Just as I wrote about Aversion, I came across this chapter in the book I’m currently reading—Quiet by Susan Cain.
In general, the chapter discusses how solitude is important for fostering creativity and references quite a few experiments that support this claim. One experiment showed that humans are naturally programmed to follow the herd; even if a statement is objectively wrong, people will believe it as long as the person making the statement sounds confident and convincing.
What’s even more shocking is that, by studying brain activity, researchers found that people conform not because they want to be nice, but because their perception of the situation genuinely shifts toward the incorrect information.
There are some who stand up against the incorrect information, and in their brains, this correlates with activities that make them feel unpleasant. This further reinforces my own confirmation bias: speaking against the norm, even when it is wrong and you are right, is no easy feat and induces unpleasantness and, to a certain extent, pain that only you would understand. A contrarian, for better or worse, is destined to walk the lonely path, at least in mainstream society.