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We all value our individuality very much, consider ourselves exceptional, unique, to a certain extent carry the signs of egocentrism, and, in principle, this is not bad. “Every person should love himself”, “all people are very different”, “you can't lose your individuality” - these are common phrases that are known to everyone, and which, of course, carry common sense. But at the same time, we are all part of the whole; whole, which is called "crowd", "mass", "humanity", "community".
Realizing that you are an independent unit and at the same time a part of the whole, you can to a greater extent anticipate the pattern of your behavior, which can sometimes be contradictory. For example, when you are in the supermarket, picking your drink and see that most of the customers are concentrated at the stand with a new juice made from natural fruits, you will probably pay attention to this juice. When you listen to music, you willy-nilly stumble upon tracks that are modern and popular today, although you may not like them at all. All these are the results of the influence of the phenomenon of mass consciousness. Let's figure out what it is and with what.
Mass consciousness is a set of ideas, knowledge, reflecting the life of society and reflected in the consciousness of individuals. The most important factor influencing the mass consciousness is the mass media. Another concept with a similar specificity is "public consciousness", but the latter is more subject to socio-political assessments.
First, it is an objective scientific category that arises on the basis of biological and chemical processes in the human body. There is a network of functioning mirror neurons in our brain that are involved in copying what we perceive through our senses. Mirror neurons are of three types:
Of course, mirror neurons largely shape the model of our thinking and behavior, choosing accepted social norms and rules as a source of information.
Secondly, since ancient times, our ancestors tried to be a part of the team, not to break away from the appearance, the way of thinking of their relatives, which became the basis for such a concept as conformism.
Conformity is a passive, opportunistic acceptance of ready-made social standards concerning various spheres of life, ignoring unique views. Conformity to some extent kills the individual and contributes to the subordination of the individual to any models. For example, when all team members comply with a black dress code, a person will not tear himself away from colleagues, even if he does not like black, and prefers to wear bright colors, otherwise he risks losing his place of work or earning hostility from colleagues due to the emphasis on his individuality.
Thirdly, in a capitalist society, market economy, the process of production and consumption, which bears the sign of mass character, widespread, undoubtedly, leaves its imprint on the thoughts and tastes of consumers. We begin to turn to some kind of standards, and due to the scale of production, the characteristics of the product turn out to be much more simplified and uncomplicated. Hence, one of the main properties of mass consciousness appears - its simplicity.
The latter reason carries the most dangerous consequences associated with the ability to manage the masses, because companies appear that seek to make money on the same type of thinking, use similar human models of behavior. Manufacturing companies have a serious trump card - expectation, predictability of consumer behavior. And although today we say that a person is irrational, this irrationality becomes an object of study, which allows you to come up with more and more sophisticated ways to control your thinking.
Some experts in the field of marketing and neuromarketing are sure that when making a decision, a person creates illusions about his independence, and in fact, our decision is the result of factors that influence our emotions through our senses or even subconsciously.
Let's look at what specific tricks, chips can become tools for controlling our minds.
So, within one hour, 15 people approached the stand, and by the end of the day about 25% of the previous volume remained.
What factors contributed to the successful disassembly of the product? Here they are:
An important point in this aspect is the person's preservation of his individuality. Remember that each person is unique and perceives everything around him in his own way. In this regard, I would also like to share the concept of "individual consciousness", which in philosophy is understood as the consciousness of a separate individual, reflecting his individual being through his participation to one degree or another in the subsystems of social being.
As you can see, two concepts - "social being" (on which the mass consciousness is based) and "individual consciousness" are directly related. Obviously, we form our view of the world, which is common for everyone and which gives us feedback in the quality of ideas and ideas about life, a set of its concepts and principles. However, everyone interprets all this in their own way, because an individual person is a bearer of a unique set of characteristics, and she is capable of developing a creative train of thought, a non-standard way of thinking, which forms a more active consciousness and allows one to recognize signals of standardization and template patterns of thinking or behavior.
By the way, in order to become more creative and start thinking more outside the box, we suggest you take our course "TRIZ in Practice", where in 4 weeks you will learn how to solve non-standard problems and improve your creative skills, which will be useful not only in everyday life, but also in many areas of activity.
A short documentary below will tell you about additional tricks used by the more powerful people of this world, as well as other amusing experiments. Happy viewing!
Have you ever met people who stay a little away from mass culture, try to form their own circle of "interesting things", draw inspiration from little-known sources? Perhaps for you they became either strange, or unattainable, or fanned with a halo of mystery. In fact, these are the same people, like everyone else, only less susceptible to education in mass culture and more concerned about their individual consciousness.
Do not forget that your psychological health is directly dependent on what you feed it, so try to select "quality foods" and strive for what makes you perfect. Don't let yourself be ruled by oversimplification of your way of thinking, and remember that it's important not to be manipulated that can affect us.
We wish you every success!
Realizing that you are an independent unit and at the same time a part of the whole, you can to a greater extent anticipate the pattern of your behavior, which can sometimes be contradictory. For example, when you are in the supermarket, picking your drink and see that most of the customers are concentrated at the stand with a new juice made from natural fruits, you will probably pay attention to this juice. When you listen to music, you willy-nilly stumble upon tracks that are modern and popular today, although you may not like them at all. All these are the results of the influence of the phenomenon of mass consciousness. Let's figure out what it is and with what.
A little about the concept itself
For the first time, the French sociologist and psychologist Gustave Le Bon (1896) spoke about the phenomenon of mass consciousness. It was the “crowd” as a sociological category that attracted his attention. The scientist argued that, mixing in a crowd, people, regardless of their status, wealth, reputation, nationality, profession and other parameters, become part of the "soul of the crowd", which tends to be the bearer of certain emotions and have a noticeably strong energy.Mass consciousness is a set of ideas, knowledge, reflecting the life of society and reflected in the consciousness of individuals. The most important factor influencing the mass consciousness is the mass media. Another concept with a similar specificity is "public consciousness", but the latter is more subject to socio-political assessments.
The reasons for the emergence of mass consciousness
Why should we even talk about the phenomenon of mass consciousness?First, it is an objective scientific category that arises on the basis of biological and chemical processes in the human body. There is a network of functioning mirror neurons in our brain that are involved in copying what we perceive through our senses. Mirror neurons are of three types:
- motor neurons;
- neurons of empathy (or empathy);
- neurons of behavior patterns.
Of course, mirror neurons largely shape the model of our thinking and behavior, choosing accepted social norms and rules as a source of information.
Secondly, since ancient times, our ancestors tried to be a part of the team, not to break away from the appearance, the way of thinking of their relatives, which became the basis for such a concept as conformism.
Conformity is a passive, opportunistic acceptance of ready-made social standards concerning various spheres of life, ignoring unique views. Conformity to some extent kills the individual and contributes to the subordination of the individual to any models. For example, when all team members comply with a black dress code, a person will not tear himself away from colleagues, even if he does not like black, and prefers to wear bright colors, otherwise he risks losing his place of work or earning hostility from colleagues due to the emphasis on his individuality.
Thirdly, in a capitalist society, market economy, the process of production and consumption, which bears the sign of mass character, widespread, undoubtedly, leaves its imprint on the thoughts and tastes of consumers. We begin to turn to some kind of standards, and due to the scale of production, the characteristics of the product turn out to be much more simplified and uncomplicated. Hence, one of the main properties of mass consciousness appears - its simplicity.
The latter reason carries the most dangerous consequences associated with the ability to manage the masses, because companies appear that seek to make money on the same type of thinking, use similar human models of behavior. Manufacturing companies have a serious trump card - expectation, predictability of consumer behavior. And although today we say that a person is irrational, this irrationality becomes an object of study, which allows you to come up with more and more sophisticated ways to control your thinking.
Some experts in the field of marketing and neuromarketing are sure that when making a decision, a person creates illusions about his independence, and in fact, our decision is the result of factors that influence our emotions through our senses or even subconsciously.
Let's look at what specific tricks, chips can become tools for controlling our minds.
Experiment
An experiment was carried out in one of the supermarkets in Moscow. In the place that is most frequently visited (a counter with vegetables and fruits), a separate coffee stand was set up. The packaging looked pretty cute, in line with today's trends in product design (craft bag, stylish font, house print, webbing to tie the pack). At the same time, the pack had the inscription "100% coffee", and inside the experimenters put ordinary arabica coffee (for you to understand, coffee cannot carry any percentage, because coffee is a product containing exclusively coffee beans, that is, not admitting some impurities).So, within one hour, 15 people approached the stand, and by the end of the day about 25% of the previous volume remained.
What factors contributed to the successful disassembly of the product? Here they are:
- First, fashion. Drinking coffee is fashionable today. Perhaps some part of the buyers was guided by the reason for meeting the standards of a fashionable lifestyle.
- Secondly, the place in the supermarket was specially selected (the most crowded and walkable part of the sales area) in order to attract the views and interests of as many customers as possible.
- Third, the smell. Coffee has a very attractive and rather persistent aroma, which certainly influenced consumers' olfactory receptors.
- Fourth, the inscription "100% coffee". This mentally brings this product closer to the "natural" category . However, people did not think that if a coffee product contains any impurities, then it is no longer coffee, which, of course, would be reflected in the name.
- Fifth, the price. On the price tag for coffee, the price was highlighted in red, and the word "Stock" was recorded under it, which, of course, could not fail to attract the attention of the buyer.
An important point in this aspect is the person's preservation of his individuality. Remember that each person is unique and perceives everything around him in his own way. In this regard, I would also like to share the concept of "individual consciousness", which in philosophy is understood as the consciousness of a separate individual, reflecting his individual being through his participation to one degree or another in the subsystems of social being.
As you can see, two concepts - "social being" (on which the mass consciousness is based) and "individual consciousness" are directly related. Obviously, we form our view of the world, which is common for everyone and which gives us feedback in the quality of ideas and ideas about life, a set of its concepts and principles. However, everyone interprets all this in their own way, because an individual person is a bearer of a unique set of characteristics, and she is capable of developing a creative train of thought, a non-standard way of thinking, which forms a more active consciousness and allows one to recognize signals of standardization and template patterns of thinking or behavior.
By the way, in order to become more creative and start thinking more outside the box, we suggest you take our course "TRIZ in Practice", where in 4 weeks you will learn how to solve non-standard problems and improve your creative skills, which will be useful not only in everyday life, but also in many areas of activity.
A short documentary below will tell you about additional tricks used by the more powerful people of this world, as well as other amusing experiments. Happy viewing!
Have you ever met people who stay a little away from mass culture, try to form their own circle of "interesting things", draw inspiration from little-known sources? Perhaps for you they became either strange, or unattainable, or fanned with a halo of mystery. In fact, these are the same people, like everyone else, only less susceptible to education in mass culture and more concerned about their individual consciousness.
Do not forget that your psychological health is directly dependent on what you feed it, so try to select "quality foods" and strive for what makes you perfect. Don't let yourself be ruled by oversimplification of your way of thinking, and remember that it's important not to be manipulated that can affect us.
We wish you every success!
