Delinquency as a consequence of misperception: Overestimation of friends' delinquent behavior and mechanisms of social influence

This article examines how actors' perceptions of other people's behavior may be exaggerated and how this inaccuracy may influence behavior. More specifically, we apply these issues to improve our understanding of the correlation between delinquency of friends and individual delinquency. This relationship is one of the most replicated findings in the social sciences. However, research has not distinguished misperceptions of friends' behavior from actual behavior of friends, leaving two empirical questions unanswered. First, why do youth overestimate their friends' level of delinquency? Second, does overestimation of friends' delinquency influence one's own delinquency? We examine these questions using data from two waves of the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR) School Project. These data include self-reports by school friends of their own delinquent behavior, as well as respondents' estimates of their friends' behavior, making them uniquely equipped to calculate how much respondents exaggerate the behavior of their school friends and to investigate the determinants and consequences of this overestimation. Findings indicate that youth who engage in delinquency, have attitudes supporting delinquency, and experience peer pressure are more likely to exaggerate the prevalence of delinquency in their friendship network. Also, overestimating friends' delinquency leads to more delinquency in a subsequent wave, net of actual delinquency of friends and individual and situational characteristics. Overestimating friends' delinquency has the strongest effect on individuals who value social approval, are unpopular in their school, and experience peer pressure from their friends. We conclude by discussing avenues for future research.

[1]  K. Carey,et al.  Patterns and importance of self-other differences in college drinking norms. , 2006, Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors.

[2]  Jacob T. N. Young,et al.  Reconsidering the Effect of Self-Control and Delinquent Peers , 2009 .

[3]  G. Bruinsma.  Differential association theory reconsidered: An extension and its empirical test , 1992 .

[4]  J. Millham,et al.  Need for social approval: Impression management or self-deception? , 1980 .

[5]  Rebecca D. Petersen.  Merton, Robert K. , 2014 .

[6]  J. Kitts.  Egocentric bias or information management? Selective disclosure and the social roots of norm misperception , 2003 .

[7]  Frank M. Weerman,et al.  Students’ delinquency and correlates with strong and weaker ties : A study of students’ networks in Dutch high schools , 2003 .

[8]  Michael Biggs.  Self-fulfilling prophecies , 2011 .

[9]  L. Steinberg,et al.  Age differences in resistance to peer influence. , 2007, Developmental psychology.

[10]  S. Bikhchandani,et al.  Learning from the behavior of others : conformity, fads, and informational cascades , 1998 .

[11]  K. Dams-O’Connor,et al.  Perceived alcohol use among friends and alcohol consumption among college athletes. , 2006, Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors.

[12]  Dale T. Miller,et al.  Inferring the popularity of an opinion from its familiarity: a repetitive voice can sound like a chorus. , 2007, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[13]  M. Krohn,et al.  Taking stock of delinquency : an overview of findings from contemporary longitudinal studies , 2003 .

[14]  L. Ross.  The Intuitive Psychologist And His Shortcomings: Distortions in the Attribution Process1 , 1977 .

[15]  J. S. Long,et al.  Regression Models for Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables , 1997 .

[16]  Dale T. Miller,et al.  Pluralistic ignorance: When similarity is interpreted as dissimilarity. , 1987 .

[17]  Sophia Rabe-Hesketh,et al.  Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling Using Stata , 2005 .

[18]  Richard W. Olshavsky,et al.  The False Consensus Effect in Estimates of Smoking Prevalence , 1983 .

[19]  Mark Snyder,et al.  Behavioral confirmation in social interaction: From social perception to social reality. , 1978 .

[20]  D. Crowne,et al.  Conformity under Conditions of Simulated Group Pressure as a Function of the Need for Social Approval , 1962 .

[21]  Kyle J. Thomas,et al.  The Causal Impact of Exposure to Deviant Peers , 2013 .

[22]  T. Schelling.  Micromotives and Macrobehavior , 1978 .

[23]  Juvenile Delinquents' Perceptions of Own and Others' Commitment to Delinquency , 1975 .

[24]  Ronald L. Akers,et al.  Deviant behavior;: A social learning approach , 1973 .

[25]  David Matza.  Delinquency and Drift , 1966 .

[26]  Frank M. Weerman,et al.  PEER SIMILARITY IN DELINQUENCY FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF FRIENDS: A COMPARISON USING TWO MEASUREMENT METHODS* , 2005 .

[27]  T. Newcomb.  The acquaintance process , 1961 .

[28]  L. Festinger.  A Theory of Social Comparison Processes , 1954 .

[29]  David B. Dunson,et al.  Bayesian Data Analysis , 2010 .

[30]  L. Jussim.  Social Perception and Social Reality: Why Accuracy Dominates Bias and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy , 2012 .

[31]  Norman Miller,et al.  Ten years of research on the false-consensus effect: an empirical and theoretical review , 1987 .

[32]  G. C. Homans,et al.  Social Behavior as Exchange , 1958, American Journal of Sociology.

[33]  M. Krohn,et al.  On the Operational Validity of Perceptual Peer Delinquency: Exploring Projection and Elements Contained in Perceptions , 2012 .

[34]  E. E. Jones,et al.  The actor and the observer: Divergent perceptions of the causes of behavior. , 1972 .

[35]  M. D. Buffalo,et al.  Behavioral Norms, Moral Norms, and Attachment: Problems of Deviance and Conformity , 1971 .

[36]  John Paul Wright,et al.  Handbook of Crime Correlates , 2009, Handbook of Crime Correlates.

[37]  Delbert S. Elliott,et al.  Explaining Delinquency and Drug Use , 1985 .

[38]  Thornberry, Terence P. , 2014 .

[39]  T. Abel,et al.  Mind, Self, and Society , 1934 .

[40]  M. Larimer,et al.  Examination of the mediational influences of peer norms, environmental influences, and parent communications on heavy drinking in athletes and nonathletes. , 2007, Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors.

[41]  D. S. Holmes,et al.  Projection as a defense mechanism. , 1978 .

[42]  R. Agnew.  THE INTERACTIVE EFFECTS OF PEER VARIABLES ON DELINQUENCY , 1991 .

[43]  Michael R. Gottfredson,et al.  A general theory of crime. , 1992 .

[44]  David Matza,et al.  Delinquency and Drift , 1966 .

[45]  Thomas J. Dishion,et al.  Deviancy training in male adolescent friendships , 1996 .

[46]  A. Cohen,et al.  Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gang. , 1955 .

[47]  Mark Warr.  Companions in Crime: The Social Aspects of Criminal Conduct , 2002 .

[48]  Mark Warr,et al.  AGE, PEERS, AND DELINQUENCY* , 1993 .

[49]  V. A. Harris,et al.  The Attribution of Attitudes , 1967 .

[50]  E. Sutherland.  Principles of criminology, 4th ed. , 1947 .

[51]  F. Heider.  Attitudes and cognitive organization. , 1946, The Journal of psychology.

[52]  William B. Hansen,et al.  Social Projection and Social Conformity in Adolescent Alcohol Use: A Longitudinal Analysis , 1992 .

[53]  J. McGloin.  DELINQUENCY BALANCE: REVISITING PEER INFLUENCE* , 2009 .

[54]  Dina R. Rose,et al.  Doing What Simple Simon Says? , 1998 .

[55]  J. Nunnally.  Psychometric Theory (2nd ed), New York: McGraw-Hill. , 1978 .

[56]  S. Brodsky.  Criminal Justice and Behavior , 1980 .

[57]  Jacob T. N. Young,et al.  ASSESSING AND EXPLAINING MISPERCEPTIONS OF PEER DELINQUENCY , 2011 .

[58]  Donna Eder,et al.  THE STRUCTURE OF GOSSIP: OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS ON COLLECTIVE EXPRESSION AMONG ADOLESCENTS* , 1991 .

[59]  K. Dodge,et al.  Dimensions and types of social status: A cross-age perspective. , 1982 .

[60]  Peter D. Hoff,et al.  A First Course in Bayesian Statistical Methods , 2009 .

[61]  L. Ross,et al.  The “false consensus effect”: An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes , 1977 .

[62]  Mark Warr,et al.  THE INFLUENCE OF DELINQUENT PEERS: WHAT THEY THINK OR WHAT THEY DO?* , 1991 .

[63]  M. Macy,et al.  The Emperor’s Dilemma: A Computational Model of Self‐Enforcing Norms1 , 2005, American Journal of Sociology.

[64]  S. Asch.  Effects of Group Pressure Upon the Modification and Distortion of Judgments , 1951 .

[65]  L. Jussim.  Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: A Theoretical and Integrative Review. , 1986 .

[66]  E. Cartwright,et al.  Public Goods, Social Norms and Naive Beliefs * , 2022 .

[67]  S. Fiske,et al.  The Handbook of Social Psychology , 1935 .

[68]  Elijah Anderson.  Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City , 1999 .

[69]  M. Larimer,et al.  Being controlled by normative influences: self-determination as a moderator of a normative feedback alcohol intervention. , 2006, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[70]  J. Suls,et al.  In search of the false-uniqueness phenomenon: fear and estimates of social consensus. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[71]  B. McCarthy,et al.  Mean Streets: Youth Crime and Homelessness , 1998 .

[72]  D. Haynie.  Delinquent Peers Revisited: Does Network Structure Matter?1 , 2001, American Journal of Sociology.

[73]  Patrick M. O'Malley,et al.  Routine activities and individual deviant behavior , 1996 .

[74]  Deborah A. Prentice,et al.  Pluralistic Ignorance and the Perpetuation of Social Norms by Unwitting Actors , 1996 .

[75]  Tamara D. Madensen,et al.  The Empirical Status of Social Learning Theory: A Meta‐Analysis , 2010 .

[76]  R. Matsueda,et al.  THE DYNAMICS OF DELINQUENT PEERS AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOR , 1998 .

[77]  René Veenstra,et al.  Basking in Reflected Glory and Its Limits: Why Adolescents Hang Out With Popular Peers , 2010 .

[78]  Christine Horne,et al.  Norm Enforcement in Heterogeneous Groups , 2008 .

[79]  Deborah A. Prentice,et al.  Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus: some consequences of misperceiving the social norm. , 1993, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[80]  Stanley Wasserman,et al.  Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications , 1994 .

[81]  D. Byrne,et al.  SIMILARITY AND ASSUMED SIMILARITY OF ATTITUDES BETWEEN HUSBANDS AND WIVES. , 1963, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[82]  Dana L. Haynie,et al.  Friendship Networks and Delinquency: The Relative Nature of Peer Delinquency , 2002 .

[83]  D. Wayne Osgood,et al.  Popularity trajectories and substance use in early adolescence , 2011, Soc. Networks.

[84]  H. Perkins,et al.  The social norms approach to preventing school and college age substance abuse: A handbook for educators, counselors, and clinicians. , 2003 .

[85]  J. D. Campbell.  Similarity and uniqueness: the effects of attribute type, relevance, and individual differences in self-esteem and depression. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[86]  T. Hirschi.  Causes of Delinquency. , 1970, British medical journal.

[87]  H. Guetzkow,et al.  Groups, Leadership, and Men , 1952 .

[88]  M. Prinstein,et al.  False Consensus and Adolescent Peer Contagion: Examining Discrepancies between Perceptions and Actual Reported Levels of Friends’ Deviant and Health Risk Behaviors , 2005, Journal of abnormal child psychology.

[90]  M. Bourgeois,et al.  Self-organization of alcohol-related attitudes and beliefs in a campus housing complex: an initial investigation. , 2001, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[91]  Frank J. Bernieri,et al.  Determinants of consensus estimates: Attribution, salience, and representativeness , 1982 .

[92]  R. Merton.  Social Theory and Social Structure , 1958 .

[93]  Frank M. Weerman,et al.  DELINQUENT PEERS IN CONTEXT: A LONGITUDINAL NETWORK ANALYSIS OF SELECTION AND INFLUENCE EFFECTS* , 2011 .

[94]  P. Bearman,et al.  The Oxford handbook of analytical sociology , 2009 .

[95]  D. Kreager.  WHEN IT'S GOOD TO BE “BAD”: VIOLENCE AND ADOLESCENT PEER ACCEPTANCE* , 2008 .

[96]  A. Cohen,et al.  Delinquent Boys: The Culture of the Gang , 1971 .

[97]  Ronald L. Akers,et al.  Social learning and social structure : a general theory of crime and deviance , 1999 .

[98]  D. Cressey,et al.  Principles of Criminology. , 1947 .