Why We Follow Trends

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(This is my 100th weekly blog. Thank you to my readers – those who read them regularly and those who look at them occasionally. I hope they’re helpful in the search for God. A special thanks to those who have provided feedback. If you have comments or suggestions, please use the blog to provide them or e-mail me at carneyconsulting@msn.com. With the publication of last week’s blog, I’ve had 15,043 page views or about 152 page views per week, a number which has changed very little in the past year or so. It’s far from “viral,” but I’ll take it gratefully.) 

Years ago, when my wife’s 18-year-old niece was visiting from Colombia, we went to a basketball game at the high school my children attended. The niece was sitting on the bleachers with us and suddenly during half-time, she got up and walked across the middle of the basketball floor to talk to somebody on the other side.

I was struck by how unusual that behavior was compared to that of most American high school kids, who out of sheer embarrassment, would never do such a thing. If the high school girls, especially, went to the restroom or to buy something from the concession stand, they always did so in a group, trying to be inconspicuous, seldom going anywhere without their friends.

The need to be accepted, to belong – and to be seen as belonging – is, perhaps, never as strong as during our teen years. Following trends is, I believe, another way of expressing this need, and teens are especially sensitive to it.

Adults are not immune, of course. After being teased by my wife and daughter about my skirt-like, wide-legged jeans, I finally bought a pair of the narrow-legged version, and feel "cooler" as a result.

We all know that trends are superficial, ultimately meaningless criteria for behavior, but we follow them anyway. We want the latest Apple watch, the latest style of shoes, home décor and cars and we want others to know that we have them.

Last week, I wrote about a new Pew Research Center study that, not-surprisingly, showed that fewer Americans call themselves Christian and that more of us identify as atheist and agnostic.

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It’s worth remembering that polls are both informative and normative. They reflect what we think and believe and they influence what we think and believe. Part of the dissatisfaction with religion expressed in the Pew study can surely be ascribed to previous trends the Pew and other studies have shown.

This is not to say that people who answered the poll’s questions are insincere, but many people – both faithful believers and and non-believers – want to think and believe what others think and believe.

The fact that 70 percent of Americans call themselves Christian doesn’t mean you should do so, nor should you be dissatisfied with religion because of the decrease. And this in no way is meant to disparage polls. They help us know what people are thinking, and that’s a good thing.

But why is following trends so important to humans?

Stanford Psychology Professor Philip Zimbardo, about whom I’ve written before in this blog, is famous for having conducted experiments in which subjects took roles of prisoner and prison guard that resulted in the book, “The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil.” This is what I found on Zimbardo’s web site.

“Informative conformity often occurs in situations in which there is high uncertainty and ambiguity. …The actions of others inform us of the customs and accepted practices in a situation. Others inform us of what is right to do, how to behave in new situations.

“In addition to conforming to the group norms due to lack of knowledge, we also conform when we want to be liked by the group…. Though we may disagree secretly with the group opinion, we may verbally adopt the group stance so that we seem like a team player rather than a deviant.”

Dr. Gregory Berns, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Atlanta's Emory University, on ABC’s Primetime had another take on conformity. He used the example of the great number of Germans who followed Adolf Hitler down the path to death and destruction and the conformist behavior it exhibited.

Berns did brain experiments showing that subjects’ brains scrambled messages – "people actually believed what others told them they were seeing, not what they saw with their own eyes. What that suggests is that what people tell you – if enough people are telling you – can actually get mixed in with what your own eyes are telling you."

I believe conformity also offers an evolutionary advantage, as it does for many animals whose survival depends on acceptance by and membership in a group.

Many may see belonging to a religion as the ultimate conformity in today’s society. To me, clinging to God and religion despite doubts is looking more and more non-conformist. Following a trend may be OK in choosing jeans or cars but not for bigger, broader questions, such as whether God exists, whether he/she has interest in me and whether religion can help in the search for God.