On 03/29/2016 04:16 PM, Robert Wall wrote:
Following on to Dave's thoughts on the relationship between anonymity and freedom to express non-conforming opinions or behaviors, we can liken those vehicles with totally blackened windows that allow some of their drivers to have their basic, innate rudeness travel with them with impunity and anonymity. [For anecdotal evidence of this psychological phenomenon see for example this study at http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/undergrad/ptacc/anonymity-driving-behavior.pptx]
According to Zhong & others (2010), "Even dimmed lighting or wearing sunglasses increases people’s perceived anonymity, and thus their willingness to cheat or behave selfishly."
I've always hated sunglasses and been suspicious of people who wear them. I've never really known why. Growing up in Texas meant lots and lots of my friends wore them almost any time they went outside. I always thought it had something to do with intimacy. I just had a sense that sunglass wearers were narcissistic somehow, like making eye contact was irritating to them. Of course, this is all conflated with the idea that some people are sensitive to light, some wore prescription sunglasses, some were too lazy to take them off when going inside or into the shade, those trying to hide blood-shot eyes, etc. Anyway, I had to look up the article: Good lamps are the best police: darkness increases dishonesty and self-interested behavior. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20424061 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100301122344.htm I had a similar (but milder, I think) sense for tea-totallers, people who _conspicuously_ refuse to drink alcohol. I feel like I got this from my dad's side of the family (Prussian descendants) ... and it may be related to the sunglasses thing, since, when they make a toast, it's imperative to make eye contact while drinking, as well as not putting the drink down without taking a drink after a toast. Either transgression was fairly serious. They simply didn't trust you if you put your drink down without drinking or if yo8u fail to make eye contact during a toast. If you made some polite excuse for not having an alcoholic drink (like your prescriptions or your spouse will get mad at you), it was (merely) adequate to toast with other liquids. But if you _asserted_ something like "I don't drink" or something anti-social like that, you were not (merely) untrustworthy. You became (and usually stayed) an outsider. Again, though, it's all about the subjective estimate of consequences. People who don't care about or understand those consequences, don't feel any pressure to conform. -- ⇔ glen ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
