It is an interesting article but the author fails to recognize the crucial importance of work by Sherif and others on cognitive dissonance etc.
The two examples given in the article have no real negative connotations as sensational claims and groupthink do almost no harm...one could agree they are a simply a bit of "fun".
Wine tasting ...no big deal, nobody gets hurt and wine makers make more money and everyone has a good time disucssing it.
Stereo listening....even less people to be concerned about here, just the audio nuts to revel in their discussions and they have fun too!
Now what about "Global Warming"? Might some good old conformity stuff be going on here too? Do some of the alarmist statements remind anyone of Chicken Licken? There might be a good reason that Mum used to tell me that tale.
Sherifs study suggests that in such situations, you will align with the group. You can imagine that this tendency to conform is quite useful in many real-life contexts, but it does mean that wine sampling and stereo testing are unlikely to reflect anything other than your tendency toward conformity. That doesnt mean it cant be fun, of course.
The two examples given in the article have no real negative connotations as sensational claims and groupthink do almost no harm...one could agree they are a simply a bit of "fun".
Wine tasting ...no big deal, nobody gets hurt and wine makers make more money and everyone has a good time disucssing it.
Stereo listening....even less people to be concerned about here, just the audio nuts to revel in their discussions and they have fun too!
Now what about "Global Warming"? Might some good old conformity stuff be going on here too? Do some of the alarmist statements remind anyone of Chicken Licken? There might be a good reason that Mum used to tell me that tale.