"It becomes clear that the Asch, Milgram and Zimbardo experiments replicated, in a compressed time, the dynamics of authority and groupthink that play a critical role in our socialization. Asch showed that once the standard is set, people will adopt it and go along with it, even if it is illogical. When the stakes are raised, as they were in Milgram's work, people may struggle with unethical commands, but the majority still obey. And when authorities set parameters but leave the decision-making to the rest of us, we still have a tendency to impose strict control on those we consider deviant. All of these findings affirm the power of culture, socialization, and our widespread fear that we will be judged and punished. Since human beings have a desperate need for safety, approval, and belonging (which yields access to group resources), the worst kind of punishment is ostracism. This shunning may be subtle or extreme."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Toni Raiten-D'Antonio, in Ugly as Sin : The Truth about How We Look and Finding Freedom from Self-Hatred (2010), Ch. 8 : Difference as Deviance p. 89
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Groupthink
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Groupthink
16 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Groupthink →
Related Quotes
"Nothing is so unworthy of a civilised nation as allowing itself to be governed without opposition by an irresponsible…"
"Solitude is out of fashion. Our companies, our schools and our culture are in thrall to an idea I call the New Groupt…"
"In the long run my observations have convinced me that some men, reasoning preposterously, first establish some concl…"
"I use the term groupthink as a quick and easy way to refer to the mode of thinking that persons engage in when concur…"
"The main principle of groupthink, which I offer in the spirit of Parkinson's Law, is this: The more amiability and es…"
"All mass movements, as one might expect, slip with the greatest ease down an inclined plane represented by large numb…"
"Immaturity is the incapacity to use one's intelligence without the guidance of another. Such immaturity is self-cause…"
"Each individual possesses a conscience which to a greater or lesser degree serves to restrain the unimpeded flow of i…"
"Once, I remember, I ran across the case of a boy who had been sentenced to prison, a poor, scared little brat, who ha…"
"The common characteristics of "groupthink" include: an illusion of invulnerability; an unquestioned belief in the gro…"