Peer Influence and Adolescent Behavior

In our story, Jimmy Moran was with peers when he committed his crime, so Alan visited with Dr. Larry Steinberg of Temple University to see how peer influence affects adolescent behavior. In this segment, Alan takes the "stoplight test," a test Steinberg gives participants in a scanner. His research points toward the presence of peers as especially influential to adolescents in encouraging more risky behavior, like running a yellow light at a stoplight. Steinberg's research has influenced Supreme Court decisions declaring it unconstitutional that adolescents receive the death penalty or life in prison with out possibility of parole in non-homicide cases.
This segment was taken from episode two "Deciding Punishment," from the broadcast, "Brains on Trial with Alan Alda."
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