Ultimately, though, Jack was right, and—spoiler alert—even though his own idea didn’t help him survive, it let Rose live a rich life filled with horseback riding, air travel, and framed photographs of it all. So I had to ask myself…can peer pressure be wielded for good? Can it be used as a positive means to an end?

I wrote a few days ago about getting ideas and initiatives to stick with an audience. But how do they catch? For the last few days, the Monar crew has sat doggedly in front of a white board, scribbling ideas about how inclusion and diversity can be perceived as “the cool thing to do.” It was the first time in a while that I had heard it as a means of achieving a desirable end instead of a cautionary tale about an older classmate trying to convince me to take up smoking. There are several reasons why peer pressure works, and can work to incite change. What are they? Brace yourselves. The iceberg’s approaching.

Balance theory, proposed by Fritz Heider, states that we humans are motivated by a drive toward psychological balance. We want our attitudes and ideas to be consistent with those people we like; when our friends are enemies with one another, that’s psychologically–and just generally–uncomfortable. Or, to refer to our previous example, if Rose likes Jack, and Jack likes the idea of jumping, balance theory explains why Rose will subscribe to the idea of jumping–to maintain psychological balance.  It’s pretty straightforward. It’s how advertisers get Michael Jordan fans to buy Hanes t-shirts. And it can also be how people in an organization can go about getting people to make change. If employees see the people they like and respect within their organization embracing a new initiative, they will be more inclined to embrace it as well.

There’s also the idea that the herd mentality might actually be beneficial to us. If we’re attempting to decide on a restaurant, and we see one is packed while the other has only a few patrons, we assume that the first restaurant is better Why? We trust that the individuals inside the first have information that we might not be privy to. Groupthink can actually be a useful resource, especially with the multitude of decisions we’re expected to make on a daily basis. If employees notice that many people in their organization are embracing this I&D initiative, they might assume that this group of individuals knows something about the utility of the initiative that the employees personally do not. They may join simply because everyone else is joining. And for our purposes, that may not be a bad thing.

Rose jumped because she assumed Jack knew more about survival techniques in cold temperatures than she (he was kind of scrappy, in stark contrast to her high society upbringing). She also jumped because, well, she liked the guy, and liking increases perceptions of trust. As easy as it is to shy away from change, people might realize how beneficial moving forward can be after being nudged by their peers. Jumping may have seen a preposterous means of survival for the young lovers, but it worked.

At least for one of them. I personally contend there should have been some sort of time-share going on between the two of them with the clock piece that Rose was lying on.

To readers: Do you think peer pressure can be used for good? How?