According to Todd Rose, formerly a professor at Harvard University and the founder of a think tank called Populace; explains how the desire to fit into a group can lead people astray.
Rose explains in detail what she means by this concept in her book “Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We”. So, let us explain the collective illusion in detail for you.
Collective illusions often arise because of the lies that the majority defend.
People in a group may not indicate to the group that they disagree with what the majority thinks and wants, even if it is wrong. This leads to illusions. Because that means they settle for something they don’t actually approve of. They can even be forced to do an action they don’t want by others. Studies show that two-thirds of US citizens prefer to silence themselves rather than speak in such situations.
Workplaces are among the environments where this illusion is seen the most.
Because work is a field where people earn, many people may not want to give their opinion, thinking that they will lose their professional position in any critical situation. For example, Todd Rose says in his study that most people are dissatisfied with their jobs and seek a different life purpose. However, it can be seen that this same majority thinks that not everyone thinks that way. Here Rose thinks this can be given as an example of the illusion of the majority. Here, the author criticizes that people can easily make baseless generalizations based on stereotypes.
Rose explains this criticism as follows: Individuals who work and have children think that the time they devote to their children is insufficient due to their work life. Therefore, they think that a general system improvement should be made in this regard. In fact, research has shown that people think so. However, according to Rose, no one can express this wish out loud among others. Because they think that the others don’t want it, and they think that if they say it and come forward, they will be booed. Thus, as a result, while most people might be able to improve a bad order, they give up many opportunities and opportunities by thinking that “everybody thinks like that” and keeping silent. But they don’t know that if they just spoke, they could see that many other people were thinking the same as them.
This stems from the desire to belong to a group.
Adapting to a group is important to people, according to Rose. For this reason, individuals may think that it is reasonable to be included in the group, even if the most talked about thing in that group is nonsense. However, Rose gives an interesting example: For example, the content on Twitter makes up 10% of the users, and 80% of them circulate this content. This means that only 10% of people have an opinion. But people think that the other 80% have an opinion as well, but this is just an illusion. In other words, as you can see, it is often the opinions of the minority that are important and influence others to think the same.
In other words, most of the time, ideas may not be thoughts produced by a group. Rose sees it as anti-democratic for people to hide their opinions in front of a community. Because the author thinks we should ask those people a question such as “How can democracy work if you don’t speak up, if he doesn’t, if the other keeps silent?”
One of the bad consequences of this business is that it deeply nurtures the culture of cancellation.
The advocates of the cancellation culture have a structure that believes that people who disagree with them should be excommunicated. So they think your life should be ruined just because you don’t agree with them. In a culture of cancellation, a person can be punished socially, economically, and sometimes physically. People who say “Wow, are you the one who doesn’t think like me!” and show a negative attitude towards the person in front of them support this culture. This is why some people pretend to agree with others because they are under pressure and threat. So, in a way, they are compelled to lie just to be left alone.
In fact, the collective illusion causes polarizations in social life.
This situation causes people to go into the “I don’t respect anyone except people who think like me and have values that I believe in”. Thus, people who feel insecure about those who are not like themselves begin to separate from others. In fact, individuals who fall under this illusion need to stop being obsessed with stereotypes and adopt being tolerant. Likewise, it is important that other people who silence themselves in order not to stand out in the face of these illusions and not to be excluded should also express their thoughts clearly. Otherwise, free thought and free communication may begin to drift away from humanity gradually.
Another issue affecting this issue is social inequality. For example, people with a high socioeconomic level can express their opinions without caring about anyone. In other words, they do not feel the pressure of what the majority says. However, ordinary people are more reluctant to speak in the face of pressure from others than this group. Todd Rose, on the other hand, tells people that they should be involved in social spaces where they will be exposed to different views. Because if a person does not know why he believes something to be true, it means a great corruption both for that person and for the culture and values of a society.
- Sources: Mckinsey, Todd Rose
- Image Sources: Big Think, NBC News, Time
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