The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School

by Alexandra Robbins

  doesn’t mean they dislike outsiders: See, for example, Brewer, Marilyn. “Conflict and In-Group Bias,” August 2007, San Francisco. An address by Marilyn Brewer, professor of psychology at Ohio State University, to mark the award of Distinguished Scientific Contribution for 2007 by the American Psychological Association.

  Note: People expect their own groupmates to behave more positively toward group interests. See, for example, Baumeister.

  assign more favorable characteristics: See, for example, Hymel, S.; Wagner, E.; and Butler, L. “Reputational Bias: View from the Peer Group,” Peer Rejection in Childhood, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

  assume that their groupmates’: See, for example, Baumeister.

  in simplistic ways: See Linville, P. W. and Jones, E. E. “Polarized appraisals of outgroup members,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 38, 1980. Cited in Baumeister.

  display more group favoritism: See, for example, Bettencourt.

  copying high-status groups: See, for example, Hymel. See also, Berger, Jonah; Heath, Chip; and Ho, Ben. “Divergence in cultural practices: Tastes as signals of identity,” unpublished manuscript, 2008.

  social creativity strategy: See Tajfel, H. Differentiation Between Social Groups, London: Academic Press, 1978.

  Robbers Cave State Park, Oklahoma: See Sherif, Muzafer; Harvey, O. J.; White, Jack B; Hood, William R.; and Sherif, Carolyn W. Intergroup Conflict and Cooperation: The Robbers Cave Experiment, 1954/1961.

  José Saramago: Saramago is Portuguese but Danielle assumed the staff wouldn’t know that.

  give out personalized apparel: Interviews.

  On the first day of biology: Interview.

  social circles have been established: See, for example, Hymel.

  a different part of the brain: See “Interview: Deborah Yurgelun-Todd.” Frontline, pbs.org. University of Utah psychiatry professor Yurgelun-Todd, the Director of Cognitive Neuroscience at The Brain Institute, is a leading researcher of the adolescent brain. Her findings indicate that teens “are not able to correctly read all the feelings in the adult face. So that would suggest to us that when they’re relating to their parents or to their friends’ parents or to their teachers, they may be misperceiving or misunderstanding some of the feelings that we have as adults; that is, they see anger when there isn’t anger, or sadness when there isn’t sadness.” Parents could utilize her research by taking care to verbally explain their emotions when they are talking to middle school students.

  students frequently reflect: See, for example, Kinney, David A. “From Nerds to Normals: The Recovery of Identity among Adolescents from Middle School to High School,” Sociology of Education, Vol. 66, No. 1, January 1993.

  don’t yet have the ability: Children cannot accurately process social information that’s beyond their cognitive abilities. See, for example, Cameron, Lindsey and Rutland, Adam. “An Integrative Approach to Changing Children’s Intergroup Attitudes,” Intergroup Attitudes.

  peaks from age eleven to thirteen: See, for example, Windle, Michael; Spear, Linda P.; Fuligni, Andrew J.; Angold, Adrian; Brown, Jane D.; Pine, Daniel; Smith, Greg T.; Giedd, Jay and Dahl, Ronald E. “Transitions Into Underage and Problem Drinking: Developmental Processes and Mechanisms Between 10 and 15 Years of Age,” Pediatrics, 2008, 121.

  “Where do I belong?”: See, for example, Noam, G. “The Psychology of Belonging: Reformulating Adolescent Development,” Esman A. H.; Flaherty, L. T.; Horowitz, H. A., eds., Annals of the American Society of Adolescent Psychiatry, Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, 1999.

  “wego” instead of an ego: Ibid.

  often don’t recognize: Ibid.

  to form an identity: See, for example, Bukowski and Sippola.

  group as having clear characteristics: Ibid.

  “strong, if not totalitarian”: Ibid.

  skills necessary for group problem-solving: Ibid.

  “As this consensus is elusive”: Ibid.

  Middle schoolers are more likely to: See, for example, Craig, Wendy M.; Pepler, Debra; Connolly, Jennifer; and Henderson, Kathryn. “Developmental Context of Peer Harassment in Early Adolescence,” in Peer Harassment in School . . .

  with puberty comes: See, for example, Horn, Stacey S. “The Multifaceted Nature of Sexual Prejudice: How Adolescents Reason About Sexual Orientation and Sexual Prejudice,” in Intergroup Attitudes . . .

  would call me man chest: Interview.

  more antagonistic interactions: See, for example, Gavin.

  The rate of cyberbullying: See Rodkin, Philip C. “The Bully-Victim Relationship: Historical Foundations and Peer Supports,” Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Summit, August 11, 2010.

  groups most want to separate: See, for example, Gavin.

  “Kids in middle school are”: See Anderegg.

  sensitive to negative evaluations: See, for example, Gavin.

  are increasingly advised: See, for example, Bukowski, William; Sippola, Lorrie; and Newcomb, Andrew. “Variations in patterns of attraction of same- and other-sex peers during early adolescence,” Developmental Psychology, Vol. 36, 2000.

  value dominance and aggression: See, for example, LaFontana.

  plateaus in the seventh and eighth grades: Ibid.

  the social goals: Ibid.

  so important to students: See, for example, Shrum, Wesley and Cheek, Neil H., Jr., “Social Structure During the School Years: Onset of the Degrouping Process,” American Sociological Review, Vol. 52, No. 2, April 1987.

  More subcultures: See, for example, Kinney.

  group boundaries aren’t so strict: See, for example, Gavin.

  social understanding has broadened: See, for example, Horn, Stacy S. “Adolescents’ Reasoning about Exclusion from Social Groups,” Developmental Psychology, Vol. 39, No. 1, January, 2003.

  discount stereotypes: Ibid.

  By the end of high school: See, for example, Gavin.

  drop in self-esteem: See, for example, Eder, Donna. “The Cycle of Popularity: Interpersonal Relations Among Female Adolescents,” Sociology of Education, Vol. 58, No. 3, July 1985.

  CHAPTER 9

  to his classmates, a musclehead: Interview.

  child who was socially awkward: See, for example, Bishop, John H.; Bishop, Matthew; and Gelbwasser, Lara. “Nerds and Freaks: A Theory of Student Culture and Norms,” Brookings Papers on Education Policy, 2003.

  One’s status drops: See, for example, Buhs, Eric S.; Ladd, Gary W.; and Herald, Sarah L. “Peer Exclusion and Victimization: Processes That Mediate the Relation Between Peer Group Rejection and Children’s Classroom Engagement and Achievement?,” Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 98, No.1, 2006.

  German gym teacher: See, for example, Watson, Goodwin B. “Character Tests and Their Applications through 1930,” Review of Educational Research, Vol. 2, No. 3, June 1932. See also Bishop, Bill.

  first impressions cling: See, for example, Asch, Solomon E. “Forming impressions of personality,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol. 41, Issue 3, 1946.

  people “ ‘rent’ categories”: See Wortham, Stanton. “From Good Student to Outcast: The Emergence of a Classroom Identity,” Ethos, Vol. 32, Issue 1, 2004.

  we expect him to behave: See, for example, Bigler, Rebecca S. and Liben, Lynn S. “A cognitive-developmental approach to racial stereotyping and reconstructive memory in Euro-American children,” Child Development, Vol. 64, Issue 5, 1993. See also Hymel.

  “I feel like I have to act”: Interview.

  “Students who break away”: Interview.

  more likely to remember: See, for example, Hymel.

  surfaces during elementary school: See, for example, Rogosch, F. and Newcomb, A. F. “Children’s perceptions of peer reputations and their social reputations among peers,” Child Development, Vol. 60, 1989.

  Canadian researchers asked experienced judges: See Findlay, Leanne C. and Ste-Marie, Diane M. “A Reputation Bias in Figure Skating Judging,” Journal of Sport & Exercise Psy
chology, 2004, 26.

  keeps the status quo intact: See, for example, Findlay.

  “Popular children acquire”: See Hymel.

  The halo effect: See Nisbett, Richard E. and Wilson, Timothy DeCamp. “The Halo Effect: Evidence for Unconscious Alteration of Judgments,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 35, No. 4, 1977. See also Asch, Solomon E. “Forming Impressions of Personality.”

  we don’t realize when it’s kicking in: See Nisbett.

  “The dynamics of group life”: See Coie, John D. “Toward a theory of peer rejection,” in Peer Rejection in Childhood, Asher, Steven and Coie, R., eds., New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

  society needs “deviants”: Ibid.

  deviant group members are: See, for example, Abrams and Rutland.

  A group might assume: Ibid.

  “black sheep effect”: See Marques, José M.; Yzerbyt, Vincent Y.; and Leyens, Jacques-Leyens. “The ‘Black Sheep Effect’: Extremity of judgments towards ingroup members as a function of group identification,” European Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 18, 1988.

  a deviant member is more of a threat: Ibid.

  cliques or “best friends” turned: Interviews.

  “Bitching, gossiping, or storytelling”: See Owens, Laurence; Slee, Phillip; and Shute, Rosalyn. “Victimization among Teenage Girls: What Can Be Done about Indirect Harassment?” in Peer Harassment in Schools.

  “Gossip is like word vomit here”: Interview.

  “experience some relief”: See Coie.

  series of studies: Interview, Stacey Horn.

  Goths, druggies, and dirties: See Horn, Stacey S. “Adolescents’ Reasoning About Exclusion from Social Groups,” Developmental Psychology, Vol, 39, No. 1, 2003.

  “a legitimate way of regulating”: See Horn, Stacey S. “The Multifaceted Nature of Sexual Prejudices,” in Levy, Killen, etc. See also, Horn, Stacey S. “Mean Girls or Cultural Stereotypes?”, Human Development, 2004, 47, in which Horn states, “They are likely to evaluate exclusion as acceptable in circumstances where an individual doesn’t ‘fit in’ with the overall norms and values of the group or where the individual, by virtue of who they [sic] are, may potentially threaten the functioning or identity of the group.”

  provided a new detail: Ibid.

  “function as social categories”: See Horn, Stacey S. “Adolescents’ Reasoning About Exclusion from Social Groups.”

  asked high school freshmen to judge: See Horn, S.; Killen, M.; and Stangor, C. “The influence of group stereotypes on adolescents’ moral reasoning,” Journal of Early Adolescence, Vol. 19, 1999.

  excluded from friendship: See Killen, Melanie; McGlothlin, Heidi; and Henning, Alexandra. “Explicit Judgments and Implicit Bias.” In Intergroup Attitudes . . . Thank you to Melanie Killen for discussing these issues with me.

  first, fourth, and seventh graders: See Killen, M; Sinno, S.; and Margie, N. G. “Children’s Experiences and Judgments About Group Exclusion and Inclusion,” Advances in Childhood Development and Behavior, 2007, 35.

  teens often rely on stereotypes: See, for example, Horn, Stacey S. “Adolescents’ Reasoning . . .”

  adolescents become more aware: See, for example, Enesco, Guerrero and Callejas, Solbes. “Intergroup Attitudes and Reasoning About Social Exclusion in Majority and Minority Children in Spain,” in Intergroup Attitudes . . .

  de-prioritize fairness and morality: See, for example, Horn, Stacey S. “Adolescents’ Reasoning . . .”

  CHAPTER 10

  In nine classes: See Bigler, R. S.; Spears, C. B.; and Markell, M. “When groups are not created equal: Effects of group status on the formation of intergroup attitudes in children,” Child Development, Vol. 72, 2001.

  “The honors students use”: Interview.

  English Language Learner (ELL) students: Interview.

  “The veteran teachers and administrators”: Interview.

  “Teachers may take the social structure”: See Hallinan, Maureen T. and Smith, Steven S. “Classroom characteristics and Student Friendship Cliques,” Social Forces, Vol. 67, No. 4, June 1989.

  “the same grade all four years”: Interview.

  “I think you should write”: Interview.

  “once a kid is a”: Interview.

  subjective views: See, for example, Findlay, which cites Murphy, Kevin R.; Balzer, William K.; Lockhart, Maura C.; and Eisenman, Elaine J. “Effects of Previous Performance on Evaluations of Present Performance,” Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 70, Issue 1, February 1985, and Horn, T. S.; Lox, C.; and Labrador, F. “The self-fulfilling prophecy theory: When coaches’ expectations become reality,” in J. M. Williams, ed., Applied Sport Psychology: Personal growth to peak performance, Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield, 1998.

  “let the in-crowd get away”: Interview.

  “not expecting them to follow”: Interview.

  colleagues joke around more: Interview.

  “I see teachers participate”: See Katz, Beth Anne. “A Diamond in the Rough, Waiting to be Found,” Intelligencer Journal, May 16, 2009.

  honors and awards: Interviews.

  “Administrators favor the families”: Interview.

  many of the programs that schools implement: Interviews.

  “It disgusts me to think”: Interview.

  “preferential treatment of the athletic program”: Interview.

  students in the environmental technology shop: Interviews.

  the comparative lack: See, for example, “Science project; Scientists can’t simply be hired, they must be created, and leaders from President Obama to state CEOs say investing in science and math programs early is key,” Star Tribune, May 11, 2009; see also, “Obama’s Test; Can America Boost Learning in Math and Science?” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 22, 2008; See also Alexander, Steve. “Nobel winner: America is neglecting science,” Star Tribune, October 20, 2008; see also Holt, Rep. Rush (D-NJ). “Oust mediocrity as the standard for achievement,” The Hill, March 1, 2010.

  Trends in International Mathematics: See, for example, Glod, Maria. “Scores on Science Test Causing Concern in U.S.,” The Washington Post, December 10, 2008.

  “I have seen adults treating”: Interview.

  “the most plastic and adaptable”: See Berns.

  CHAPTER 11

  an excellent student: See, for example, Sanchez, Maria. “Missouri Girl Suspended for Cancer Tribute,” WCSH6 TV, 2008. Note: Amelia Robbins is not related to the author.

  special relationship with her dad: See, for example, Morehouse, Paula. “Mountain Grove School District relents on girl’s pink hair,” KY3 News, August 26, 2008.

  brain cancer: See, for example, Robbins, Amelia. “ ‘Distraction’ only meant as tribute to father,” Springfield News-Leader, September 3, 2008.

  “the cancer color”: See, for example, Saavedra, Marie. “School suspends student over colored hair,” KY3 News, August 20, 2008.

  “You’re suspended until”: Ibid.

  ACLU got involved: See, for example, Morehouse.

  “We want it to be equal”: See “School suspends student over colored hair,” KY3 News, August 21, 2008.

  fewer than 25 percent of US residents: See Bishop, Bill.

  deters minorities from voting: Ibid.

  also withdraw from volunteering: Ibid.

  “What had happened over three decades”: Ibid.

  Diana Mutz’s findings: See Mutz, Diana C. Hearing the Other Side: Deliberative versus Participatory Democracy, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Cited in Bishop, Bill.

  “Elementary school taught us”: See Katz.

  imbued with deep spiritual meaning”: See, for example, “Graduation feathers should be held high,” Indian Country Today, July 27, 2005.

  with eagle feathers sewn: Ibid.

  An Idaho school: See, for example, Rave, Jodi. “Eagle feathers bring honor to graduation ceremonies,” The Bismarck Tribune, May 28, 2006.

  withheld a Cherokee student’s: See Indian Country T
oday.

  dress more “manly”: See, for example, Stevens, Alexis. “Cobb teen told he can’t dress like a female at school,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 6, 2009.

  “(running at a set speed)”: See, for example, Evans, Brent R. “Everyone Wins! Connecting Learners with Success Opportunities,” April 2006. Cited in Trowbridge, Steve. “Educational rituals: questioning how we educate our children,” Phi Delta Kappan, January 1, 2007.