BFF in the Making: Examining Peer selection and Influence Processes in the Context of Cheating

• In Event: Partners in Crime: Using Virtual Reality to Examine Peer Influences

Abstract

Two major processes have been proposed to peer effects. The first is self-selection or homophily (i.e., birds of a feather flock together) and the second is peer influence (i.e., go along to get along). However, throughout decades of peer research, most research has focused on peer influence, with selection often considered a nuisance or confound (McGloin & Thomas, 2019). The restricted focus on peer influence, among others, biases the research toward seeing adolescents as mere recipients of social influence. To further our understanding in how selection and influence intersect, in the current experiment, we devised a novel experimental paradigm involving multiple rounds of selection of peers in the context of cheating. Participants will be put in a situation that allows for rule-breaking where they can select and deselect either delinquent or non-delinquent peers to complete the task together. To corroborate the expected findings on selection and influence with behavioral data in the task, we will also include a series of self-report measures theoretically and empirically associated with cheating or peer influence, such as self-reported delinquency, resistance to peer influence, self-esteem. This study is part of the Partners-in-Crime project at the Department of Criminology of MPI-CSL.

Authors

• Yikang Zhang, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law

• Jean-Louis van Gelder, Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law