Peer Pressure: Social Acceptance and NG

A humans we have a very pronounced behavior pattern that seems to run through all of us --

fitting in.  Especially during our teens, we seem to go to extravagant lengths to fit in.

Who doesnt look back at their teen years and wonder:

"WTF was I thinking!?"

Why do people yearn to fit in?

Why is it important for us, to be important to the people around us?

I tried applying the Big 2, to this question.

Survival.

Alone, a human being is relatively weak vs his environment. As a group we tend to dominate the environment. We are far more sustainable as a group, so those of us who gravitate towards group behaviors have survived & proliferated in the gene pool. 

Our group is our protector. We have a considerable neurological response to the proximity of our group. We feel alone & vulnerable, negative neurological states, when we are away from our group. We feel secure & safe, a positive neurological response, when we are with our group.

Feeling connected to our group feels has the neurological impact of a matter of survival, when in fact, it is.

Here are some example I've seen. 

As a child, our family is our group. We love our family. Love is recognized as one of our strongest neurological responses -- possibly "the"strongest.  Our family protects us. Our parents protect us (the survival of their genes in the gene pool) at their own peril (though actually it is for their survival).

At a point though, there is a marked gravitation away from the family group. This is the period when the offspring rebels against the parents -- intimate communication changes to grunts and avoidance, the emotional bond seems to develop a massive gap.

The offspring would rather hang out with his/her friends than his/her protecting family group.

This didn't make sense at first. 

Til I recognized that this gravitation away from the family group happened in direct correlation with the onset of sexual maturation.

This is when the 'protecting group' shifts, to whatever degree, to the friends.

This is also, typically, the group the maturing person will begin experimenting with mating behaviors.

Genetically we know that mating behaviors within a family unit produce mentally handicapped offspring, and in effect, a less survivable double helix.

The behavior of gravitating away from the family unit during puberty & the social taboo of 'incest, are, I suspect, connected. 

This aversion to our family group as puberty sets in, is designed to decrease the probability of mating within the family group. Kinda gross, kinda makes sense.