Chapter eight in Global Brain by Howard Bloom. 1st ed. copyright 2000, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

In this chapter, Bloom provides example after example of human beings who take the words of others over what their own eyes are telling them. For example: in 1956, Solomon Asch released the results of an experiment showing that 75% of test subjects would claim that two obviously uneven lines were the same length, after a room full of other people all said they were. Some test subjects didn't have the guts to go against the group, some questioned their own vision, and some actually saw the two lines as being the same length (73).

Bloom also draws on Developmental Psychology. He references D. Bischof-Kohler of the University of Zurich, who concluded that "when babies between one and two see another infant hurt they don't just ape the emotions of distress, but share them" via empathy (75).

Back to Chapter 7: A Trip Through the Perception Factory
On to Chapter 9: The Conformity Police
Up to the Index.

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