Recently, Steinberg studied risk-taking behavior in teens and how this was influenced by their peers.32 He used a driving simulation game in which he studied teens deciding on whether or not to run a yellow light, and found that when teens were playing alone they made safer decisions, but in the presence of friends they made riskier decisions. When teens find themselves in emotionally arousing situations, with their immature prefrontal cortices, hot cognitive thinking comes into play, and these adolescents are more likely to take riskier actions and make impulsive decisions.
