Robert Pattinson is best known for his role as smoldering and kind-hearted vampire in the “Twilight” movie series. He is smoldering in a different way in his new movie “Remember Me,” a PG-13 romance in which his character smokes. This has stoked renewed criticism over the role movies play in contributing to the popularity of smoking among teens and young people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report last week showing that scenes of smoking in movies had declined over the past five years. However, a recent New York Times article indicated that more than half of all PG-13 rated movies still showed smoking. And it’s the PG-13 rated movies that are of particular concern because they are the ones that teens view the most. The more on-screen smoking they see, they more likely they are to pick up the habit themselves.

The herd instinct is strong in all of us. We see others do it and we want to follow. We don’t want to be left behind—or left out—and these roots go deep to the heart of survival because herds show us how we fit in with others. Even the toughest “loner” is influenced by people—either face-to-face or through the media—who share similar interests and activities to their own. The challenges for you and me are ones of balance: the wisdom of collective thinking vs allowing the crowd to exert too much influence on our thinking.