Social Psychology in the service of Radical Centrism As a thought, it might be a good idea to take a fresh look at RC from the vantage of Social Psychology. That is : What does RC have to say about confirmation bias ? In principle we regard such bias as an evil; we want empirical "proof" that something is good or evil. Pre-existing views should not be a factor except insofar as they give us questions to ask RC is anti-conformist. What the herd thinks is worth knowing, we ought to be aware of current public opinion, it is part of being informed, but we never ( at least theoretically ) accept group views without first doing serious testing. Is there something new in a group we belong to that it is starting to believe or value ? Should we go along with the crowd ? Actually it might be a good idea but an RC rule of thumb might be that if anyone conforms to any group more than, say, 2/3rds of the time, he or she is too non-objective, too easily swayed by herd instinct, and not sufficiently an individual. Actor-observer bias is antithetical to RC values and outlook. We always ( again, at least theoretically always ) seek to evaluate our personal selves by the same yardstick we use when evaluating others. Probably you cannot eliminate all "groupthink" from life. But RC is predicated on the premise that we should try to do so, not just once and forget it, or even a few times and let things slide, but throughout life, every day, as a matter of routine. Why ? To make he best, most objective-on-the-merits decisions we are capable of making. We will still screw up but, if RC has real value, we won't screw up as much. This might be taken as a start toward putting social psychology to work in the service of Radical Centrism. Billy ---------------- 10 Quick Facts About Social Psychology By _Kendra Cherry_ (http://psychology.about.com/bio/Kendra-Cherry-17268.htm) , About.com Have you every noticed how people tend to behave differently in a big crowd than they do when they are alone or with a smaller group? Have you ever wondered about why people conform or how attitudes are formed? Social psychology is the area that focuses on such questions and this fascinating subject is one of the most popular topics within psychology. Social psychology [focuses on research about].....how people behave in groups. In many cases, the results of several famous experiments contradict how you would expect people to act in social situations. Here are ten things that you should know about social psychology: ( 1 ) When a number of people witness something such as an accident, the more people there are present the less likely it is that someone will step forward to help. This is known as the _bystander effect_ () .
( 2 ) People will go to great, and sometimes dangerous, lengths to obey authority figures. In his famous _obedience experiments_ (http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/milgram.htm) , psychologist _Stanley Milgram_ (http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesmz/p/stanley-milgram-biography.htm) found that people would be willing to deliver a potentially fatal electrical shock to another person when ordered to by the experimenters. ( 3 ) Most people will go along with the group, even if they think the group is wrong. In Solomon Asch's _conformity experiments_ (http://psychology.about.com/od/classicpsychologystudies/p/conformity.htm) , people were asked to judge which was the longest of three lines. When other members of the group picked the wrong line, participants were more likely to choose the same line. ( 4 ) Situational variables can play a major role in our social behavior. In the _Stanford Prison Experiment_ (http://psychology.about.com/od/classicpsychologystudies/a/stanford-prison-experiment.htm) , psychologist Philip Zimbardo discovered that participants would take on the roles given to them to such an extreme that the experiment had to be discontinued after just six days. Those placed in the roles of prison guards began to abuse their power, while those in the role of the prisoners became anxious and stressed. ( 5 ) People typically look for things that confirm their existing beliefs and ignore information that contradicts what they already think. This is known as _expectation confirmation_ (http://psychology.about.com/od/eindex/g/expectconfirm.htm) . [ aka "confirmation bias" ] ( 6 ) When we categorize information about social groups, we tend to exaggerate differences between groups and minimize the differences within groups. This is part of the reason why stereotypes and _prejudice_ (http://psychology.about.com/od/pindex/g/prejudice.htm) exist. ( 7 ) Our _attitudes_ (http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/a/attitudes.htm) , or how we evaluate different things including people, ideas, and objects, can be both explicit and implicit. Explicit attitudes are the ones that we form consciously and of which we are fully aware. Implicit attitudes, on the other hand, form and work unconsciously yet still have a powerful influence on our behavior. ( 8 ) Our _perceptions_ (http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/a/person-perception.htm) of other people are often based upon things such as expected roles, social norms, and social categorizations. Since we expect people who are in a certain role or part of a particular social group to behave in a particular way, our initial impressions of a person frequently rely on these mental shortcuts to make fast judgments of how we expect people to behave. ( 9 ) When explaining behavior, we tend to attribute our own good fortune to internal factors and negative outcomes to external forces. When it comes to other people, however, we typically attribute their actions to internal characteristics. For example, if we get a bad grade on a paper, it's the teacher's fault; if a classmate gets a bad grade, it's because he didn't study hard enough. This tendency is known as the _actor-observer bias_ (http://psychology.about.com/od/aindex/g/actor-observer.htm) . ( 10 ) In groups, people often go along with the majority opinion rather than cause disruption. This phenomenon is known as _groupthink_ (http://psychology.about.com/od/gindex/g/groupthink.htm) and tends to occur more frequently when group members share a great deal in common, when the group is under stress, or in the presence of a charismatic leader. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
