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The second phenomenon that she noted was the “power of the group.� Kids
who were on the fence about a candidate could easily be swayed simply by the fact
that someone they knew was supporting a particular person. The more people a kid
encountered (especially in their own social circle) who supported a particular can-
didate, the more legitimacy was lent to that candidate (Figure 2.2). Kathy explained
that it was just like the exposure via posters and stickers, but was more influential.
While you may see and remember a poster, you
trust
your friends.
FIGURE 2.2
The larger the network of kids exchanging their opinions on a candidate,
the more “information momentum� is created and reinforced in that group. This leads to
more people supporting that candidate.
Even more powerful, she continued, was the fact that you didn't want to seem
like you were going
against
your friends. Fear of social reprisal was a far more
important (if insidious) reason to support a candidate. You might not support a
candidate about which you had no opinion specifically because someone you
didn't
like was doing so. Despite the fact that she was appalled at this mindless peer
pressure, she expressed with no small amount of mirth that often this propagation
was bidirectional. Other than a subtle flow downstream from the “cool kids,� you
