RE: Most people are sheep . . . great experiment!
September 3, 2016 at 12:06 am
(This post was last modified: September 3, 2016 at 12:13 am by Excited Penguin.)
^ Lmao.
This is tricky, guys. Don't be so sure you wouldn't do it. And I'll tell you why. The first time it happens, when you see so many people doing the same thing around you, you wouldn't start imagining psychological experiments or anything like that. You'd naturally assume there's a very good reason for it - here are ten perfectly normal strangers doing it, why would they unless the staff there asked them to? So you have to do it too. Granted, you'll get curious afterwards when they do it again, but then you'll have already been hooked, so to speak, so it will be far more likely that you'll continue to comform rather than stop. A couple of principles are at play here, besides just social comformity. If you are to grant me that you'll likely stand up at least once, then the consistency principle kicks in. You have a deep need to make your behaviour look consistent, otherwise you feel awkward. So you'll do it again and again if everyone else does it as well.
I'm not saying I know everyone would do it, or even if I'd do it. This might very well depend on the person and the circumstances. I just think there's more to it than meets the eye, don't be so quick to think you'd act any differently than the people in the video. You wouldn't be thinking about it as much, for one, and there would be all these mental processes making you want to do it instead.
This is tricky, guys. Don't be so sure you wouldn't do it. And I'll tell you why. The first time it happens, when you see so many people doing the same thing around you, you wouldn't start imagining psychological experiments or anything like that. You'd naturally assume there's a very good reason for it - here are ten perfectly normal strangers doing it, why would they unless the staff there asked them to? So you have to do it too. Granted, you'll get curious afterwards when they do it again, but then you'll have already been hooked, so to speak, so it will be far more likely that you'll continue to comform rather than stop. A couple of principles are at play here, besides just social comformity. If you are to grant me that you'll likely stand up at least once, then the consistency principle kicks in. You have a deep need to make your behaviour look consistent, otherwise you feel awkward. So you'll do it again and again if everyone else does it as well.
I'm not saying I know everyone would do it, or even if I'd do it. This might very well depend on the person and the circumstances. I just think there's more to it than meets the eye, don't be so quick to think you'd act any differently than the people in the video. You wouldn't be thinking about it as much, for one, and there would be all these mental processes making you want to do it instead.
