Dr. James Dobson’s all-important book Preparing for Adolescence is directed primarily to older children, but it is full of lessons that are extremely beneficial for adults as well. Dr. Dobson writes that a study was performed in which students were asked to look at several lines of varying lengths and to raise their hands when the facilitator pointed to the longest line. The study was purported to be about how well the young people could see and understand, but it actually was about how young people respond to group pressure.
Of the ten students who were participating in each group in the study, one individual had been told that the study was about how well he or she and the others involved could see and comprehend. The rest of the participants were informed about the study’s real purpose, and they were told to raise their hands when the facilitator pointed to the second longest line rather than the longest one. When the leader pointed to the second longest line and nine students raised their hands, the young man or young lady who actually was being studied was totally bewildered. This makes no sense. Maybe I didn’t get the instructions right, but I better go along with everyone else or I’ll look foolish. And so the tenth vote was cast for the second longest line. The facilitator explained again to the entire group to raise their hands for the longest line. I did hear right, but everyone is getting it wrong! I don’t get it! Still, in more than 75 percent of the cases, the student who couldn’t explain why his peers answered the way they did went along with them anyway, raising their hands with the rest of the crowd.
When you’re all by yourself, it’s pretty difficult to take your stand alone.
—Dr. James Dobson—
While the temptation to go along with the crowd is especially strong during adolescence, adults face it as well. Furthermore, often for adults the issue isn’t one of willingly joining the crowd but of having the confidence one needs to speak up and actively challenge a prevailing idea one knows is wrong. Here Dr. Dobson shares an important insight from the study that helps teens and adults alike:
If just one other student recognized (voted for) the right line, then the chances were greatly improved that the student who was being studied would also do what he thought was right. This means that if you have even one friend who will stand with you against the group, you probably will have more courage too. But when you’re all by yourself, it’s pretty difficult to take your stand alone.
Stand! But don’t stand alone!
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Copyright © 2020 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
Dr. James Dobson, Preparing for Adolescence, (Grand Rapids: Revell, 2006), 37-39; the direct quote can be found on 39.