Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Peer Socialization

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

  • 133 Accesses

Synonyms

Group socialization theory; Homophily; Peer groups; Peers; Social networks

Introduction to Peer Socialization

The presence of peers is essential to human life as socializing is inherent to human nature (Hogan and Roberts 2004). Peers can be classified as individuals who surround us in our daily lives such as classmates, colleagues, friends, etc. Due to the fact that humans are constantly surrounded by peers during their lifetime, it is likely that peer interactions influence personality psychology. The core elements of personality are such: how we see ourselves (identity), how others see us (reputation), how we interact in social roles, and how identity, reputation, and interaction influence how we get along with others and achieve goals (Hogan and Roberts 2004). The latter two consider the impact of socializing on oneself.

Defining Peer Socialization

Peer socialization is the process in which peers can help one another develop skills that allow him or her to cooperate and act...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Buss, D. (1985). Human mate selection. American Scientist, 73, 47–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Choukas-bradley, S., Giletta, M., Cohen, G. L., & Prinstein, M. J. (2015). Peer influence, peer status, and prosocial behavior: An experimental investigation of peer socialization of adolescents’ intentions to volunteer. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 44(12), 2197–2210.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harris, J. (1995). Where is the child’s environment? A group socialization theory of development. Psychological Review, 102, 458–489. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.102.3.458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoerger, M., Chapman, B. P., Prigerson, H. G., Fagerlin, A., Mohile, S. G., Epstein, R. M., ... & Duberstein, P. R. (2014). Personality change pre-to post-loss in spousal caregivers of patients with terminal lung cancer. Social psychological and personality science, 5(6), 722–729.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogan, R., & Roberts, B. W. (2004). A socioanalytic model of maturity. Journal of Career Assessment, 12, 207–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCrae, R. R. (1993). Moderated analyses of longitudinal personality stability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 577–585.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburg, PA, USA

    Shruti Idnani & James Gerhart

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Teresa Lillis

Authors
  1. Shruti Idnani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Teresa Lillis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. James Gerhart
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shruti Idnani .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of South Carolina - Beaufort, Bluffton, SC, USA

    Carey Fitzgerald

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Idnani, S., Lillis, T., Gerhart, J. (2018). Peer Socialization. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2404-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2404-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation