Cliff LyonErich Fromm
“What is so deceptive about the state of mind of the members of a society is the ‘consensual validation’ of their concepts. It is naively assumed that the fact that the majority of people share certain ideas or feelings proves the validity of these ideas and feelings. Nothing is further from the truth. Consensual validation as such has no bearing whatsoever on reason or mental health. Just as there is a ‘folie a deux’ there is a ‘folie a millions.’ The fact that millions of people share the same vices does not make them virtuous, the fact that they share so many errors does not make the errors to be truths, and the fact that millions of people share the same forms of mental pathology does not make them sane.â€
Erich Fromm, Escape From Freedom
February 17th, 2006 at 8:14 am
Thanks to psychology researchers based at Harvard, you can check out how much you may be a part of the “folie a millions. Your own state of mind may be permeated with beliefs and assumptions of dominant group cultures - whether or not you 1) belong to those socially dominant categories, and 2) whether you consciously agree with these beliefs and attitudes. Check out https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit and explore the demonstrations.
You might be surprised at how much you yourself unconsciously “validate these ideas and feelings,” much as you might actively disagree with them.
After you explore the Harvard site, pick up a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink ( http://www.gladwell.com/blink ) - its a fairly quick read, and illuminating. Blink discusses these “implicit association tests” at length, and delves into what these sorts of research findings mean for society, civil rights, and justice.
Know thyself is still good advice, but harder than we might think. We ignore the power and dangers of human psychology at our peril, especially if we dismiss it as pathology rather than an integral part of how human brains work. If we can see the pitfalls of our perceptions, we have a better chance of avoiding them.
February 17th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
Thanks for the follow up. I’m sure we’re all supporting claptrap we don’t agree with, subconsciously. It can be the only explanation for how far, how fast, bush has tottered the Country. Of course the radio and TV radio polling prove that out.
I’ll check the sites. cheers glenn
February 17th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Rootstock with all due respect that harvard test was to me largely bunk. It could not process my test results because of “too many errors”.
Hey if you go to Harvard and your test doesn’t work, at least you learn how to blame on something other than your test. It was good for a laugh. cheers glenn