Alberto E. Rodriguez / WireImage (Via TIME Healthland)
“If your friends decided to jump off a bridge, would you?”
Some parents are Zen masters. You are an adolescent who likes to live on the edge, but mom and dad just nabbed you for breaking the rules. When you justify why you made the decision, the guardians lay on that bridge analogy, attempting to spark some sense into your wandering brain.
(See TIME’s special report on kids and mental health.)
New research shows that there’s a medical side to why your brain wandered in the first place. The Dana Foundation has authored a study which finds that when people follow peers over premonitions, pleasure regions of the brain are activated.
Still convinced that you are thinking on your own two feet? Head over to Healthland for more on the power of peer pressure.