To think we're all socially conditioned

[justaquerie]

Sometimes I feel as though the whole world has been hypnotised to comply with social norms and programmed to perform in a way that complies with their strict social conditioning and somehow when this happened I didn't get put under and am watching people bending over backwards to show how they are conforming and doing everything right as they are terrified of any judgement while looking for mistakes others make and highlighting them to the world so they can be shamed.

I completely expect to be told it's just me and that I must be some kind of rebel because it's weird to question it.

...do you have an example?

Covid has shown this up 100%. It’s clear most will do as they are told. No questions asked. They report others who they see as bending the rules. They enjoy doing it I suspect. It leads to fear and the separation of society. Not good as nations in the past have discovered.

What is the "this happened" that you refer to?

Of course we are socially conditioned. That’s why we have rules and laws. Maybe you are trying to make a wider point about how society is moving from conditioning to bullying, I’m not sure. But on the social conditioning element, yes that’ how human societies have always been set up.

If you exclude the reporting of others who don’t conform what exactly do you mean? Surely we’re meant to conform to government guidelines for the greater good. We’re a democracy. We vote in MP’s and then abide by their guidelines.

Of course we are socially conditioned, it's a well known fact. It used to amuse me watching people in meetings, you will notice the majority sitting a certain way, subconsciously copying each other, whether it be sitting forward, leaning back, crossing legs etc. Then out and about you will notice people copying trends, the long straightened hair and full make up look, long nails and holding bag on inside crook of elbow etc. Its a geographical thing too, women copying trends in one area look silly in another. Same with social distancing rules. Some never left the house, others took advantage of what they could do...it was all about finding a level of balance.
It's the same with class, some kids see it as a norm to go to uni, others in different lower classes would see that as weird.

Of course we are socially conditioned. It'd be fucking chaos if we weren't.

We're conditioned in all sorts of ways. Think of how pre Covid, there was this expectation people should be out doing things at weekends and how reluctant people often were to say they weren't doing anything, for fear of being perceived as "boring". Now look at how we're being encouraged to go back out there. A lot of people have been way happier (and equally, if not more, productive) working from home. Yet Boris is now saying he wants people back in offices so they're out buying lunch! We're conditioned to be part of the rat race to keep the economy afloat. Only now people have seen the other side, and yes some hate it and can't wait to get back to it, but others are now questioning how they lived before this and how they want to live going forward.

Yes of course we are. A society's social norms are extremely powerful. Most people don't question it but when I've been to other countries such as India you really notice cultural differences and can clearly see how we've been conditioned to blindly accept the rules and norms of our own society (as have they and all other cultures). Surely everyone knows we are all a product of our own time, country, culture etc?

Any creature that lives in a society is socially conditioned. That's kinda what society is!

Your feeling of being a "rebel" lol is also very, very normal - about 70% of the population thinks that they're the only ones who can see the world for how it is, and that everyone else is a mindless follower. That's also part of the human condition.

Wasn’t this a black mirror episode?

You’re right to a certain degree though, but I think you hold extreme/exaggerated views. No one has been hypnotised & people disobey societal norms all the time with being terrified - in fact most of the threads on AIBU are about people unreasonably disobeying societal norms

It's the nature of human relationships. Humans are hardwired to want to belong to groups. This gives us a sense of common purpose. It's what makes us so successful as a species, as it allows us to collaborate and achieve more than we would as individuals. Unfortunately, it's also why we have gangs, religions, and wars.

As we've become more self-aware, our desire to assert our individuality has grown and now conflicts with this desire to belong to a group.

I'm much happier now not mixing with annoying people. I missed it at first but not any more.

Errr yes, this is how society works. You need laws (these can be laws in the literal sense of the word or more generally normative behaviours) with a high rate of compliance. This can occur for a number of reasons ranging from @Blackdog19’S point of view at one end and those who just can’t be arsed with the consequences of breach at the other with a lot in between. This can be applied to everything from criminal codes to the insistence that a gold coin with a silver coin in the middle is worth two to three chocolate bars.

Yes we're socially conditioned. That's why we have the term.

That's why women shave their legs.

It's why the accepted rules of behaviour for groups of people differ in different times and places.

It's why we put up with very clear inequality and injustice.

I could go on. But yes. We are.

Of course we are. There are social norms and expectations, that is how society runs for better or for worse. Absolutely agree that some can be very rigid and restrictive which make you feel like an outsider if you don't fit into them - but if there were none everything would be completely feral.

Isn't it human nature though, throughout human communities world wide through human history?

Don’t kid yourself Op - you’re socially conditioned too - just like the rest of us. (Unless you’re living in a tent in the middle of nowhere without any human interactions).

Do you mean social conditioning, or critical thought OP?

Social conditioning is necessary to avoid mayhem.

Critical thought is looking beyond what you're being told to do or think, to why that's the case and draw an independent (and hopefully informed) conclusion.

The latter is in short supply.

Of course, its how we can function as a society.

If you want to wander around central london smothered head to toe in your own poop, you can, nothing illegal per se but social norms thankfully stop people form doing that.

We are social animals who live in groups so of course we have societal norms.

Yeah, but on the upside it allows those clever people thay have spotted this to rise above the rest of humanity and feel immensely superior!

Come on op, come and tell us your flavour of anarchy and how you are above social conditioning.

Of course we're socially conditioned.

We have been since we were cave people. It's how the human race survived. If there was no social conditioning, we'd have died out millennia ago.
We're innately programmed to be social beings, for the sake of our own survival. Nothing wrong with that, it's just what we are.

If social conditioning (or societal expectations) breaks down, it would descend into absolute chaos.
Think back to the panic shopping from mid-March. That's what happens when societal expectations suddenly go haywire - everyone goes nuts.

It isn't news OP, that is how a structured society functions. You absolutely will adhere to the same even if you think ypu notice a few examples of things others conform to that you think you don't.

I think some very vague thoughts about the above hardly make you a 'rebel' . You and most of the population probably think everyone else is the same and they are different/see the truth of the matter. Presumably because what we think will always make more sense to us than what someone else does. People are hardwired to want to feel they are special.

What examples led you to thinking you are wired differently to others?