Pundits have long pointed to the power of peer pressure when seeking to explain why people—particularly young people—make bad or otherwise questionable decisions.
But is it so powerful that poor students will pass up the chance to take a $200 online SAT prep course for free just to fit in with their friends? Is being accepted by one’s peers more important than increasing one’s chances of getting into a good college?
A pair of researchers set out to answer those questions last school year by visiting four low-performing, low-income, predominantly Hispanic high schools in Los Angeles and offering 11th-graders the chance to take a commercially available online SAT prep course for free.
The students were given forms that were identical in all but one respect—some of the forms indicated that their decision to sign up would be kept private from everyone except the other students in the room, while other forms stated that their decision would be kept private from everyone, including the students in the room.
Among students taking two honors classes, the researchers found that, when students thought their decision to sign up for the free SAT prep course would be known by their peers, it decreased sign-up rates by 25 percentage points when the students were in a regular class, where the sign-up rate among their “no-honors” peers is low.
In stark contrast, the researchers found, publicizing the decision increased sign-up rates by 25 percentage points when such students were in an honors class, where the sign-up rate among their “all-honors” peers is higher.
The results were similar, they said, among students taking one to three honors courses.
