Cultures of agreement are not what they appear. “Those who are described as agreeable, conscientious personalities are more likely to follow orders and deliver electric shocks that they believe can harm innocent people, while more contrarian, less agreeable personalities are more likely to refuse to hurt others. For an eight-month period, the researchers interviewed the study participants to gauge their social personality, as well as their personal history and political leanings. When they matched this data to the participants behavior during the experiment, a distinct pattern emerged: People who were normally friendly followed orders because they didnt want to upset others, while those who were described as unfriendly stuck up for themselves. The irony is that a personality disposition normally seen as antisocial — disagreeableness — may actually be linked to pro-social behavior, writes Psychology Todays Kenneth Worthy. This connection seems to arise from a willingness to sacrifice ones popularity a bit to act in a moral and just way toward other people, animals or the environment at large. Popularity, in the end, may be more a sign of social graces and perhaps a desire to fit in than any kind of moral superiority.” ” — Eileen Shim, “Psychologists Have Uncovered a Troubling Feature of People Who Seem Nice All the Time”.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 22:46:48 +0000
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