ABC news goodie-Why Do People Follow the Crowd?

by DannyHaszard 1 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  DannyHaszard

  http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Health/story?id=1495038

  Primetime goodie

  originalreport

  Why Do People Follow the Crowd?

  Danny received via email

  Hi. My husband is a non-practicing JW who talks of returning. When we got married, I had almost no idea about what this group is actually all about. (I refuse to use their terms.) Anyway, your site has been very informative. Thank you for putting information out there for people like me. I have been all over JWD and seen some of your posts. I registered, but have never been able to log on and post. I would like to get this information to jgnat. She can probably run with it. I printed it for my husband, who will hear nothing derogatory about the Witchtower. I have to be very careful how I go about things with him, but this is good ammo for starters. I also printed the story that aired the same night about the woman whose husband was trying to kill her. This story followed, and it kind of helps explain why someone would stay in such a peculiar relationship. Yes, I have to be very subtle. Anyway, I'd appreciate it if you could post this link on JWD for me. Thanks, RebelWife http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Health/story?id=1495038 Very interesting story about why people follow along with crap, even when they KNOW better. An excerpt: Both of these tests are examples of our human need to conform. In fact, Berns' experiment is a variation of one done many years ago by another scientist trying to decipher an extremely vicious instance of conformity — why so many Germans followed Adolf Hitler down the path to death and destruction. Berns says there are two ways to explain conformist behavior. "One is that they know what their eyes are telling them, and yet they choose to ignore it, and go along with the group to belong to the group," he said. The second explanation is that hearing other opinions — even if they are wrong — can actually change what we see, distorting our own perceptions. Berns wanted to see what was happening in the brain during his experiment. Using an fMRI, Berns found that, during the moment of decision, his subjects' brains lit up not in the area where thinking takes place, but in the back of the brain, where vision is interpreted. Essentially, their brains were scrambling messages — people actually believed what others told them they were seeing, not what they saw with their own eyes. "What that suggests is that, what people tell you — if enough people are telling you — can actually get mixed in with what your own eyes are telling you,"
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  skyman

  quot from the above link

  Both of these tests are examples of our human need to conform. In fact, Berns' experiment is a variation of one done many years ago by another scientist trying to decipher an extremely vicious instance of conformity — why so many Germans followed Adolf Hitler down the path to death and destruction. Berns says there are two ways to explain conformist behavior.

  "One is that they know what their eyes are telling them, and yet they choose to ignore it, and go along with the group to belong to the group," he said.

  And for those who went against the group, there was another intriguing result: Their brains lit up in a place called the amygdala, which Berns calls "the fear center of the brain."

  "And what we are seeing here, we think, is the fear of standing alone," Berns said.

  So why do people follow the pack no matter how ridiculous it seems? Perhaps it's not so much about good and evil, right and wrong, smart or stupid. It might be, as Berns' experiment suggests, that our brains get confused between what it sees and what others tell us.

  Just knowing that might help us guard against it.