Stupidity is not always individual. Perfectly reasonable people can make absurd decisions when they are part of a group, especially if they perceive that there is a dominant opinion and disagreeing has some cost.
Social psychology has been studying this phenomenon for decades. In Solomon Asch’s famous experiments, carried out in the 1950s, several participants had to compare the length of lines. The correct answer was obvious, but many ended up joining, on occasion, the collective error when the researcher’s accomplices deliberately gave a false answer. They had not stopped distinguishing one line from another: they were reacting to group pressure.
Following the group was also a survival strategy
From an evolutionary point of view, this behavior is not so strange. For our ancestors, belonging to a community was a matter of survival. Being isolated could mean losing protection, food, information or possibilities of reproduction.
Following the group, therefore, was not necessarily a sign of clumsiness, but rather a reasonable strategy. The problem appears when this mechanism is activated in situations in which the majority is wrong. Our tendency to imitate, obey or seek approval can transform an individual error into a collective behavior.
Internet amplifies social pressure
The Internet has given this old mechanism an unknown power. A statement repeated thousands of times can take on the appearance of truth, even if it is false. The number of followers, likes, trends and the accumulation of comments work as social signals: if so many people believe it, we think, maybe it’s true.
Added to this is that we tend to interact with people and content that confirm our opinions, while we more easily discard what contradicts them. The result can be paradoxical: we have never had so much information at our disposal and yet we can end up trapped in extraordinarily narrow information universes.
When collective intelligence works
This does not mean that collective intelligence is a contradiction. Groups can also solve problems better than any of their members alone. For it to happen, they need diversity of knowledge, independence of judgment and freedom to disagree.
When everyone imitates the neighbor, the crowd stops adding intelligence and begins to multiply errors. Perhaps one of the most important skills of our time is knowing when to trust others and when to stop and think for yourself.
When everyone imitates their neighbor, the crowd stops adding intelligence and begins to multiply errors.
Evolution turned us into social animals; Technology has turned that sociability into a gigantic network. The challenge is to prevent our ancient need to belong from transforming consensus into a test of truth.
