{"id":3612,"date":"2017-11-15T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T05:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ubfriends.net\/?p=3612"},"modified":"2017-11-14T23:06:30","modified_gmt":"2017-11-15T04:06:30","slug":"why-people-become-sheeple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ubfriends.org\/ubfriends2015\/why-people-become-sheeple\/","title":{"rendered":"Why People Become Sheeple"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Disclaimer: All credit goes to their rightful owners.<\/p>\n

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Why People Become Sheeple<\/h2>\n
Why We Unknowingly Compromise Ourselves Under Social Pressure<\/div>\n
Posted Nov 10, 2015<\/div>\n
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Anyone who has been a victim of the herd mentality– whether for being a black sheep or going along with the herd– will want to know\u00a0why people become sheeple1<\/sup><\/em>\u2014 how the peer pressure process works, whether on the playground, in the locker room, in the boardroom, or on the battlefield.<\/p>\n

The need to belong is a basic human need, but it goes awry when joining the crowd means betraying the call of our heart or who we are.\u00a0\u00a0 Have you ever wondered why people can be happy making others unhappy?\u00a0 A reputable company is caught for allowing corporate abuses. A soldier cheers at the destruction of the enemy. A group of popular kids bully a classmate for wearing a big backpack. The list goes on and on…<\/p>\n

Or, have you ever wondered how your old friends could change so dramatically after moving away or changing jobs? Once Betty was a Republican and now she’s a Democrat. Once Sue was kind and sweet and now she is cold and heartless.\u00a0 Once Joe wore reggae t-shirts and had dreadlocks, and now he wears heavy metal t-shirts and has a mohawk.\u00a0 Once Harry was\u00a0confident<\/a>\u00a0in himself and now he is insecure. These changes are likely the result of social influence, and fortunately,\u00a0<\/em>through\u00a0the\u00a0identity<\/a>\u00a0shift effect<\/em>2<\/sup>, we now have a clue as to how the peer pressure process works:<\/p>\n

THE IDENTITY SHIFT EFFECT (Step-by-Step)<\/p>\n

Step 1: Our Personal Harmony is Disrupted by External Conflict<\/strong><\/p>\n

If we find ourselves immersed in a new social setting with values different from our own, and we are being called to\u00a0act<\/a>\u00a0in alignment with this new set of values, contrary to callings of our heart, we will experience conflict. We feel social pressure to conform to the group if their standards are different from our own, because we experience the threat of social rejection: On some level, we know that if we fail to conform, they will reject us, so we conform to avoid the anticipated pain of rejection; we conform to avoid\u00a0humiliation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Examples: Betty moved to a new town filled with Democrats who poo-pooed Republicans. Sue loved helping people, but moved into a cut-throat corporate\u00a0environment<\/a>\u00a0where a cold and heartless demeanor was valued and promoted.\u00a0 Joe changed to a new school where the students derided him for listening to reggae and having dreadlocks, but where listening to heavy metal and having a mohawk made one popular. Harry believed in himself because his family did, but once he moved away to boarding school, the kids made fun of him for only having one arm. He started to doubt his own value. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Step 2: We Exchange External Conflict for Internal Conflict<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, once we conform, we fit in with the group, but our actions now betray our values. We conformed to the group to eliminate this external conflict, but as soon as we eliminated it, a new conflict arose, self-rejection (also known as internal conflict; so now we have exchanged external conflict for internal conflict, social rejection for self-rejection, or emotionally speaking, we have exchanged humiliation for guilt (or “feeling stupid”)–one conflict for the other).<\/p>\n

Examples: Betty told people she was a Democrat, so she could fit in.\u00a0 Although she wanted to be nice, Sue stopped acting kind and sweet, so she could be promoted at work. Joe got a mohawk and started wearing heavy metal t-shirts so he could date a popular girl he liked and be invited to parties. Harry tried to fit in, without success, and came to doubt himself and his own loveability3<\/sup>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Step 3: We Undergo an Identity Shift to End Internal Conflict<\/strong><\/p>\n

To rid ourselves of the internal conflict or self-rejection we feel, we adopt the standards or values of the group as our own; we undergo\u00a0an identity shift<\/em>. Once we do that, we no longer have internal conflict or external conflict, but now we\u2019ve lost ourselves.<\/p>\n

Examples: Betty felt like a hypocrite, telling people she was a Democrat, when she had been a Republican.\u00a0 She started to see the merits of the Democratic party over and beyond those of the Republican party, and even voted for a Democrat in the next election.\u00a0 Betty changed her attitudes, to resolve her inner conflict. Sue, at first, hated acting cold and unfeeling, contrary to calling of her heart, but she began to see the merits of holding this stance and started to regard “sweetness” as wimpy.\u00a0\u00a0 After pretending away sweetness for so long, cold-heartedness became her signature style and default position. Sue changed her attitude about the value of sweetness to resolve her inner conflict.\u00a0 Joe started to see the merits of heavy metal over reggae, and came to regard reggae as inferior.\u00a0 Joe changed his attitudes, to resolve his inner conflict. By contrast, Harry tried to fit in, without success. He could not grow another arm. The classmates rejected him; he internalized their rejection into self-rejection and came to doubt himself and his own loveability. Unable to resolve his inner conflict, nor escape this external conflict, coming from his classmates and their taunts, he experienced chronic shame (chronic external and internal conflict; chronic self-rejection and social rejection) and became depressed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Many of the examples just offered are about norms not morals. As a general rule, a norm violation doesn’t hurt anyone, whereas a moral violation is potentially hurtful to others (or perceived as such). Now, consider the case when we are being asked to follow a standard that betrays our\u00a0moral\u00a0<\/em>standards. Say, at work, our boss asks us to lie to a customer. If we do it, against the call of our heart and\u00a0conscience<\/a>, our inner conflict will express itself as “guilt” (not simply “feeling stupid”), because we have betrayed our standards of “what is good, right, or true.” Correspondingly, we will undergo an identity shift (an attitude or value shift), to bring our attitudes or values in alignment with our misbehavior: We may tell ourselves:\u00a0 “What I did is not that bad.”<\/p>\n

SIGNS YOU MIGHT BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO AN IDENTITY SHIFT IN A MORALLY-RELEVANT SITUATION<\/p>\n

1. \u201cSomething\u2019s Not Right\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>: Signs that you are in a toxic environment and may be susceptible to a shift:<\/p>\n