RSS feedASK YOURSELF: “Why can one person be reasonable but masses cannot?”
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While trying to find out more about the topic I came across some interesting points:
- Read about Groupthink and its related dysfunctional group behavior, the Abilene Paradox, which describe the phenomenon wherein groups agree to pursue goals with which the individual members do not agree or even believe to be irrational and unwise.
- The psychological term Pluralistic Ignorance refers to the incorrect belief that one’s private attitudes, judgement or behaviour are differnet from those of the other group members. It may lead to inaction in crucial situations. Because of its inherent nature, pluralistic ignorance is self-perpatuating.
- How do ordinary people come to commit genocide against their own neighbors and friends? what are the motives and conditions for participation in mass violence? The social dimensions of the genoice in Rwanda have been the subject of many studies.
- The new book Moral Minds by Harvard Psychologist Marc Hauser argues that humans have evolved a universal moral instinct, unconsciously propelling us to deliver judgments of right and wrong independent of gender, education, and religion. This is a revolutionary concept, since it’s commonly understood that moral rules are instilled in church, school and home, but Hauser believes that they have a deeper source—an unconscious, built-in “moral grammar” that drives our judgments of right and wrong.
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24 August 2006 | 06.41pm (CEST) | posted by
Hili | |
TAGS Democracy & Freedom | Ethical Values & Responsibility | Philosophy
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August 25th, 2006 at 2:58 am
I’m very interested in this idea by Marc Hauser of a universal moral instinct. It is intriguing to see what persuasive elements he has to support this lofty proclamation. Perhaps there is nothing beyong good or evil….
August 27th, 2006 at 12:11 am
It is amazing what can happen when one person starts talking, and then another,
then another – I am repeatedly reminded of the words of the
son of a son, great writers both –
‘And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a
study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I’m
singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a
situation like that there’s only one thing you can do and that’s walk into
the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say “Shrink, You can get
anything you want, at Alice’s restaurant.”. And walk out. You know, if
one person, just one person does it they may think he’s really sick and
they won’t take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
they may think they’re both faggots and they won’t take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and walking out. They may think it’s an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said
fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice’s Restaurant and
walking out. And friends they may thinks it’s a movement.’ - Arlo Guthrie
[©1966,1967 (Renewed) by Appleseed Music Inc. All Rights Reserved.]
– And then a few words of my own
Each day, as we walk the byways and
flash along the Highway of Light:
There are those who are left
standing, as the march to flight
goes by some to stop and wonder
at the enormous potential at what
has been created:
But others who are left, standing
in a rut at the side of the road,
a rut too soon to become an abyss.
So Then? What to do?
Have said before, too many times to count,
yet shall say again, as often as need be,
until there is clarity in the air:
The time has come to put a fence at the top of the cliff
instead of a net at the bottom:
Thus giving a chance to build a bridge over the abyss.
September 4th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
To really listen. To Know and develop myself and my values. To be aware of my conditioning while it’s operating. To be self responsible. To seek and to know myself and accept myself. To find, acknowledge and deal with my fears. To get acquainted with reality and self-deception. To be gentle and just. Compassion. To be a light to myself.
These are among the things that I see could help me partipate fully in my world. Since a group or society is made up of individuals like me, I ask if the actions of the group would somehow be able to demonstrate a more full and humane life than the individual? Historically, it does not seem the case. But, perhaps something has been left out.
I am, however, inspired and motivated by the true behaviours, heroic or not, of other human beings. This too has been common to history of mankind has it not?
I hope we can explore this area more deeply as I do not give up on the human race or myself.
“Be the change I want to see.” is not easy!
September 7th, 2006 at 12:06 am
Current research in group dynamics and collective intelligence is fleshing out how some social structures or factors engage collective intelligence while others engage collective stupidity (or “group think”). It is my belief that, in the same way that practicing self-reflection and meta-cognition can lead one to a greater awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of one’s mind, that an ongoing reflection and meta-dialog about a group’s process can lead a group to higher collective intelligence and awareness.
On one’s path to self-knowledge teachers and facilitators can accelerate and deepen the process by offering general principles about how the mind (or how thought, or emotional intelligence, or knowledge building, or truth-finding, or spiritual awakening) works. Similarly, familiarity with the emerging wisdom about how group mind works can accelerate and deepen a group’s collective intelligence.
For those who use internet technology, I believe that the technological tools we create to communicate and collaborate can be designed in such a way as to support the type of individual and collective awareness that leads to higher collective intelligence. For more on this theme see www.perspegrity.org.