Human Herd Mentality Social Experiment

[Joe]

A short video here as part of a social experiment to see if people will conform to what others do, regardless of how insignificant the action is. We're already well aware of this very common human tendency to follow the group, but it serves to restate the point. Of course, this tendency is not in itself negative. It just depends on who is setting the example and what the example is.

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[Alejo]

Wow! Thanks for sharing Joe.

I found myself laughing while watching the video :P , perhaps a subtle recognition of having been in the situation before or having the exact same tendency.

What I found the most interesting, which in hindsight I would have done, is no one asked the only person in the room not standing up. The receptionist would be the only one in the room with the ability to confirm or deny the herd tendency. Yet no one went for it. :-.

 

[loreta]

Yes, I laugh me too but I can see how disturbing is this. And where is the cheese? rats have a compensation after, but humans, what kind of compensation have we? Security? Strange.
It reminded me when you go to church: all the up and downs that seem as strange and non-sense (for me), up, sit, kneeling, give your hand to your neighbor, up, sit, kneeling...

Very interesting. thanks.

 

[Laura]

Keep in mind that this is just a small example of how we get programmed. If you think about all the other things, it can make you nuts! What part of us is NOT programmed?

 

[Keit]

Keep in mind that this is just a small example of how we get programmed.

Like "being primed", for example.

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[Alejo]

Yes, I laugh me too but I can see how disturbing is this. And where is the cheese? rats have a compensation after, but humans, what kind of compensation have we? Security? Strange.
It reminded me when you go to church: all the up and downs that seem as strange and non-sense (for me), up, sit, kneeling, give your hand to your neighbor, up, sit, kneeling...

Very interesting. thanks.

Where is the cheese indeed. Perhaps at some instinctual level remaining within a social group, feeling accepted in a community and being connected to others means survival. Plus as the video said, there's also a hormone component that is released when interacting in a social context. So, like Joe said, it's not a bad thing in itself, it's just that it takes place so unconsciously that it's a tool against us.

It makes me think of all the cellphones in the world, and I'm just speculating here, we're encouraged to isolate ourselves from one another so that, perhaps, this yearning to be part of something greater than ourselves is stronger and more reactionary. Easier to manipulate.

 

[theos]

Wow. I'm amazed at how easy it was to get everyone to go along. Just goes to show that priming/conformity is hard wired in us but can be so easily hijacked and used for ill.

I guess being aware of this human tendency is the best way to get a handle on it. If we can just pause for a moment and consider why we are doing things before doing it maybe we wouldn't be so easily duped. I sure it's more complicated than that but even if we could cut the priming by 10% we'd probably be better off.

 

[Nević Nenad]

Interesting, but also as a example very much socially and culturally depending. In some other country and culture it wouldn't work, of course something other wood.

 

[PhoenixToEmber]

Great post, Joe. Thanks for sharing.

Keep in mind that this is just a small example of how we get programmed. If you think about all the other things, it can make you nuts! What part of us is NOT programmed?

That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw this.

 

[Nancy2feathers]

Great post, Joe. Thanks for sharing.

Keep in mind that this is just a small example of how we get programmed. If you think about all the other things, it can make you nuts! What part of us is NOT programmed?

That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw this.

Thanks for sharing, Joe. I was hoping at least ONE person would get it and not go along with being programmed.

 

[herondancer]

Great post, Joe. Thanks for sharing.

Keep in mind that this is just a small example of how we get programmed. If you think about all the other things, it can make you nuts! What part of us is NOT programmed?

That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw this.

Thanks for sharing, Joe. I was hoping at least ONE person would get it and not go along with being programmed.

Me too. The answer the girl gave when she was alone with the first person in the second group ("Everyone was, so I thought I should too") seemed so flimsy. His expression seemed to say 'you're kidding me', and yet soon he was standing up and down too.

 

[whitecoast]

Here's another interesting experiment/documentary, comparing the learning and imitation abilities of children to those of chimpanzees. It shows that apes actually are less likely to simply imitate others than children are, when observing someone who is a trusted authority (at getting food from a box).

http://<iframe width="420" height="...ks" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Andrian]

Thank yo Joe for sharing, while watching it was a little funny but also scary, seeing how easily we can be led to follow the crowd, as you said it's not a bad thing if you follow the right crowd, or the right leader, unfortunately throughout the history there weren't many good leaders for the people to follow and even those were assassinated by the psychopaths and then they led the people into the abyss.

 

[Ca.]

Idiot me bought Y2K lock stock en barrel, back in the days of ignorance. Yeah Barb wire, survival food, gas mask (LOL), ammo etc etc. Hell was living in East Oakland Ca. at the time.

Then (i pray and hope), the thinking light goes on (and come to realize if this situation were to go real life viral) i would not be able to stand the hordes of anyone that wanted something to survive. They'd burn the place down to meet there basic survival need's.

But in retro speck i think too remember more, that i had read the session page that Y2K was bunk. Total mind control doctrine.

It took a week to wipe the eggs off my face, and (the self humiliation), for falling for the Propaganda. Courtesy of Art Bell.

Session 13 November 1999

Q: Next question, and I think this one will be quick: can you make any comments on the likelihood of this Y2K situation getting out of hand and bringing on the "New World Order" or causing the institution of Martial Law, or causing people to need to store food, guns, ammunition and take all their money out of the bank? There is an AWFUL lot of hysteria out there about this...
A: Ask them what happened on November 7th.
Q: Oh, you mean the big Hoagland prediction that something was going to strike the earth... supposedly revealed to him by a "confidential informant" who somehow proved his "reliability," by having "inside information" and so forth. In other words, another spate of disinformation?

A: Yup!

Still at it making bank $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$'s
Art Bell Ballad of the greys and Why worry about Y2K
_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2NugfmcFE0

 

[Carl]

This ties in nicely as I have just started reading "breaking the habit of being yourself". One of the key concepts is that in a default state, our brains mirror our reality. We cannot think on a level higher than our environment. And since our thoughts and beliefs do create our reality in some way, then we get constantly stuck in the same environment/reality.

This would be all cool if the environment was good, as you say. However when the environment is negative, we have to develop a certain warrior mindset that can think past the environment. Personally in that experiment I would have simply asked "why are you all standing up?", and seen if the answer makes sense. But there are so many unconscious ways we are programmed, it's difficult to find that part of us that is anything BUT programmed.