What is "Group Think" and "Conformity"?

[eTorro]

Hello.

As I'm watching "How Socialization Makes You Stupid," I realized that I'm going through the same thing as @Leo Gura — I cannot be myself among my peers; I'm fundamentally incompatible with most people in terms of socialization.

I'm self-conscious but not in a neurotic way.

I would like to crack "the mystery" of groupthink; what are the values that normies share, which allows them to socialize endlessly? How are they able to talk to themselves freely? What do they have in common? What is "that which" enables them to click as they talk? That is what I need to understand at a fundamental level.

Thoughts?

[thisintegrated]

23 minutes ago, eTorro said:

I would like to crack "the mystery" of groupthink; what are the values that normies share, which allows them to socialize endlessly? How are they able to talk to themselves freely? What do they have in common? What is "that which" enables them to click as they talk? That is what I need to understand at a fundamental level.

They're genuinely interested in other people and always have questions to ask each other.  That's pretty much it.

 

27 minutes ago, eTorro said:

I'm fundamentally incompatible with most people in terms of socialization.

Just talk to other eToro traders about stocks

[Ethan1]

The hidden curriculum is there for a reason. If humans had to break down every social context and norm then it would be overwhelming for finding a solid common sense of meaning. Which goes into schemas too. 

Humans are meaning making machines that are constantly looking to create ideas, stories, and beliefs to make sense of reality. Humans receive vasts amounts of information, it's easier to listen to peers. People only know what they know from direct experience or from word of mouth. It's easy to conform when someone else tells you something vs having to experiment & sort things out on your own. Intellectual dependency. 

A formal curriculum creates a solid path for people to think within. Hidden curriculum isn't taught explicitly because it's too abstract and context dependent. Your brain understands context from direct experience and observations. It's way too much information to break down every situation and explain the differences. Most people don't consciously even understand why they do what they do. It's like comparing all the shades of every single color there is. Most people just want obedience and rule followers. 

The hidden curriculum is what teaches superficial rule following and institutionalized conformity. Which creates a framework of un-critical thinking. Which schools do teach indirect rules however most aren't broken down explicitly. Soo since no one explains every case by case situation to each uniquely different child then people just do generalized thinking. Therefore conformity or neurotypical thinking? 

 

Hope that some what answers your questions.  

Edited September 14, 2022 by Ethan1

[Kksd74628]

@eTorro

There are levels to which degree you can be yourself in a group of people. The most important thing is to understand that the less you try to hide things about yourself the more you can be yourself there. You have to be first okay with yourself and not judge yourself of how you are and only after practicing that you can implement your skills in a public space with people around you. The biggest fear is that people will say something bad about you that you unconsciously believe into and that makes you hate yourself and you don't want that to happen. So basically acceptance of yourself is the key thing here.

-joNi-

[sholomar]

They either talk about gossip because people like to compare each other which allows them to give each other some idea of where they stand in the social hierarchy or they'll simply talk about things that are fun from hobbies to stories to movies and sports.

A big one is people love to tell stories about their past especially their youthful antics. Since I don't really have any youthful antics I admit I do struggle with small talk because though I'm a good listener I don't really have a lot of stories to tell and stories spur the emotions and spur the imagination stories provide a sense of adventure and novelty.

Men also joke with each other at least the type of men that women are attracted too. They poke fun at their flaws and personality quarks and don't take things too seriously or get butt hurt over a comment or a joke. People who are good Jokers and can make others laugh are going to be popular all around.

I get more stimulation from deep esoteric conversations and science discussions but any form of socialization is really simply an acquired taste that comes from repetition. I don't know if I'll ever fully become a flaming extrovert who wants to while away my day talking that's very unlikely.

Edited September 14, 2022 by sholomar

[SOUL]

After reading this top post I took a moment to contemplate the nature of group think and sought to break from the preconceived notions I may have about it.

I had an insight that we may have an underlying acknowledgment of our oneness and since we are social animals that this oneness could be expressed in a collectivizing around ideas, concepts and beliefs.

So in a way the sense of 'social self' is created from our intuitive knowing of oneness and is formed through the social nature of humans playing out in groups or in a previous incarnation of human socialization, in tribes.

Although, as we are well aware the stronger the crystallization of self, even a social self, the more it forms an identity that will block the light-enment and cast a shadow. The shadow of social self can manifest all sorts of limited perspectives and unhealthy behavior.

Ideally it would be preferable to cultivate the connected sense of oneness without it materializing as a social self that casts a shadow on the consciousness of those involved so creates a separation from others that may not aligned with the group of thinkers.

Just a thought, not sure how helpful it is.