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I have come to learn from my own personal experience; most every high school has “cliques.” As defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, cliques are “a narrow exclusive circle or group of persons; especially :  one held together by common interests, views, or purposes.” In my high school growing up there were many different cliques. This was common with many other high schools around me also. The question I had when I finally realized this was, why? Why are cliques so common and what makes them come about? Is it because kids are just mean and exclusive or is there a scientific reason for cliques being formed?

Studies have shown that there are actually psychological reasons for people to form or join cliques. Mark Prigg states, “For years, sociologists have identified seemingly universal human instincts that spur this kind of sorting. These include the desires for familiarity and certainty, for control and dominance, and for security and support.” Although there are cases where people do from cliques to be exclusive and just plain mean, researchers have found that this is not the real reason behind them.  People are just naturally inclined to become friends with people that are similar to them and share their interests. This is also supported in the article “Why Do Cliques Form?” when P.C. Broderick and P. Blewitt state, “Two major forces are at work: first, the need to establish an identity, and second, the need for acceptance (approval) and belonging.” Wouldn’t you want to make friends with people with similar interests so that you feel the most comfortable? Speaking for myself, I would. People form these cliques in order to feel like one in their group of friends.  This claim is supported in the article from the Atlantic, “our preference for familiar people and ideas is deep-rooted, as are our anxieties about people who are different and our ambition for status within our community.” Henri Tajfel, a British psychologist, has a theory on this called the “Social Identity Theory.” This theory is based on the idea that people categorize themselves into two separate groups groups, one being the “in-group” and one being the “out-group.” These groups today, would be classified as cliques.

Similar to many other things in Science there are also other factors that play into why cliques are formed. The environment and “hierarchy” or social structure of a school also have many effects on cliques being formed. Stanford researchers found that if students have a big school environment and a lot of different social/class options they are more inclined to be exclusive and pick out there friends whereas in a smaller environment they do not have as many options and are forced to mix with the other students.

Going through high school and having a first hand experience with cliques; I agree with the claims above. I definitely made friends the people that had similar interests as me. Yes, I did have friends that were not in my “normal” friend group but I did not necessarily go out of my way to hang out with them on the weekends as often as I would the people in my close friend group. I also agree that when people have a bigger class size and more opportunities to pick their classes they migrate to people they know or are similar to because they do have the option given to them. As opposed to a smaller school, the students would not have as many options and would settle for what they have and make friends in those limited groups.

In conclusion, being in clique is very common and most everyone is a part of their own clique; even if they do not realize it. It is our human nature for these social groupings to happen.