relational bullying: See, for example, Coloroso, Barbara. The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander, New York: HarperCollins, 2003.
eye rolling: Ibid.
intended to harm: See, for example, Underwood, Marion K. Social Aggression Among Girls. New York: The Guilford Press, 2003.
socially incompetent: See, for example, Kiefer, Sarah M. and Ryan, Allison M. “Striving for Social Dominance Over Peers: The Implications for Academic Adjustment During Early Adolescence,” Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 100, No. 2, 2008.
measured a child’s rates of aggression: Ibid.
undeniably strong link: See, for example, Mayeaux. Note: “Only perceived popularity is characterized by dominant and aggressive tendencies . . . including both overt and relational forms of aggression.” See also Schwartz: “Aggression and popularity become progressively more intertwined over the course of adolescence.”
associated with high social status: See, for example, Puckett, Marissa B.; Aikins, Julie Wargo; and Cillessen, Antonius H. N. “Moderators of the Association Between Relational Aggression and Perceived Popularity,” Aggressive Behavior, Vol. 34, 2008. See also Kiefer. See also Horn, Stacey S. “Mean Girls or Cultural Stereotypes: Essay Review,” which discusses the debate over whether social aggression is fundamentally negative.
“should not be seen as socially intelligent”: See Goleman, Daniel. Social Intelligence, New York: Bantam, 2006.
“popularity cycle”: See Eder, Donna. “The Cycle of Popularity: interpersonal relations among female adolescents,” Sociology of Education, Vol. 58, Issue 3, July 1985.
distancing herself too far from old friends: See, for example, Adler, Patricia A. and Adler, Peter. “Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion in Preadolescent Cliques,” Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 3, September 1995.
appearing to think she’s “all that”: See Merten.
“Loss of popularity in this manner”: Ibid. Merten also discussed what he calls “the paradox of popularity,” in which popular students were also vulnerable to being labeled stuck-up and, for that reason, could lose their popularity.
His answer: Be mean: Ibid.
treating other students as equals: Ibid.
undermining their own popularity: Ibid.
“Whereas being stuck-up”: Interview, Don Merten.
shows like Gossip Girl: Interviews.
Broadcast TV networks: See, for example, Wyatt, Edward. “More Than Ever, You Can Say That on Television,” New York Times, November 14, 2009.
Today: See, for example, Today, October 16, 2009.
Celebrities like Paris Hilton: See, for example, Hefferman, Virginia. “Epithet Morphs from Bad Girl to Weak Boy,” New York Times, March 22, 2005.
“Shopping at only designer stores”: Interview.
relational aggression can be difficult: See, for example, Wiseman.
students reward populars: Interview, University of Missouri psychology professor Amanda Rose. See also Rose, “Overt and Relational Aggression . . .”
“I throw a lot of parties”: Interview.
“We crushed their dreams”: Interview.
various other groups: Interviews.
Female athletes: Interviews.
even teachers and administrators: Interviews.
keep perceived popularity: See, for example Mayeaux: “Growing evidence suggests that children’s reliance on aggressive behavior increases after they achieve high status, perhaps as a means of protecting their status, in response to a sense of elitism, or as a way to combat the resentment directed toward them from less popular peers.”
realigning relationships: See, for example, Adler.
Meanness is a language: See Merten.
“Is there anyone fighting for those rights?” For additional resources, see The Trevor Project: www.thetrevorproject.org; PFLAG (Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays): http://community.pflag.org; GLSEN (Gay/Lesbian/Straight Educator Network): http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/home/index.html; Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund: www.lambdalegal.org; and information and discussion boards at The Gay Youth Corner: http://www.thegyc.com and Queer Attitude: http://www.queerattitude.com. Thank you to Evan Cook for his assistance compiling this list.
the ruling clique there: Interviews.
“usually the cheerleader or good-old-boy types”: Interview.
“this is how I felt in high school”: Interview.
“It was the most disturbing”: Interview.
other administrators and teachers openly: Interview.
Teachers in various states: Interview.
“The labels are the ‘veterans’ ”: Interview. Many other teachers also mentioned this distinction in interviews.
“There were the ‘haves’ ”: Interview.
secretaries who gossip: Interviews.
“the distinct impression”: Interview.
an intimidating drama teacher: Interview.
“as if I am special ed. also”: Interview.
“mean-girlish” teachers: Interviews.
“I have seen teachers try”: Interview.
cliques palming off: Interviews.
“the worst part about cliques”: Interview.
hostilities among teachers: Interviews.
“teacher gossip frenzy”: Interview.
rationalize them by saying: Interviews.
“get together over margaritas”: Interview.
mechanical model: for a photo of Blue’s model, please visit www.facebook.com/pages/AuthorAlexandraRobbins.
CHAPTER 4
“Eccentric, over-the-top”: Interview.
“The sci-fi convention”: Interview.
“The otaku, or odd person group”: Interview.
“Socially awkward and totally irritating”: Interview.
“They’re completely different”: Interview.
“freaky kids, drama kids”: Interview.
Suzanne, Laney, Allie, Flor: Interviews.
DIY: Indies are not the only group to identify with the DIY ethic. See, for example, Traber, Daniel S. “L.A.’s ‘White Minority’: Punk and the Contradictions of Self-Marginalization,” Cultural Critique, No. 48, Spring 2001.
“stands out”: Interview.
groups to form judgments: See, for example, Manstead, Antony S. R. and Hewstone, Miles, eds. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Psychology, 1996.
polarization occurs for three reasons: Ibid.
juries whose individual members: See Myers, D. G. and Bishop, G. D. “Discussion effects on racial attitudes,” Science, Vol. 169, 1970. See also Bray, Robert M. and Noble, Audrey M. “Authoritarianism and Decisions of Mock Juries; Evidence of Jury Bias and Group Polarization,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 36, No. 12, 1978.
study of civil liberties decisions: See Walker, Thomas G. and Main, Eleanor C. “Choice Shifts in Political Decisionmaking: Federal Judges and Civil Liberties Cases,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1973.
group polarization in France: See Moscovici, Serge and Zavalloni, Marisa. “The Group as a Polarizer of Attitudes,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1969.
group polarization can make students: See, for example, Myers and Bishop.
evaluations of faculty: See, for example, Myers, D. G. “Discussion-induced attitude polarization,” Human Relations, Vol. 28, 1975.
modify individuals’ perceptions of themselves: See, for example, Swann, William B., Jr.; Milton, Laurie P.; and Polzer, Jeffrey T. “Should We Create a Niche or Fall in Line? Identity Negotiation and Small Group Effectiveness,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 79, No. 2, 2000.
Unable to separate: See, for example, Harter, Susan. “Self and Identity Development.” In At the Threshold: The Developing Adolescent, Feldman, S. Shirley and Elliott, Glen R., eds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990.
“imaginary audience”: See Elkind, David. “Egocentrism in Adolescence.” Child Devel
opment, Vol. 38, 1967.
Asian girls were subtly reminded: See the Tufts University experiment cited in Vedantam, Shankar. “With Subtle Reminders, Stereotypes Can Become Self-Fulfilling.” The Washington Post, December 11, 2006. Along similar lines, “Exposure to words related to the elderly makes people walk more slowly; words related to professors make people smarter at the game Trivial Pursuit.” See Haidt, Jonathan. The Happiness Hypothesis, New York: Basic Books, 2006.
parents and teachers to influence: See, for example, McNulty, Shawn E. and Swann, William B. Jr. “Identity Negotiation in Roommate Relationships: The Self as Architect and Consequence of Social Reality,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 67, No. 6, 1994.
“called me the ‘happy freshman’ ”: Interview.
classmates viewed them as nerds: Interviews.
“it’s a lot better than being a nobody”: Interview.
group polarization is not so different: See, for example, Myers, David G. and Lamm, Helmut. “The Group Polarization Phenomenon,” Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 83, No. 4, 1976.
“a pattern of thought”: See Merriam-webster.com.
the responsibility is shared: See, for example, Moscovici.
“the mindless sinking of personal identity into the group of Us”: See Wrangham, Richard and Peterson, Dale. Demonic Males, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. Wrangham added, “That it also produces irresponsibility and deeply unpleasant behavior is only relevant from the point of view of Them.”
in the midst of a crowd: See, for example, Billig, Michael. “Social Psychology and Intergroup Relations,” European Monographs in Social Psychology, Vol. 9. Billig also notes Freud’s description that a group consists of “a number of individuals who have put one and the same object in place of their ego ideal and have consequently identified themselves with one another in their ego.”
a susceptibility: Many psychologists refute Gustave Le Bon’s concept of a “mental unity,” however. See, for example, Baumeister, Roy F. and Leary, Mark R. “The Need to Belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation,” Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 117, No. 3, 1995: “Wegner (1986) noted the irony that traditional theories of the ‘group mind’ tended to assume that all members would essentially think the same thing, because much more far-reaching advantages could be realized through a group mind if each member was responsible for different information, thereby enabling the group to process considerably more information than any one person could.” I address this issue in Chapter 14.
“crowd contagion”: See Canetti, Elias. Crowds and Power, New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1960. Cited in Goleman.
“Usually one person starts making fun”: Interview.
“The human brain takes in information”: See Berns, Gregory. Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2008. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Gregory Berns. Iconoclast was fascinating and fun to read.
the group and the individual: See, for example, Bettancourt, B. Ann and Sheldon, Kennon. “Social Roles as Mechanisms for Psychological Need Satisfaction Within Social Groups,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 81, No. 6, 2001.
“the satisfaction of one tends to come at the expense of the other”: Ibid., which cites Brewer, M. B. “The social self: On being the same and different at the same time,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 17, 1991.
“groups require consensus, homogeneity, and cohesion”: See Bukowski, William and Sippola, Lorrie K. “Groups, Individuals, and Victimization: A View of the Peer System,” in Juvonen, Jaana and Graham, Sandra, eds. Peer Harassment in School: The plight of the vulnerable and victimized, New York: Guilford Press, 2001.
CHAPTER 5
longboarding has more of a graceful flow: For an example of this sort of artistry and athleticism, please visit www.facebook.com/pages/AuthorAlexandraRobbins.
drawn to peers who are similar: See, for example, Hartup, Willard and Abecassis, Maurissa. “Friends and Enemies,” Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development, Smith, Peter K. and Hart, Craig H., eds. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2002.
From the age of five: See, for example, Nesdale, Drew. “Peer Group Rejection and Children’s Intergroup Prejudice,” in Intergroup Attitudes . . .
“I have to be the same as everybody else”: Interview.
Note: As children spend time with each other, in the course of their interactions they often become more alike. See, for example, Poulin, F. and Boivin, M., “The role of proactive and reactive aggression in the formulation and development of boys’ friendships,” Developmental Psychology, Vol. 36, 2000.
levels of academics: See, for example, Cairns, R. B.; Cairns, B. D.; Neckerman, H. J.; Gest, S.; and Gariépy, J.-L. “Social networks and aggressive behavior: Peer support or peer rejection?”, Developmental Psychology, Vol. 24, 1988. Cited in Xie.
more conformist: See, for example, Gavin, Leslie A. and Furman, Wyndol. “Age Differences in Adolescents’ Perceptions of Their Peer Groups,” Developmental Psychology, Vol. 25, No. 5, 1989: 827–834.
experience more negative behavior: Ibid.
In the mid-twentieth century, psychologists: This group included Muzafer Sherif, who later conducted the Robbers Cave experiment.
gauge levels of conformity: See Asch, Solomon E. “Opinions and Social Pressure,” Scientific American, Vol. 193, No. 5, November 1955.
likes to cheat: See, for example, Gilbert, Daniel. Stumbling on Happiness, New York: Knopf, 2006.
“the more measurements you make”: See Berns, Gregory.
deferring to the group: Ibid.
“We observed the fear system”: Ibid.
“unpleasant nature of standing alone”: Ibid.
brain emits an error signal: See Klucharev, Vasily; Hytönen, Kaisa; Rijpkema, Mark; Smidts, Ale; and Fernández, Guillén. “Reinforcement Learning Signal Predicts Social Conformity,” Neuron, Vol. 61, Issue 1, January 2009.
financial loss or social exclusion: See, for example, Landau, Elizabeth. “Why so many minds think alike,” CNN, January 15, 2009.
triggers a process: See Klucharev.
“Deviation from the group”: See Landau.
debuted at number four: See Pomerantz, Dorothy and Rose, Lacey, eds. “The Celebrity 100,” Forbes, June 28, 2010.
“When I see somebody like Gaga”: See Lauper, Cyndi. “The 2010 TIME 100: Lady Gaga,” TIME, April 29, 2010.
“I didn’t fit in in high school”: See The Ellen DeGeneres Show, November 27, 2009.
“nerdball in theater and chorus”: See Herndon, Jessica and Dyball, Rennie. “Totally Gaga: What You Don’t Know About Pop Star Lady Gaga,” People, June 22, 2009.
teased for her eccentric style: See LadyGaga.com.
by age twenty: Ibid.
“This is really who I am”: See The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
a comprehensive review: Included countless books and articles, most of which are not quoted in the section, too many of which to name here.
record for Emmy nominations: See, for example, Taylor, William C. and LaBarre, Polly. Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win, New York: William Morrow, 2006.
HBO executives ask themselves: Ibid.
Southwest Airlines, which distinguishes itself: See Taylor. In 2002, Money Magazine reported that Southwest was the best-performing stock in the magazine’s history.
Senior Executive Service: Interview.
“The work that matters most”: See Taylor, William.
Steven Spielberg: Incidentally, Spielberg’s fifth grade teacher complained to the principal about his “obsession with filmmaking.” “He was driving her nuts,” principal Richard T. Ford recalled. “He did some filming at the school and he was always talking about it.” See McBride, Joseph. Steven Spielberg: A Biography, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.
“a real nerd”: Ibid.
“I got smacked and kicked”: See Wei
nraub, Bernard. “Steven Spielberg Faces the Holocaust,” The New York Times, December 12, 1993.
‘weird’ and ‘independent-minded’: See McBride, Joseph.
“he always saw things differently”: See Weinraub, Bernard.
The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School Page 44
