Today we’re going to summarize chapter 2 of THE POWER OF PEERS by Leon Shapiro and Leo Bottary. This chapter is entitled, “The Pervasive Nature Of Peer Influence.”
Birds of a feather flock together. We’re all in the same boat. Great minds think alike.
We have a number of phrases and sayings that speak to the significance of peer influence. Bruce Cleland and his wife, Izzi, found out their 2-year-old daughter had leukemia. The survival rate was 55%. Bruce immersed himself into the world of blood cancer treatments, which led to a deep involvement with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Two years later, Bruce’s daughter was in remission.
To honor his daughter and show his appreciation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society he rallied 38 people to run the New York City Marathon to raise money. With a few corporate sponsors (but mostly through individual donations), Bruce was able to raise $322,000. That was only after spending 5 months training and preparing. The group gathered regularly at a local restaurant or bar to compare notes and talk about their progress. Everybody was committed to the group and the cause. Because of that mutual support the group succeeded.
That 38-member team was just a start. That was the beginning of a successful endurance-sport fundraising program which came to be Team In Training, inspiring over 650,000 participants to achieve their goals and raise $1.3 billion for blood cancer research. That survival rate of 55% is 95% today!
Together anything is possible.
It Starts When We’re Young
Our folks knew the power of peer influence. That’s why they always wanted to know who we’d be with when we left the house. It’s why they wanted to know our friends.
In 2005 Gary Ladd, a professor of psychology and human development at Arizona State University, published a book, “Children’s Peer Relations And Social Competence: A Century Of Progress.” Peer relations are more balanced than parent-child relations. As children we’re largely influenced by these relationships.
Considerable research has proven that our level of self-confidence and self-efficacy is largely determined by peer influence. As we interact with our peers we learn things about others and ourselves that serve us with greater confidence.
Our peers also hold us accountable. Teachers threaten to punish the entire class if one class clown continues to disrupt the class. They do it because it works. We would all sit there thinking how unfair that would be, but the pressure on the evil doer to be held accountable to the entire class changed the dynamic of their behavior. Hopefully.
Peer influence drives learning. Lecturing is giving way to facilitating where students are more engaged.

* Students engage as colleagues not competitors. There are many benefits to collaboration and a sense of abundance.
* Students learn the value of dialogue. Dialogue trumps debate or discussion, providing students with richer and more meaningful conversations.
* Students learn to trust one another. Sharing and listening without fear of being judged builds trust. That allows for deeper, more honest conversations.
* Students get a taste of what abundance looks like. Students know that no matter how much they contribute to the group, they’ll always get more in return – and as they do, the group grows stronger.

Peer influence happens in the workplace, too. The Handbook Of Interpersonal Communication (by Knapp and Daley) defines peer relationships as “relationships between co-workers at the same hierarchical level with no formal authority over one another.” Peers serve as important sources of intellectual and emotional support.
The boss says something in a meeting,