"In 2014, the Journal of Neuroscience published the results of a unique study that probed deep into human emotion.

Two Dutch scientists had conducted an experiment in which they exposed test subjects to a wide range of scenarios to evoke some of the most primal human emotions– joy, anger, etc.

Subjects were hooked up to an electro-encephalogram (EEG) in order to quantitatively measure their brains’ cognitive response to powerful emotions.

And the results were pretty conclusive: the most powerful emotional experience, as measured by the sheer volume of human brain activity and neurological reaction, was humiliation.

This really explains a lot when you think about it.

Deep down we human beings are social creatures. We seek acceptance from the group.

It’s why conformity is so much easier than standing apart from the crowd, even when the crowd makes absolutely no sense.

And those who don’t conform and think independently are labeled radicals."

Radicals, or some other even more derogatory term. :)

No doubt such strong brain responses are hard wired into our brains from long years of evolution. But of course, current social conditioning also contributes to this effect.

TSCC uses this fact to keep people in line. As do many other groups and special interests.

I like it. I always tried to conform. I conformed more than anyone I knew to everything, always afraid to break any rules, always afraid of the fallout of breaking them.

I love being called apostate. It has been so freeing. I like the label radical, too, and heathen.

You nasty apostate, I always knew you were a radical heathen! :) :) :)

Mainly through survival of the species, buten also reinforced through social norms and punishments.

We see this time and time again in social experiments, how people still conform, even under ambiguous situations that are potentially lethal. Conformity is a strong force in human nature and breaking out of it is costly.

I said now watch what you say,
or they'll be calling you a radical,
a liberal,
oh fanatical, criminal...

Won't you sign up your name,
we'd like to feel you're acceptable,
respectable,
Oh, presentable...a vegetable.


("Logical Song," Supertramp)

good one, iffy...

I believe that the need for acceptance has been hard wired into our psyches from the days when banishment from the tribe was hazardous to our well being.

I wonder if there were age-related differences?

Teenagers would seem to be the exception to this pattern.

Perhaps young reproductive age humans are hardwired to rebel as a way of striking out from the tribe and starting another tribe somewhere else. Might have played a part in our quick coverage of the entire planet.

I slightly rebelled in my teens, but the millennials right now are a tougher crowd to lie to. They are a group that will slap old school obedience in the face. You can't lie for a blind following in this time and especially not with the millenials.