The Hive Switch And Individualism
People are interacting socially everyday. Whether it is online chatting with friends, playing on a sports team, or even collaborating with coworkers, people are involved in society. However, we the people, tend to act differently when around specific groups. Furthermore, we happen to find the importance of being with people, rather than alone by ourselves. “The Hive Switch is a group-related adaption that can only be explained by a theory of between-group selection,” (Haidt 278). There is no true defining evidence that can explain our actions when we are alone and when we are with a group of people. The only thing we have to offer are theories and technical research that can really support what triggers a hive switch. There are several reasons
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that cause people to act differently in groups and correspond with alterations of their personality, such as acting more mature around older people. Also, leadership shows an important aspect to creating a better society, and many people connect with others by having similar interests to create their own community.
In order to understand human interactions with groups, the concept of the hive switch must be explained. This hypothesis-theory was developed by Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind. The purpose of his hypothesis is an attempt to explain people’s group selection and the reason for success in certain groups. Haidt says, “The hive switch is an adaptation for making groups more cohesive, and therefore more successful in competition with other groups,” (Haidt 259). Regardless of our individualism, inspiration to accomplish something comes from our groups that we correspond with. Usually, we look towards groups for security and comfort. People tend to seek approval from others and cooperate to be fearless of isolation. Every now and then, we have to review what we believe in and as humans, we have to consider the beliefs of others. Sometimes we are unable to view the reality of the world to correct our beliefs. In order to confirm them, we have to look at each other and come to agreement, even though we will reject opinions or statements that may slightly differ.
The hive switch brings about a common term thrown around by several psychologists. This fictitious word is know as “groupish.” Many contribute to the idea of it being related to selfish, but see it as it’s own unique concept. Although the comparison between groupism and individualism is for a later note, it’s relation to the hive switch is of considerable importance. As was previously stated, the hive switch forms a group selection upon people, and evidently, there are things that trigger these groups. Some warning signs of groupishness are the righteousness feelings condemning others and the little comfort of talking with others (Eisold). Even though there are ways to interact the hive switch through groupism, it is still possible to evoke the hypothesis through individual acts. Jonathan Haidt enjoys calling this “flipping the switch.” His meaning behind this is the fact that someone can sense groupish feelings through absurd actions. One of Haidt’s ways of flipping the switch is experiencing awe in nature when alone. This situation concerning awe opens people to new possibilities, values, and new directions in life. It is said that these flips shut down the mind …show more content…
and character of one’s self, making them feel as if they are a part of a whole. Another flip of the switch is the use of hallucinogens. Experiments from Abe Maslow have concluded that the use of illegal drugs, such as psilocybin, provided a loss of sense to the self, positive moods, transcendence of time and space and other stated effects (Maslow). According to Haidt, there is even another way to flip the switch and that is through “raves.” These insane events known as raves consist of people coming together in such a way that they begin to feel as a whole. Tony Hsieh, an internet businessman, experienced this rave and he explained that it was as if he was united with the thousands of others around him, as he continued to lose his individual conscience. He states that his mind was replaced by a single unifying group conscience (Hsieh). Even though humans can flip the switch through the change in one’s mind to feel like he/she is a part of a whole, majority of the time, we sense groupishness through interaction with each other. “We are conditional creatures. We are likely to mirror and then empathize with others when they have conformed to our moral matrix than when they have violated it,” (Haidt 274). With the hive switch in mind, it is time to transition to the idea of groups and individualism. Some things make humans act a certain way, or the idea that there is someone watching encourages us to view a situation differently. According to some studies, it is known that applying the concept of God causes act people to act more generously, such as giving money to charity. The idea of God is just an example of a cue. These cues are something we are not exactly aware of, but it affects our behavior. Although there are things that cause individuals to act differently when they are alone in a situation, people can experience this in groups. Emile Durkheim, a popular scholar in her studies of psychology states, “The very act of congregating is an exceptionally powerful stimulant. Once the individuals are gathered together, a sort of electricity is generated from their closeness and quickly launches them to an extraordinary height of exaltation,” (Durkheim 217). Durkheim explains that these feelings and powerful emotions pull us into these realms. Occasionally, we are pulled into the two realms of the “sacred” and the “profane.” In the sacred world, our individual characteristics disappear and our collective interests take over. In contrast, the profane world represents our everyday life that we experience to ourselves. It is as if these places create the culture we see in groups today such as Gods, spirits, heavens, and other religious beliefs. These realms cause us to sense feelings of groupish interaction. Groupish behavior, or even the fact that there is an audience, causes people to act slightly different than the usual self. For example, we tend to perform better at simple tasks when we are aware of our surroundings, but when there is an audience that may be watching, it puts pressure on the individual to perform well at that task. Not only that, when one is completing a harder task, they usually feel more relaxed when facing the challenge alone. When others are around, we feel self-conscience about our performance of that task. In any case, a great way to connect a group is by concluding a decision that everyone can agree on. As a society, we tend to be happier when we can all agree on something (Heffner). Another impact with groups, it the general actions that humans participate in when the group gets larger. We usually do less when the group expands. There are several instances of groupish behaviors that causes individuals to change the way they do things. Jonathan Haidt quotes Emile Durkheim on human interaction within our world, “Homo Sapiens was really Homo duplex, a creature who exists at two levels: an individual and as part of the larger society,” (Haidt 261). Our groupish behaviors and individualism can not be explained through facts and truth, but rather than everyday experiences. Though, to create a successful groupish feeling, we need to focus on leadership. Finally, humanity needs leaders to represent their groups.
In The Righteous Mind, Haidt spotlights three main leadership goals. Even though there are many attributes that create a quality leader, we can only focus on so many. An efficient leader will increase similarity, and not diversity. They will focus on uniting the population and making them feel like family. Another key focus is to exploit synchrony and allowing people to work together. When people perform together, they tend to trust each other more. Also, Haidt considers that leaders create healthy competition among their groups, and not individuals (Haidt 278). He states that as a society, people should compete between groups, such as a corporate rivalry, rather than individual competitions within groups. Leaders play an important role in the creation of a strong group. Therefore, people need to pick a leader with great qualities and an intricate personality. A significant characteristic of leadership is being able to communicate with the people. They should be able to send their message across through the people and connect with the audience. However, one should keep their messages simple and should be able to keep it short. Sometimes, the audience might lose interest if they are not understanding the speech. While they are sending messages, leaders also need to receive messages from the people. They need to be able to realize what the people are asking for. Also, any behaviors, actions, and decisions might impact
the leader, which in that case, they need to be effective (Blagg). Every now and then, a leader has to face difficult realities, but they need to figure out how to remain a positive attitude upon their group. With this, they have to be able to tell the hard truth so people can understand a complicated situation. In any case, a potent leader should meet most of these qualifications. This is important in creating a successful group or society, and it will be helpful to know that there is someone to look upon for management. Jonathan Haidt says, “Good leaders create good followers, but followership in a hivish organization is better described as membership,” (Haidt 279). In order for there to be triumph in a group, it takes all to participate. It takes responsibility from all members and there needs to be trust between each other in order to experience groupish conditions. In conclusion, people tend to follow a psychological idea known as the hive switch, represent themselves differently in groups, and create successful societies from strong leaders. All the topics talked about are theories, reasons, speculations, researches, and hypotheses on the main idea of groupish behavior between individuals and the importance of these actions. There is no defining reason why people act groupishly or why many of correspond differently with others. Only psychology can present us a valuable explanation to this philosophy. ( NOTE: If people are looking for answers to this phenomenon, the best thing to do is research or read the book “The Righteous Mind” by Jonathan Haidt. This book analyzes the concepts covered in the essay and significantly more topics.)
that cause people to act differently in groups and correspond with alterations of their personality, such as acting more mature around older people. Also, leadership shows an important aspect to creating a better society, and many people connect with others by having similar interests to create their own community.
In order to understand human interactions with groups, the concept of the hive switch must be explained. This hypothesis-theory was developed by Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind. The purpose of his hypothesis is an attempt to explain people’s group selection and the reason for success in certain groups. Haidt says, “The hive switch is an adaptation for making groups more cohesive, and therefore more successful in competition with other groups,” (Haidt 259). Regardless of our individualism, inspiration to accomplish something comes from our groups that we correspond with. Usually, we look towards groups for security and comfort. People tend to seek approval from others and cooperate to be fearless of isolation. Every now and then, we have to review what we believe in and as humans, we have to consider the beliefs of others. Sometimes we are unable to view the reality of the world to correct our beliefs. In order to confirm them, we have to look at each other and come to agreement, even though we will reject opinions or statements that may slightly differ.
The hive switch brings about a common term thrown around by several psychologists. This fictitious word is know as “groupish.” Many contribute to the idea of it being related to selfish, but see it as it’s own unique concept. Although the comparison between groupism and individualism is for a later note, it’s relation to the hive switch is of considerable importance. As was previously stated, the hive switch forms a group selection upon people, and evidently, there are things that trigger these groups. Some warning signs of groupishness are the righteousness feelings condemning others and the little comfort of talking with others (Eisold). Even though there are ways to interact the hive switch through groupism, it is still possible to evoke the hypothesis through individual acts. Jonathan Haidt enjoys calling this “flipping the switch.” His meaning behind this is the fact that someone can sense groupish feelings through absurd actions. One of Haidt’s ways of flipping the switch is experiencing awe in nature when alone. This situation concerning awe opens people to new possibilities, values, and new directions in life. It is said that these flips shut down the mind …show more content…
and character of one’s self, making them feel as if they are a part of a whole. Another flip of the switch is the use of hallucinogens. Experiments from Abe Maslow have concluded that the use of illegal drugs, such as psilocybin, provided a loss of sense to the self, positive moods, transcendence of time and space and other stated effects (Maslow). According to Haidt, there is even another way to flip the switch and that is through “raves.” These insane events known as raves consist of people coming together in such a way that they begin to feel as a whole. Tony Hsieh, an internet businessman, experienced this rave and he explained that it was as if he was united with the thousands of others around him, as he continued to lose his individual conscience. He states that his mind was replaced by a single unifying group conscience (Hsieh). Even though humans can flip the switch through the change in one’s mind to feel like he/she is a part of a whole, majority of the time, we sense groupishness through interaction with each other. “We are conditional creatures. We are likely to mirror and then empathize with others when they have conformed to our moral matrix than when they have violated it,” (Haidt 274). With the hive switch in mind, it is time to transition to the idea of groups and individualism. Some things make humans act a certain way, or the idea that there is someone watching encourages us to view a situation differently. According to some studies, it is known that applying the concept of God causes act people to act more generously, such as giving money to charity. The idea of God is just an example of a cue. These cues are something we are not exactly aware of, but it affects our behavior. Although there are things that cause individuals to act differently when they are alone in a situation, people can experience this in groups. Emile Durkheim, a popular scholar in her studies of psychology states, “The very act of congregating is an exceptionally powerful stimulant. Once the individuals are gathered together, a sort of electricity is generated from their closeness and quickly launches them to an extraordinary height of exaltation,” (Durkheim 217). Durkheim explains that these feelings and powerful emotions pull us into these realms. Occasionally, we are pulled into the two realms of the “sacred” and the “profane.” In the sacred world, our individual characteristics disappear and our collective interests take over. In contrast, the profane world represents our everyday life that we experience to ourselves. It is as if these places create the culture we see in groups today such as Gods, spirits, heavens, and other religious beliefs. These realms cause us to sense feelings of groupish interaction. Groupish behavior, or even the fact that there is an audience, causes people to act slightly different than the usual self. For example, we tend to perform better at simple tasks when we are aware of our surroundings, but when there is an audience that may be watching, it puts pressure on the individual to perform well at that task. Not only that, when one is completing a harder task, they usually feel more relaxed when facing the challenge alone. When others are around, we feel self-conscience about our performance of that task. In any case, a great way to connect a group is by concluding a decision that everyone can agree on. As a society, we tend to be happier when we can all agree on something (Heffner). Another impact with groups, it the general actions that humans participate in when the group gets larger. We usually do less when the group expands. There are several instances of groupish behaviors that causes individuals to change the way they do things. Jonathan Haidt quotes Emile Durkheim on human interaction within our world, “Homo Sapiens was really Homo duplex, a creature who exists at two levels: an individual and as part of the larger society,” (Haidt 261). Our groupish behaviors and individualism can not be explained through facts and truth, but rather than everyday experiences. Though, to create a successful groupish feeling, we need to focus on leadership. Finally, humanity needs leaders to represent their groups.
In The Righteous Mind, Haidt spotlights three main leadership goals. Even though there are many attributes that create a quality leader, we can only focus on so many. An efficient leader will increase similarity, and not diversity. They will focus on uniting the population and making them feel like family. Another key focus is to exploit synchrony and allowing people to work together. When people perform together, they tend to trust each other more. Also, Haidt considers that leaders create healthy competition among their groups, and not individuals (Haidt 278). He states that as a society, people should compete between groups, such as a corporate rivalry, rather than individual competitions within groups. Leaders play an important role in the creation of a strong group. Therefore, people need to pick a leader with great qualities and an intricate personality. A significant characteristic of leadership is being able to communicate with the people. They should be able to send their message across through the people and connect with the audience. However, one should keep their messages simple and should be able to keep it short. Sometimes, the audience might lose interest if they are not understanding the speech. While they are sending messages, leaders also need to receive messages from the people. They need to be able to realize what the people are asking for. Also, any behaviors, actions, and decisions might impact
the leader, which in that case, they need to be effective (Blagg). Every now and then, a leader has to face difficult realities, but they need to figure out how to remain a positive attitude upon their group. With this, they have to be able to tell the hard truth so people can understand a complicated situation. In any case, a potent leader should meet most of these qualifications. This is important in creating a successful group or society, and it will be helpful to know that there is someone to look upon for management. Jonathan Haidt says, “Good leaders create good followers, but followership in a hivish organization is better described as membership,” (Haidt 279). In order for there to be triumph in a group, it takes all to participate. It takes responsibility from all members and there needs to be trust between each other in order to experience groupish conditions. In conclusion, people tend to follow a psychological idea known as the hive switch, represent themselves differently in groups, and create successful societies from strong leaders. All the topics talked about are theories, reasons, speculations, researches, and hypotheses on the main idea of groupish behavior between individuals and the importance of these actions. There is no defining reason why people act groupishly or why many of correspond differently with others. Only psychology can present us a valuable explanation to this philosophy. ( NOTE: If people are looking for answers to this phenomenon, the best thing to do is research or read the book “The Righteous Mind” by Jonathan Haidt. This book analyzes the concepts covered in the essay and significantly more topics.)