The Power of the Like in Adolescence: Effects of Peer Influence on Neural and Behavioral Responses to Social Media

Lauren E Sherman; Ashley A Payton; Leanna M Hernandez; Patricia M Greenfield; Mirella Dapretto

doi:10.1177/0956797616645673

The Power of the Like in Adolescence: Effects of Peer Influence on Neural and Behavioral Responses to Social Media

Psychol Sci. 2016 Jul;27(7):1027-35. doi: 10.1177/0956797616645673. Epub 2016 May 31.

Authors

Lauren E Sherman¹, Ashley A Payton², Leanna M Hernandez³, Patricia M Greenfield⁴, Mirella Dapretto⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, University of California, Los Angeles Children's Digital Media Center @ Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles, and California State University, Los Angeles lsherman@ucla.edu.
² Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, University of California, Los Angeles.
³ Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, University of California, Los Angeles Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, University of California, Los Angeles.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles Children's Digital Media Center @ Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles, and California State University, Los Angeles.
⁵ Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, University of California, Los Angeles Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles.

Abstract

We investigated a unique way in which adolescent peer influence occurs on social media. We developed a novel functional MRI (fMRI) paradigm to simulate Instagram, a popular social photo-sharing tool, and measured adolescents' behavioral and neural responses to likes, a quantifiable form of social endorsement and potential source of peer influence. Adolescents underwent fMRI while viewing photos ostensibly submitted to Instagram. They were more likely to like photos depicted with many likes than photos with few likes; this finding showed the influence of virtual peer endorsement and held for both neutral photos and photos of risky behaviors (e.g., drinking, smoking). Viewing photos with many (compared with few) likes was associated with greater activity in neural regions implicated in reward processing, social cognition, imitation, and attention. Furthermore, when adolescents viewed risky photos (as opposed to neutral photos), activation in the cognitive-control network decreased. These findings highlight possible mechanisms underlying peer influence during adolescence.

Keywords: adolescent development; neuroimaging; open materials; risk taking; social cognition; social influences.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior / physiology*
Adolescent Behavior / psychology
Brain / physiology*
Female
Humans
Imitative Behavior / physiology*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Peer Group*
Reward*
Risk-Taking*
Social Perception*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding