confidence.

• While peer pressure can have a negative effect on student safety, it can positively impact learning.

• While peer pressure can have a negative effect on study habits, it can positively impact mental health.

• While peer pressure can have a negative effect on risky driving, it can positively impact athletic performance