What makes some people more susceptible to peer influence

A brain area activated by group decisions can distinguish people more likely to conform to the will of a group, say researchers from University College London (UCL). The team, led by Dr Tali Sharot, Affective Brain Lab, UCL, monitored the brain activity of individuals in groups of five people choosing food or drink they'd like to consume before and after being told the most popular choice in their group. The results showed that people were likely to conform to the most popular choice in their group if their original preference was different. Miss Caroline Charpentier (Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL) said: "Most people don't think their everyday decisions, such as having eggs on toast for breakfast or a pint of lager at the pub, are influenced by other people's preferences." She added: "But our results suggest that when other people make different choices than you, for example your friends order beer while you order wine, your brain records this information and this signal is mirrored in your brain later on, for example when you order another drink, making you more likely to choose beer, even if you initially preferred wine". The team, led by Dr Tali Sharot, Affective Brain Lab, UCL, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor the brain responses of 20 volunteers during a decision-making task, while 78 more volunteers completed the task simultaneously on computers located outside the MRI room. They came to the lab in small groups of five. In one session, volunteers were shown 60 pairs of food and drink items and asked to select which item of each pair they would prefer to consume at the end of the experiment.