As a child you are always told not to give in to peer pressure through programs like DARE or DFYIT which teach us to not only resist peer pressure but also tell us to do not avoid or mistreat others. This is a problem for the human brain because, as author Alexander Robbins states: “By the age of five, children increasingly exclude peers who do not conform to group norms. Children learn this quickly. A famous eighth-grader in Indiana told me 'I have to be the same as everyone else, or people won't like me anymore'” (150). The human brain is programmed in such a way that children end friendships with kids they find different. Robbins deems this behavior undesirable saying that not only is it unattractive, but it is a cop-out. According to Robbins, parents around the world, teen organizations and movies tell society that conforming is bad and that children should not conform to the group, rather they should stand alone and be individuals. However, Solomon Asch's study may have uncovered the reason for this. He concluded that: “The investigations described in this series concern independence and lack of independence in the face of group pressure” (1). Asch establishes that, when faced with pressure, people are more likely to conform. While society preaches the negative aspects of conformity, science has proven that the brain is hardwired to follow the group. Asch was the pioneer researcher in this discovery. The following experiment and the resulting results amazed everyone. Asch's experiment stated: He brought college students, one by one, into a room with six to eight other participants. He showed the room an image of one row and a separate image containing three rows labeled 1, 2, and 3. One of the three rows was… in the center of the paper… er, their brain's choice is for them. As Berns states: “In many people, the brain prefers to avoid activating the fear system and simply change perception to conform to the social norm” (Robbins 152). Works Cited Asch, Solomon E. “Studies of Independence and Conformity: I. A Minority of One versus a Unanimous Majority.” Psychological Monographs: General and Applied 70.9 (1956): 1. Print.Klucharev, Vasily, Kaisa Hytönen, Mark Rijpkema, Ale Smidts and Guillén Fernández. “Signal reinforcement learning predicts social conformity.” Neuron 61.1 (2009): 140-51. Press."People fear becoming authentic, independent-thinking individuals – it's easier to conform!" HubPages. Np, nd Web. 09 December 2013.Robbins, Alexandra. Geeks Will Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Weirdness Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School. New York: Hyperion, 2011. Print.