Harnessing the Power of Peer Pressure

Back when I was a high school student in Russia I spent a few weeks at a summer camp with my schoolmates. One day I walked into a room where a few guys were hanging out. There was a pool table in the room, some balls on the table, but I didn't see a cue.

I wasn't sure where to find a cue and wanted to ask (in Russian) "Do you have a cue?". However, I misspoke and asked "Do you have a "khui" ("хуй" in Russian)?" In Russian the word "хуй" (penis) is pronounced similarly to the word "кий" (cue stick). A psychoanalyst should probably be able to explain the underlying reasons for such an error. J

The guys laughed for about half an hour and each of them tried to assure me that he had a "хуй".

I was embarrassed. To decidedly resolve this situation I foolishly proclaimed "That's it. I am not using "F" words anymore!".

It's interesting what happened next. This was a strong and rather optimistic promise by a sixteen year old boy to completely stop swearing and using profanities ("ругаться матом"). I was not that strong-willed back then and continued using profane words in my speech. However, each time I used a profane word my schoolmates reminded me that I have promised to stop swearing. Each time they ridiculed me and told me that I needed to stop using profane words because of the promise. I probably do not need to tell you that they used all the taboo words themselves. Almost all my schoolmates conspired against me and the peer pressure from my "friends" was unbearable. You can probably imagine how cruel teenagers were back then.

It was regular non-stop negative reinforcement and gradually (like a Pavlov's dog) I started using fewer and fewer profane words in my speech. In a few months I had completely stopped using them.

This case shows how to harness the power of peer pressure. What essentially happened there is that I recruited schoolmates to be members of a peer support group in my accidental endeavor to stop using profane words. It was very similar to the approaches used by such organizations as Anonymous Alcoholics and Weight Watchers. In my case I successfully (although accidentally) harnessed the power of peer pressure (a.k.a. bullying) to accomplish a personal growth objective.

You too can use this trick to fight extra weight, an alcohol addiction or the use of profane words in your speech. In addition to the above objectives you can also use peer pressure to accomplish any goal you want.

You just need to publicly announce your goal and ask (explicitly or implicitly, as in my case) your peers to remind you and keep track of your progress and missteps.

Nobody can do it better than your "friends". They would selflessly volunteer their time to point to your errors and would not allow event a single misstep to get unnoticed. In this case, the more "friends" you have in your peer support group, the better. Every cloud has a silver lining and you can use even bullies to accomplish something positive. You can use their help for a wide range of challenging tasks ranging from setting up a new regimen of physical exercises to meticulous completion of your school assignments or another challenging task you have in mind. You just need to announce it and ask your friends and "friends" to help build your motivation and resolve.

By the way, there is a smartphone app for this. Task List and To-do List application YouDo @Google Play Store can facilitate this process. You can use YouDo to share your Task List with your friends on Facebook or over an e-mail. YouDo would also send a Twitter update on the progress of completion of your tasks and changes in their priorities.

Further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mat_(Russian_profanity)
http://psychology.about.com/od/classicalconditioning/a/pavlovs-dogs.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Pavlov
http://www.aa.org
http://www.weightwatchers.com