An active area in the philosophy of knowledge examines when, if ever, we ought to modify our beliefs based merely on the fact that someone else disagrees. For example, as you consider some question about the world, you consider all the pertinent facts available to you, along with some background assumptions, and you reach certain beliefs. If you know someone else whose intellectual faculties you generally respect who considers that same evidence, but reaches different conclusions, ought you to adjust your beliefs (or your confidence level in your beliefs) at all? Or should your beliefs purely be a function of the evidence you have, irrespective of others' beliefs about that evidence?
As philosophers seek to resolve such questions, neuroscientists are beginning to show how our beliefs (or at least certain beliefs based on certain perceptions) can be influenced, like it or not, by those of others. In an fMRI study reported here in the New York Times, researchers suggest that our visual perception can be influenced, outside our conscious awareness, by what we take to be the consensus views of others.
You'll have to follow the link to see the experiment, but here are some of the very sweeping concluding thoughts in the article:
In many areas of society - elections, for example, or jury trials - the accepted way to resolve conflicts between an individual and a group is to invoke the "rule of the majority." There is a sound reason for this: A majority represents the collective wisdom of many people, rather than the judgment of a single person.
But the superiority of the group can disappear when the group exerts pressure on individuals, Dr. Berns said.
The unpleasantness of standing alone can make a majority opinion seem more appealing than sticking to one's own beliefs.
If other people's views can actually affect how someone perceives the external world, then truth itself is called into question.
There is no way out of this problem, Dr. Ariely said.
But if people are made aware of their vulnerability, they may be able to avoid conforming to social pressure when it is not in their self-interest.
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