Majority Rules!

Summary: A new study shows that toddlers around 2 years old and chimpanzees are more inclined to do the same as everyone else when more than three friends or members of the group are doing it. They would rather follow three or more of their friends than one of their friends who does something over three times. The experiment was that there was a box with three different colored holes. The objective was to drop a ball into one of the holes and then receive a treat. (Orangutans were also tested). They went one after another, and were allowed to watch their friends to see which ones they picked. The studies showed that the 2-year-olds and the chimpanzees picked the color hole that were most favored by their associates. The orangutans chose at random – they didn’t care who chose what. Critique: Personally, I think it is interesting how toddlers and chimpanzees have the same range of thinking. This is another example of how they’re just like humans. Recently, things like this about animals who behave like humans are fascinating to me. It’s also common sense, though isn’t it? If your building is on fire and you see everyone else running, you’re going to run too, regardless of whether or not you’re aware that anything’s wrong. The fact is that if you see everyone else running with a panicked look on their face, you’ll understand that something is wrong. This is different from if one person runs fearfully away from something three times in one day. At that point, you just think they’re out of their mind and leave things at that. Impact: When you’re a toddler, you basically have no idea what’s going on. You do what you want unless someone tells you otherwise. I would think it relatively easy to follow other people because it’s more work to lead. We all know we’re lazy deep inside, and that we’d rather be sleeping or watching some show on TV rather than working. Toddlers usually know in the back of their mind where everything comes from. If they see three people using blocks or something, they’re going to think that there must be something cool about what they’re doing. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120412121353.htm