The pain of independence..interesting study on conformity,Perception

[ⒶⓁⒾⒶⓈ]

This is just a part of an article i found interesting the rest is below

The pain of independence – Capital Ideas Online

For over half a century, studies have shown that the need for social acceptance not only changes our behavior but can even make us perceive the world differently — and incorrectly.

In the early 1950s, psychologist Solomon Asch conducted a series of experiments on the dangers of group influence. When presented with simple problems that 95 percent of individuals could answer correctly when free of group influence, 75 percent of Asch's test subjects would get the answer wrong when it meant concurring with the group.

In 2005, neuroscientist Gregory Berns conducted an updated version of Asch's experiments, complete with brain scans to determine if the wrong answers were a conscious acquiescence to social pressure or if, instead, test subjects believed that their group-influenced wrong answers were in fact correct. Not only did the subjects report that they thought their wrong answers were right; the brain scans seemed to confirm it: they showed greater activity in the problem-solving regions of the brain than in those areas associated with conscious decision-making. And the nonconformists who went against the group and gave correct answers showed heightened activity in the part of the brain associated with fear and anxiety.

This tendancy to conform becomes quite dangerous when you consider

Many of our most important civic institutions, from elections to jury trials to the very idea of majority rule, depend on dissenting voices. But when the group is literally capable of changing our perceptions, and when to stand alone is to activate primitive, powerful, and unconscious feelings of rejection, then the health of these institutions seems far more vulnerable than we think. (Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking)

And it spells doom for creativity as well..which now that i think about it may be why communal cultures tend to be less creative..and one of the reasons why creativity is on the decline in the US

“Psychologists usually offer three explanations for the failure of group brainstorming. The first is social loafing: in a group, some individuals tend it back and let others do the work. The second is production blocking: one person can talk or produce an idea at once, while the other members are forced to sit passively. And the third is evaluation, meaning the fear of looking stupid in front of one's peers.


Osborn's “rules” of brainstorming were meant to neutralize this anxiety, but studies show that the fear of public humiliation is a potent force. During the 1988-89 basketball seasons, for example, two NCAA basketball teams played eleven games without any spectators, owing to a measles outbreak that led their schools to quarantine all students. Both teams played much better (higher free-throw percentages, for example) without any fans, even adoring home-team fans, to unnerve them.


The behavioral economist Dan Ariely noticed a similar phenomenon when he conducted a study asking thirty-nine participants to solve anagram puzzles, either alone at their desks or with others watching. Ariely predicted that the participants would do better i 'public because they'd be more motivated. But they performed worse in audience may be rousing, but it's also stressful.


The problem with evaluation apprehension is that there's not much we can do about it. You'd think you could overcome it with will or training or a set of group process rules like Alex Osborn's. But recent research in neuroscience suggests that the fear of judgment runs much deeper and has more far-reaching implications than we ever imagined.


Between 1951 and 1956, just as Osborn was promoting the power of group brainstorming, a psychologist named Solomon Asch conducted a series of now-famous experiments on the dangers of group influence. Asch gathered student volunteers into groups and had them take a vision test. He showed them a picture of three lines of varying lengths and asked questions about how the lines compared with one another: which was longer, which one matched the length of a fourth line, and so on. His questions were so simple that 95 percent of students answered every question correctly.


But when Asch planted actors in the groups, and the actors confidently volunteered the same incorrect answer, the number of students who gave all correct answers plunged to 25 percent. That is, a staggering 75 percent of the participants went along with the group's wrong answer to at least one question.

I found it while researching homeschooling ...im beginning to think it may be the way to go
Im gonna have to read that book first tho

Homeschooling, Socialization, and the New Groupthink | B.K. Marcus
if your goal for your children is a lifetime of government work, then by all means send them to public school: the bigger, the better. But if, by “socialization,” you mean ensuring that a child becomes sociable, that he or she develops the intelligence and social reflexes that promote peaceful and pleasurable interactions with larger groups of friends and strangers, then the irony of the what-about-socialization question is that it gets the situation precisely backwards. It is schooled kids, segregated by age and habituated to the static and artificial restrictions of the schooling environment, who demonstrate more behavioral problems while in school and greater difficulty adjusting to the post-school world.

The research indicates that homeschooling parents expect their children to respect and get along with people of diverse backgrounds, provide their children with a variety of social opportunities outside the family, and believe their children's social skills are at least as good as those of other children. What homeschooled children think about their own social skills is less clear. Compared to children attending conventional schools, however, research suggest that they have higher quality friendships and better relationships with their parents and other adults. They are happy, optimistic, and satisfied with their lives. Their moral reasoning is at least as advanced as that of other children, and they may be more likely to act unselfishly. As adolescents, they have a strong sense of social responsibility and exhibit less emotional turmoil and problem behaviors than their peers. Those who go on to college are socially involved and open to new experiences. Adults who were homeschooled as children are civically engaged and functioning competently in every way measured so far. An alarmist view of homeschooling, therefore, is not supported by empirical research. It is suggested that future studies focus not on outcomes of socialization but on the process itself.

Any thoughts or comments?

 

[BaggerofTea]

Groupthink is a survival mechanism, thats why you notice it being an almost involuntary reflex

 

[ⒶⓁⒾⒶⓈ]

Groupthink is a survival mechanism, thats why you notice it being an almost involuntary reflex

I agree..Herd mentality is probably an asset for survival situations but once the danger is gone and youre no longer just surviving its antithetical to progress...

 

[BaggerofTea]

I agree..Herd mentality is probably an asset for survival situations but once the danger is gone and youre no longer just surviving its antithetical to progress...

Very true, but your brain interprets "progress" as an unknown, the brain processes "unknown" as dangerous.

Since we have the capability to progress, I believe we are obligated to venture into the unknown.

 

[Jimi Swagger]

Worth the watch and related to the topic. Pinky promise I am not trolling or derailing

 

[ⒶⓁⒾⒶⓈ]

Worth the watch and related to the topic. Pinky promise I am not trolling or derailing

I should buy a pigeon


excellent video though

 

[BaggerofTea]

Worth the watch and related to the topic. Pinky promise I am not trolling or derailing

 

[Maschine_Man]

This is just a part of an article i found interesting the rest is below



This tendancy to conform becomes quite dangerous when you consider


And it spells doom for creativity as well..which now that i think about it may be why communal cultures tend to be less creative..and one of the reasons why creativity is on the decline in the US


I found it while researching homeschooling ...im beginning to think it may be the way to go
Im gonna have to read that book first tho



Any thoughts or comments?

I remember that Asch experiment from my Intro PSYCH course. It was one of the things that steered me in to actually going for a degree in Psychology.

Janis (another Psychologist) did a lot of research(and actually coined the term Groupthink) and it was also pretty interesting.

this is old...but see how it still applies today.
What is Groupthink

Knowledge is power and we as citizens and as a nation are becoming less powerful. We face an administration that believes in operating under high levels of secrecy. The American press, especially the television news media, has let down the American people and the American people have allowed this to happen. US television news is geared more toward providing entertainment than information. When one compares the news Americans received about the “war on terrorism” and “war in Iraq” with the news citizens of other countries received, it is easy to see why many Americans were eager to launch an attack on Saddam Hussein while most of the world thought this was not a good idea. The major news networks eagerly voiced almost exclusively the Bush administration’s (questionable) justifications for the attack on Iraq and ignored the voices of millions who knew that other ways of addressing the issues were still possible. Furthermore, the rapid pace of CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News opinion programs makes it difficult for viewers to process information in any depth. Americans need a press that serves as a devil’s advocate to alleviate the ongoing groupthink concerning the war on terrorism and the invasion of Iraq.


Review the following consequences of groupthink and consider how many of them apply to the Bush administration’s handling of the ‘war on terrorism’ and the issues related to Iraq and Saddam Hussein:


a) incomplete survey of alternatives

b) incomplete survey of objectives

c) failure to examine risks of preferred choice

d) failure to reappraise initially rejected alternatives

e) poor information search

f) selective bias in processing information at hand

g) failure to work out contingency plans

h) low probability of successful outcome

 

[Maschine_Man]

As for homeschooling?
I'm on the fence. However the more and more we see how public schools are getting worse and worse I'm starting to lean more TOWARDS homeschooling. However, the social aspect of being a child surrounded by other children is extremely important to their development.

If you want to homeschool then you must be sure that your children are more involved with social activities. Such as boys and girls clubs, sports, arts,etc.

a lot of these programs are outside of schools which would still allow the children to fit in(as kids from all types of schools attend these programs, so making new friends wouldn't be as hard)
meaning, there wouldn't necessarily be these built in "groups" that children would be an outsider from.
but they would still get the positive aspects of social development with less of the negative side that also comes from that school environment(kids are now surrounded with like minded kids through their activities rather than being forced to be together at school)

 

[BaggerofTea]

I remember that Asch experiment from my Intro PSYCH course. It was one of the things that steered me in to actually going for a degree in Psychology.

Janis (another Psychologist) did a lot of research(and actually coined the term Groupthink) and it was also pretty interesting.

this is old...but see how it still applies today.
What is Groupthink

Knowledge is power and we as citizens and as a nation are becoming less powerful. We face an administration that believes in operating under high levels of secrecy. The American press, especially the television news media, has let down the American people and the American people have allowed this to happen. US television news is geared more toward providing entertainment than information. When one compares the news Americans received about the “war on terrorism” and “war in Iraq” with the news citizens of other countries received, it is easy to see why many Americans were eager to launch an attack on Saddam Hussein while most of the world thought this was not a good idea. The major news networks eagerly voiced almost exclusively the Bush administration’s (questionable) justifications for the attack on Iraq and ignored the voices of millions who knew that other ways of addressing the issues were still possible. Furthermore, the rapid pace of CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News opinion programs makes it difficult for viewers to process information in any depth. Americans need a press that serves as a devil’s advocate to alleviate the ongoing groupthink concerning the war on terrorism and the invasion of Iraq.


Review the following consequences of groupthink and consider how many of them apply to the Bush administration’s handling of the ‘war on terrorism’ and the issues related to Iraq and Saddam Hussein:


a) incomplete survey of alternatives

b) incomplete survey of objectives

c) failure to examine risks of preferred choice

d) failure to reappraise initially rejected alternatives

e) poor information search

f) selective bias in processing information at hand

g) failure to work out contingency plans

h) low probability of successful outcome