Brain scans show that those who defy the groups opinion will try to revise their memories while the brain tries to convince them otherwise
People have been shown to change their answer to a question if the group disagrees. Back to the contrast between conforming taking the form of âYou know what, if everyone says they saw B, I guess I did too; whateverâ and its taking the form of âNow that I think about it, I didnât actually see A; I think I saw B; in fact Iâm certain of it.â The latter is associated with activation of the hippocampus, the brain region central to learning and memoryâthe revisionism involves you literally revising your memory.
Remarkably, in another study this process of conforming was also associated with activation of the occipital cortex, the brain region that does the primary processing of visionâyou can almost hear the frontal and limbic parts of the brain trying to convince the occipital cortex that it saw something different from what it actually saw.
Thus the neurobiology of conforming consists of a first wave of anxiety where we equate differentness with wrongness, followed by the cognitive work needed to change our opinion. These findings obviously come from an artificial world of psych experiments. Thus theyâre only a faint whisper of what occurs when itâs you against the rest of the jury, when itâs you being urged to join the lynch mob, when itâs you choosing between conforming and being deeply lonely.
References
- Sapolsky, Robert. (2017). Behave Chapter 12. Hierarchy, Obedience, and Resistance (p. 524). New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
Metadata
Type:đ´ Tags: Biology / Neuroscience / Psychology / Social Psychology / Neuropsychology Status:âď¸