Abstract The current experiment investigates the effects of different types of social pressure on academic performance of entering freshmen. Ninety undergraduate students (45 males and 45 females) were randomly assigned to three equal groups. Students of the first group experienced positive social pressure and their first semester GPA's were used as a dependent variable. Those in the second group experienced negative social pressure. Meanwhile, students in a third control group experienced no social pressure at all. Using a one way ANOVA of the independent variable, the experimenters found a significant difference in the GPA's of the studen