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I read a book that blew my mind a little

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Re: I read a book that blew my mind a little

#71

Post by bawolff »

the_jeremy wrote: post #58
bawolff wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's still just the normal definition of peer pressure.

I think of peer pressure as doing something to conform or as something explicit your peer group wants you to do. If one of your friends gets a Tesla, they probably don't want you to get a Tesla. If everyone gets one, it doesn't make them stand out anymore, it's the new baseline. Peer pressure is overweight friends subtly trying to prevent you from losing weight because it makes them feel more bad about their weight.…

I mean, wikipedia defines peer pressure as:

"Peer pressure is the direct or indirect influence on people of peers, members of social groups with similar interests, experience, or social status. Members of a peer group are more likely to influence a person's beliefs and behavior. A group or individual may be encouraged and want to follow their peers by changing their attitudes, values or behaviors to conform to those of the influencing group or individual"

I think that keeping up with the jones very much fits into that.

Re: I read a book that blew my mind a little

#72

Post by petecooper »

_3u10 wrote: post #27

If you are interested in this sort of thing I’d highly suggest reading The Spectacle of Society by Guy Debord. Or just read the first paragraph which summarizes the book in its entirety: The spectacle is not a collection of images but a social relation between people mediated by images.

Nitpick: it's 'The Society of the Spectacle' for anyone looking.

Re: I read a book that blew my mind a little

#73

Post by Ma8ee »

sMarsIntruder wrote: post #65

No offence to anyone but this is very “American”. As a European I can tell that there are absolutely some places with the same “issues”. But no, I feel free where I live since my peers don’t give a duck about “metrics”.

Not at all. We might be interested in slightly different metrics in Europe, but the difference is minimal. Maybe you and your click of friends have distinctly anti-materialistic values, but then some people can't help to casually mention how much time they idly spent most of their weekend strolling in the forest, and someone else suddenly feels a small pain of regret for wasting their weekend by reading or turning their compost.

Re: I read a book that blew my mind a little

#77

Post by vmurthy »

Borrible wrote: post #76

So, at what point exactly becomes a motivation to do something intrinsic? The moment the 'I' forgets its origin and history and attributes it all to itself?

Armchair psychology but probably when 4 of the 5 in Maslow's hierarchy of needs are met [0] ?

[0] https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-maslows-hierarchy-of-ne...

Re: I read a book that blew my mind a little

#78

Post by vmurthy »

As a defence against "mimetism", probably we should do what Warren Buffett did : He talks about NOT living in NY or near Wall Street probably as a way to defend against this influence of others [0]. While we can't all go away and live someplace else, at least it's worth trying to get away from things to get perspective .

“It’s very easy to think clearly here. You’re undisturbed by irrelevant factors and the noise generally of business investments,” Buffett said. “If you can’t think clearly in Omaha, you’re not going to think clearly anyplace.”

[0] https://www.businessinsider.com.au/warren-buffett-berkshire-...

Re: I read a book that blew my mind a little

#80

Post by refurb »

qq4 wrote: post #12

What is surprising about people wanting to fit in with one another? There is nothing new about monkey see monkey do.

It’s not necessarily driven by fitting in which infers liking the same things other like so you are in the “in group”. It’s preferring things just because others do, no reward of “in group” membership required.
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