Godin told Psychology Today: See Marano, Hara Estroff. “Maverick Messenger,” Psychology Today, July/August 2010.
Schools impose a hierarchy: See, for example, Shepherd, Jessica. “Fertile minds need feeding: Are schools stifling creativity?”, The Guardian, February 10, 2009. See also Jeffrey A. Lackney. “Changing Patterns in Educational Facilities,” Summary of REFP workshop presented at the annual meeting of CEFPI, Vancouver, 1998.
two schools in Ireland: See, for example, Ruane, M. “Let’s cut to the chase: how much conformity should we demand of our schoolkids?”, Irish Independent, Feb. 21, 2009.
“values conformity and control”: See Contenta, Sandro and Rankin, Jim. “Are schools too quick to suspend?”, Toronto Star, June 8, 2009.
“capacity for divergent thinking”: See Munro, Neil. “Start with yourself, mister,” The Times Educational Supplement, March 10, 2006. (The report’s author also quoted an education seminar participant who said that “trying to introduce change in a university is like trying to move a cemetery: You can expect no help from the people inside.”)
schools were extinguishing: See, for example, Shepherd.
“All children start”: Ibid.
Creative Partnerships: Ibid. See also www.creative-partnerships.com/about.
“School doesn’t encourage”: Interview.
“All the girls fake tan”: Interview.
“Right now, my forearms”: Interview.
boys who are underweight: Interview.
share levels of depression: See Paxton, Susan J.; Schutz, Helena K.; Wertheim, Eleanor H.; and Muir, Sharryn L. “Friendship Clique and Peer Influences on Body Image Concerns, Dietary Restraint, Extreme Weight-Loss Behaviors, and Binge Eating in Adolescent Girls,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 108, No. 2, 1999.
first study to examine eating disorders: Ibid.
Note: Also, dynamic social impact theory suggests that the more time individuals spend in one another’s company, the more alike they will become. See, for example, Berger, Jonah; Heath, Chip; and Ho, Ben. “Divergence in Cultural Practices: Tastes as Signals of Identity,” Stanford University, March 2005. See also 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.
“I’ve struggled with anorexia”: Interview.
“ ‘mess in a dress’ ”: Interview.
Students in gangs: Interviews.
they had to “act white”: Thank you to Amy Kramer and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy for facilitating this group discussion. For an examination of the meanings and the interpretations of “acting white,” see, for example, Carter, Prudence L. “Straddling Boundaries: Identity, Culture, and School,” Sociology of Education, Vol. 79, No. 4, October 2006. Also, Grace Kao includes an interesting discussion of “talking white” versus “talking black” in Kao, Grace, “Group Images and Possible Selves Among Adolescents: Linking Stereotypes to Expectations by Race and Ethnicity,” Sociological Forum, Vol. 15, No. 3, 2000. More broadly, she states, minority adolescents “face another dimension of social categorization: group images that link ethnicity to innate ability not only directly imply norms of behavior for members of each group, but also specify their distinct areas of expertise in various realms of social and academic life,” much like Noah described the assumptions peers made about him because he was Asian.
“In math, someone told”: Interview.
“With some of my friends”: Interview.
“There’s still pressure to act”: Interview.
incentive-based voluntary uniform policy: See Jamison, David J. “Idols of the Tribe: Brand Veneration, Group Identity, and the Impact of School Uniform Policies,” Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2006.
“The people who don’t care”: Interview.
“The young always have the same”: See Crisp, Quentin. The Naked Civil Servant, First published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape, 1968. Cited in Berger, Heath, and Ho.
can even overtake the desire: See, for example, Mlicki.
Men are less likely: See, for example, Berger, Jonah and Heath, Chip: “Who Drives Divergence? Identity Signaling, Outgroup Dissimilarity, and the Abandonment of Cultural Tastes,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 95, No. 3, 2008.
“People resolve [this tension]”: See Berger, Heath, and Ho.
“the narcissism of minor differences”: Many thanks to Lakehead University professor Todd Dufresne and University of Miami professor Edward Erwin for discussing this concept with me. Dufresne is also the author of Tales from the Freudian Crypt: The Death Drive in Text and Context. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000.
distributed yellow Livestrong: See Berger and Heath.
forked-tail effect: See, for example, Freedman, Jonathan L.; Carlsmith, J. Merrill; and Sears, David O. Social Psychology, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1974. See also Englis, Basil G. and Solomon, Michael R. “To Be and Not to Be: Lifestyle Imagery, Reference Groups, and ‘The Clustering of America,’ ” Journal of Advertising, Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 1995.
“may want to be treated”: See Berger, Heath, and Ho.
CHAPTER 12
twelve groups of vervet monkeys: See Raleigh, M. J.; McGuire, M. T.; Brammer, G. L.; Pollack, D. B.; and Yuwiler, A. “Serotonergic mechanisms promote dominance acquisition in adult male vervet monkeys,” Brain Research, Vol. 559, 1991.
rhesus monkeys with high levels of serotonin: See Mehlman, P. T.; Higley, J. D.; Faucher, I.; Lilly, A. A.; et al. “Correlation of CSF 5-HIAA concentration with sociality and the timing of emigration in free-ranging primates,” American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 152, 1995, and Higley, J. D.; King, S. T., Jr.; Hassert, M. F.; et al. “Stability of interindividual differences in serotonin function and its relationship to severe aggression and competent social behavior in rhesus macque females,” Neuropharmacology, Vol. 14, 1996. Cited in Knutson, Brian; Wolkowitz, Owen M.; Cole, Steve W.; et al. “Selective Alteration of Personality and Social Behavior by Serotonergic Intervention,” American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 155, 1998: 3.
administered to volunteers a drug: See, for example, Knutson.
“socially affiliative” behaviors: See Tse, Wai S. and Bond, Alyson J. “Serotonergic intervention affects both social dominance and affiliative behavior,” Psychopharmacology, Vol. 161, 2002.
“can modify social status”: Ibid.
a region of a particular gene: See Burt, S. Alexandra. “A Mechanistic Explanation of Popularity: Genes, Rule Breaking, and Evocative Gene-Environment Correlations,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 96, No. 4, 2009. Two caveats: First, Burt wrote, “This study is the first to explicitly identify a pathway through which a specific gene influences individuals’ social status.” When I asked her whether her study referred to likeability or social status, she said, “The operationalization of the ratings was primarily based on likeability (although we’d expect likeability to be correlated with social status).” Second, it’s helpful to keep in mind, as Burt noted, that “Because one’s genes cannot directly code for other individuals’ reactions, it is biologically impossible for this association to be direct. Instead, any legitimate association must be mediated via the individual’s attributes or behavior.”
“notable risks for development”: See Schwartz, David; Nakamoto, Jonathan; Gorman, Andrea Hopmeyer; and McKay, Tara. “Popularity, Social Acceptance, and Aggression in Adolescent Peer Groups: Links with Academic Performance and School Attendance,” Developmental Psychology, Vol. 42, No. 6, 2006.
Note: This can apply to the aggressors or victims: Rachel Simmons, author of Curse of the Good Girl explained to me, “Once you’re on the inside, you’re usually struggling to stay there. To get and stay popular, your status has to be paramount, and that means you’ll do pretty much anything, including be a target or an aggressor, to keep your place. At the end of the day, trying to be accep
ted at the highest level usually causes kids to lose their selves to the race.”
less likely to do well: See, for example, Schwartz. See also Kiefer.
If a student’s social aim: See Kiefer.
“likely to lead to disruptive”: Ibid.
This connection is especially strong: Ibid.
“I wanted to date a ‘normal’ ”: Interview.
“My weight is never good enough”: Interview.
“Deep down, I know it’s wrong”: Interview.
characterized with negative traits: See, for example, Gavin. High-status groups are more biased toward their own cliques than are low-status groups. See Bettencourt.
“involvement in risky behaviors”: See Schwartz.
CHAPTER 13
divisions that didn’t seem all that different: Interviews.
learned the term “narnian”: Interview.
“I’m always single”: Interview.
“bottom of the food chain”: Interview.
Gamers: Also, scientists have discovered that playing casual video games can vastly improve adults’ moods and stress levels. See Russoniello, Carmen V. and Parks, Jennifer M. “A Randomized Controlled Study of the Effects of PopCap Games on Mood and Stress,” Psychophysiology Lab and Biofeedback Clinic, East Carolina University. Note: PopCap underwrote the study.
adept at problem solving: See McGonigal, Jane. “Gamers have skills. Let’s tap ’em. Video games are training people to solve tough, real-world problems,” Christian Science Monitor, November 5, 2007.
“collective intelligence”: Ibid.
floaters are already skilled: 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.
the number of floaters: Ibid.
“some combination of school success”: See Anderegg.
a childlike mindset: See, for example, Janecka, Laura. “Think Like a Kid,” Psychology Today, July/August 2010.
geek chic: See, for example, Angier, Natalie. “In ‘geek chic’ and Obama, new hope for lifting women in science,” New York Times, January 19, 2009.
nerd merch: See, for example, O’Neil, Lauren. “It’s hip to be square: Nerd merch brings in the bank,” Toronto Star, June 17, 2010.
nerdcore hip-hop artists: See, for example, Tocci, Jason. “The Well-Dressed Geek: Media Appropriation and Subcultural Style,” paper presented at MiT5, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, April 29, 2007.
“the social pariah outcast aesthetic”: Ibid.
massive mainstreaming of spheres: Ibid.
few trickle-down effects: Interviews.
a “cool nerd” subset: Interviews.
Paul Allen, Sergey Brin: These names are cited in many places; this particular list was in Varma, Roli. “Women in Computing: the Role of Geek Culture,” Science as Culture, Vol. 16, No. 4, December 2007.
Steve Jobs: Jobs, an outsider in school whom classmates viewed as odd, intense, and a loner—and who is now called “arguably the greatest innovator of the digital age”—is also an example of quirk theory. See, for example, Young, Jeffrey S. and Simon, William L. iCon: Steve Jobs, The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2005.
four twelve-to-fourteen-year-olds won: See, for example, Hutchinson, Bill. “News Readers Hurry to Help the Nerd Herd,” New York Daily News, March 27, 2009.
“Nerd HERD! (YES!)”: See Carlson, Jen. “Christine Zaremba & the Nerd Herd,” Gothamist, April 15, 2009.
“drama dorks”: Interview.
a deviant in one group: See, for example, Abrams and Rutland.
“High school was so unimaginably”: Interview.
“The best thing to do”: Interview.
“outcasts in a heartbeat”: Interview.
the Eagles and the Rattlers were so hostile: See Sherif.
“dramatic” and “striking to all observers”: Ibid.
“I just wish people could”: Interviews.
“It’s hard because sometimes”: Interview.
“But you’re smart”: Interview.
“Adolescents who were unpopular”: See Kinney.
Mississippi county school board: See, for example, Joyner, Chris. “Both sides claim win in Mississippi lesbian teen’s prom lawsuit,” The Clarion-Ledger, March 24, 2010.
Committed suicide after being harassed: See, for example, Strauss, Valerie. “How to make schools safer for gay students,” Washingtonpost.com, Oct. 4, 2010.
“If someone asked why I was counting”: Interview.
“I’ve had to make a new group”: Interview.
“Continuously pretending to be”: Interview.
line-matching conformity experiment: See Asch.
By extension, Asch’s discovery: See, for example, Berns, who makes his point in Iconoclast.
Perceived popular kids: See earlier endnotes for each of these separate studies.
“It is essential for children”: See Balter, Lawrence. “When Peers Pressure: You can prevent friends from exerting undue influence,” The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 9, 1996.
effective communicator: For tips on how to talk to teenagers, I like the Passport chapter of Queen Bees and Wannabes, which has many suggestions that apply to kids of both genders. See Wiseman, Rosalind. Queen Bees and Wannabes, New York: Crown, 2002.
Outcast High: Interview
Lobby for changes: We should not assume that it is easy for even the best intentioned administrators to make these changes. As one researcher phrased it, “Schools . . . have a dual task. They should exert regulation . . . but also become sites of social change and emancipation. These tasks have met new challenges in the globalized world in which neo-liberal restructuring of education emphasizes accountability, choices, and markets, with decreasing consideration of equality and social justice.” See Lahelma, Elina. “Tolerance and Understanding? Students and Teachers Reflect on Differences at School,” Educational Research and Evaluation, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2004.
What Schools Can Do: By improving the well-being of their students, administrators improve the overall success of the school. Many researchers have demonstrated that the “sense of belonging to school is critical to the success of public education.” See Ma, Xin. “Sense of Belonging to School: Can Schools Make a Difference?” The Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 96, No. 6, July-August 2003. Ma also writes: “Unless students identify well with their schools (i.e., feel welcomed, respected, and valued), their education participation always will be limited. . . . Gang-related problems increase when students do not have a sense of belonging to their school.”
western Missouri middle school: Thank you to the students who participated in the discussion and the administrators who organized it for me.
“Some people want to sit”: Interview.
“Mix It Up at Lunch Day”: Teaching Tolerance is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. See www.tolerance.org/mix-it-up/lunch-day.
Teachers who open their rooms: At many schools, teachers do not have their own classrooms. These teachers can help students by helping them to find a safe space in which to spend the lunch hour.
“are generally defiant”: Interview.
University of Delaware: See Gaertner, Samuel L.; Dovidio, John F.; Guerra, Rita; Rebelo, Margarida; Monteiro, Maria Benedicto; Riek, Blake M.; and Houlette, Melissa A. “The Common In-Group Identity Model: Applications to Children and Adults,” Intergroup Attitudes . . .
“The best way to achieve peace”: See, for example, Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow. “Those People,” The Boston Globe, January 6, 2008.
significantly reduce alcohol: See, for example, Haines, M.; Barker, G.; and Rice, R. “Using Social Norms To Reduce Alcohol And Tobacco Use in Two Midwestern High Schools,” The Social Norms Approach to Preventing School and College Age Substance Abuse: A Handbook for Educators, Counselors, and Clinicians, H. W. Perkins, ed., San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003. I also consulted
FCD materials. See also Neighbors, Clayton; Fossos, Nicole; Woods, Briana A.; Fabiano, Patricia; Sledge, Michael; and Frost, Deborah. “Social Anxiety as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Perceived Norms and Drinking,” Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Vol. 68, No. 91, January, 2007.
“Informational campaigns stress”: See Cialdini, Robert B. “Basic Social Influence Is Underestimated,” Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 16, No. 4, 2005.
the robotics club’s success: Interview, Christine Zaremba.
“We’re the kings of the nerds”: See Peim, Benjamin. “B’klyn ‘Nerd Herd’ wins NY Lego robot contest, now striving to raise cash for Robotics World Fest,” New York Daily News, March 26, 2009. The St. Edmund’s principal told the press, “This has just been the most amazing day. Kids actually think being a nerd is cool now.” See Hutchinson.
The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School Page 48
