Journalist Tina Rosenberg busts peer pressure myths

To many, peer pressure has always seemed to have a negative stigma attached to it. For Tina Rosenberg, it's a powerful force that may just change the world for the better.

Rosenberg, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author, addressed the issue of peer pressure to a crowd of students, faculty and members of the community Thursday at UCF's Global Perspectives event in the Key West Ballroom.

Rosenberg began by talking about her published book, "Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Change the World," which tackles the issue of developing our world for good by making efforts to personally connect with one another through peer pressure.

When asked why Rosenberg chose the word peer pressure, she said it was to clear up the negative connotation associated with it and to create a stir.

 "To be provocative. People hear the word peer pressure and think bad thing and I'm here to tell you no, good thing."

With the amount of problems facing our world, Rosenberg believes a "social cure" is possible. Through the use of peer pressure, changes in a positive direction can transform any group.

"The ability to mobilize people is everything," Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg used many different examples throughout her talk on the benefits of peer pressure. Two groups in particular were Alcoholics Anonymous and a South Carolina group of teenagers called Rage Against the Haze.

Rosenberg said that these groups' tactics work because they appeal to a major desire for all human beings: the desire to belong.

Peer pressure is common throughout the world and there are many positive uses for it.

"Through political movements, or, indeed, with regards to public health, peer pressure can indeed be used for good which runs contrary to our initial knee-jerk reaction for peer pressure, which is negative," said Michael Burzynski, a junior political science and pre-medical student.

Rosenberg sees potential uses for peer pressure everywhere but does recognize the fact that peer pressure isn't always used in positive ways.

"We're all good boys at risk of a bad crowd," Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg's talk was part of Global Perspectives' 2011-2012 themes of "People Power, Politics and Global Change" and "Covering Crises from the Frontlines."

One of the goals of the Global Perspectives Office is to give the UCF campus, as well as the public community, the opportunity to engage in dialogue about international, as well as internal issues, that involve the global community.

Many students enjoy these talks because of the information they gain from them.

"Global Perspectives gives UCF students the chance to learn far more than we ever could doing our own research, by having somebody who is already an expert; who has already met these people [and] done all this research, to come to us and to tell us what the really important parts are," said legal studies student David Shabat-Love.

After listening to the lecture, Shabat-Love said he believes peer pressure can be used in many different ways to influence others.

"Peer pressure is like a screwdriver. It's a tool. It can loosen, it can tighten. What you pressure somebody with is really where the trick is," said Shabat-Love.