
Conformity


Sometimes it shows up as a love of conformity. A literal “selflessness.” The inclination to fit in at the expense of your individuality. A susceptibility to groupthink over individual reasoning. A fear of standing out or being disliked and a disdain for those who diverge from group conformity. A very ant-y way to be.
Tim Urban • A Game of Giants — Wait but Why
Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions
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The scary thing about Asch’s conformity experiments is that you can get many people to say black is white, if you put them in a room full of other people saying the same thing. The hopeful thing about Asch’s conformity experiments is that a single dissenter tremendously drove down the rate of conformity, even if the dissenter was only giving a
... See moreEliezer Yudkowsky • Rationality
The social default makes us fear being snubbed, ridiculed, and treated like an idiot. In most people’s minds, this fear of losing social capital outweighs any potential upsides of deviating from the social norm and disposes them to accept it.[3] Fear holds us back from taking risks and reaching our potential.