I liked this article because it opens the door to many possiblities. It closely relates to the self-fulfilling prophecy that we discussed last week except within others. These studys that they did were facinating and it all makes you wonder; Am I really in charge of what I am doing? Or have I been influenced by someone else in someway to do what I am doing now. The article does hold some weight here. I can think of times in my own life where I have been influenced by an outside source and ended up following the same path without consciously knowing it. It can be as simple as hanging out with someone who says the word "dude" alot, before you know it your saying the ridiculous word everytime you hang out with that person.
In thinking about this article, I would say that the better way to test this phenomenon would be in a naturalistic observation, over a larger extent of time. This way you could measure the extent of the action and how long it goes on and also if the action can be changed by introducing another prime in relation to the the first.
In conclusion, I think knowing this kind of information could be very helpful when it comes to youth and prevention but also like most things this kind of knowledge could be very harmful in cultures where blowing yourself up is a popular thing to do or the group suicide issue in Japan.
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I agree that this article was interesting to read. It is fascinating to look into the thought that perceptions that are learned can be re-activated through certain social stimuli and that we are unconscious of our behavior. I second your suggested test method and I think you would definetally get more accurate and useful data that way.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and I see this happening all the time. My sister has been hanging out with this friend for some time now. It seems to me that she changed her actions and when they are together they seem like twins. They always act the same way and say the same things. It is interesting to see the effects somone has on you? Could it be because we think they are better than us so we act like them? Or does it just automatically happen?
ReplyDeleteWhat's really weird about this article to me is that so much of what we perceive and then act on isn't even thought out consciously. Just like the example of saying "dude" because you hear others say it frequently. This non-conscious mimicking might have a much larger effect than we are aware of. I think it can be both good and bad because it can help you to fit in with a social group but changing your actions without conscious thought could lead to some bad situations as well.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting discussion. I think what concerns me the most about studies like this is that people may assume that this means we may not actually be responsible for our behaviors. I do think that a lot of what we perceive, say and do, individually and collectively, is not thought out consciously. I also believe that we can all learn to be consciously aware of most of our thought processes, especially when it comes to our actions. I hope we never find enough reason to believe that we aren't responsible for the decisions we make. Obviously we've already decided that there are instances where we have no control over our behavior but I think that if we found a way to say beyond reasonable doubt that we really don't have as much control as we think, it would lead to a complete break-down of society as we know it.
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