Human Nature and Cascades
The fact that individuals follow the crowd is well known but there were always questions about the reasons of such behaviour. In chapter 16, we discussed why people follow the crowd from the viewpoint of probability and direct profit, and concluded why it might sometimes have a positive effect and sometimes lead to making wrong choices. However, as it turns out, people follow the crowd not only because they realise through deliberation that it might be beneficial but also because following the crowd is in human nature.
The article “What Other People Say May Change What You See” by Sandra Blakeslee, discusses an experiment led by Dr. Gregory Berns, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Atlanta’s Emory University. The experiment was a simple cascade experiment similar to the one discussed in chapter 16. 32 volunteers were asked to mentally rotate three dimensional objects and later reveal their answers. However, before they confirmed their answers they met 4 other volunteers, who in reality were disguised actors. Actors shared their answers, which were mostly false. As in other cascade experiments volunteers followed what they heard from the majority and made a lot of mistakes in a simple test.
At first, we might think that results were caused by the social pressure and the fear of being wrong. However, the result were different. Researchers observed the process of deliberation through Functional M.R.I. scanners, which detected active regions of the brain during the decision making. The scanner showed that brains lit up in the area where vision is interpreted. Which means that people did not make the wrong decisions because of the social pressure to follow the crowd, but because what they were told really changed what they believed to have seen. Contrary result were seen on those who made decisions on their own. The brain region which they used is responsible for emotional salience.
The fact is that people mostly follow the majority but reasons may be different. As concluded from Bern’s experiment what people are told affects their decision not only because people tend to conform to social standards but also because it affects what their brains believe to have seen. As Bern’s states “We like to think that seeing is believing. However, studies show that seeing is believing what the group tells you to believe.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/science/28brai.html?_r=0