We recently went over in class about how teenagers who are more rebellious than others are more likely to take up tobacco smoking. We all know a least one person who does the most insane things you can possibly imagine. But why are they like that and you aren’t? Scientist have recently discovered that rebellion might be hard-wired into our brains.
Researchers have found that “the extent to which people changed their minds to fit in with the crowd was directly linked to the size of a specific area of their brains”(Daily Mail.com). Specifically, “the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, located behind the eyes, could be responsible for how much we change our minds to fit in with a crowd” (Daily Mail.com). Neuroscientist at the University College London used brain scans to show that rebellion might not be because of one’s upbringing but an inherited quality. They scanned 28 different people and measured the grey matter in different regions in the brain.
Participants were asked to list 20 songs that they would like to buy and then rate each song on a scale from 1- 10. Then, researchers told them what well-proclaimed critics thought of the songs they chose and asked them to rate the songs again. Those who conformed to what the critics said were found to have more grey matter in their lateral orbitofrontal cortex. Those who stuck to their opinion had less grey matter in that cortex.
The lateral orbitofrontal cortex grows rapidly as a child as we begin to grasp social cues, but no one knows when it stops growing. Damage to this area of the brain is linked to inappropriate behavior in social situations or even extreme personality disorders. Professor Chris Frith of UCL said, “Only this region was affected which was surprising. Our results show that social conformation is, at least in part, hard-wired in the structure of the brain” (Daily Mail.com). Adapting to others is important to us because it makes people like us more.
In conclusion, Those teenagers who smoke tobacco knowing that it is a dangerous habit could be doing it because their lateral orbitofrontal cortex is damaged. The wiring of that area of the brain could have been damaged at any time during their time of development. 
(Creed from The Office is a perfect example of someone whose lateral orbitofrontal cortex is damaged)
This topic really made me think about the whole nature vs. nurture unit in my high school psychology class. The debate between nature vs. nurture still goes on today and it would be interesting to see the study on gray matter in relation to this debate. On top of the “gray matter” maybe there are confounding variables such a strict parents or environments. I think your article was very interesting and it would be really cool to see if this could break the whole nature vs. nurture debate and conclude whether these behaviors really are “hard-wired into our brains.”
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
This is really interesting! And the picture at the end of Creed was very funny and accurate! Because of the lack of studies done on this topic, I wonder if the grey matter is really what these scientists believe it to be, or something completely different unknown to science yet. This is a really modern topic with little research but should be continued to be researched because of it’s relevance to today’s teens.
Fascinating topic, but I’m curious as to what causes this damage to occur. If people who don’t conform have a lack in grey matter is it possible that it could be a genetic predisposition and what exactly is the make up of this grey matter? It be sweet if more studies end up being conducted on this subject as the human mind is an incredible vehicle of information.