Dr. Todd Rose

Look, I mean, we all know that human beings have a conformity bias, which is we're hardwired to want to be with our groups, not against them.

That's not new.

And we also know that that can lead to kind of groupthink, right, where we just go along with the group just because we want to belong.

What I'm writing about is a darker side to that conformity, which is what we call collective illusions, and it's this.

They're social lies, right?

They happen in situations where most people in a group go along with a view they don't agree with just because they incorrectly think that most other people in the group agree with it.

And so as a result, the entire group can end up doing something that almost nobody really wants.

Okay, it's one thing to go along, but it seems wild that we would just be wrong about the group to begin with, right?

So it's how our brains are wired.

But here's the trick.

for conformity to work, you have to know what the group actually thinks.

Otherwise, what are you conforming to?

And this is the rub.

So the way your brain figures out what group consensus is, is a pretty flimsy shortcut.

Your brain assumes the loudest voices repeated the most are the majority.

And so you can kind of already see the problem with that, right?

Like,

If you are wrong about the group to begin with because you've got a vocal fringe and a bunch of people are self-silencing, then you're going to think they're the majority, and if you want to conform, you'll conform to that fringe, and it becomes reality.

Right.

Here's the thing.