[laretluval]

Not only that, but in many cases conformity to group ideas will lead to better outcomes than individual thinking. The world is complicated, and you as an individual probably don't really have the time or brain resources to figure it all out from scratch. But group norms have evolved over time, incorporating the experiences and knowledge of many people. See [1] for many examples.

Of course, in the modern world group norms may not have caught up with our rapidly changing environment, so there are likely to be more cases where individual thinking can improve things. There should clearly be a balance between following the group and thinking for yourself; neither is good on its own.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Our-Success-Evolution-Domestic...

[pdonis]

> group norms have evolved over time, incorporating the experiences and knowledge of many people

While this can often be true, it's not always true. Furthermore, it's often a testable hypothesis, and in those cases, it should be tested, not just assumed.

Also, the "conformity" case in the article involves a group of people (the confederates trying to manipulate the unwitting test-taker) who are violating a common norm (namely, that the normal behavior of people when a fire alarm goes off and smoke is seen is to get out, not calmly continue going about their business). So that case is not testing "how well do you follow group norms that make sense"; it's testing "how willingly will people follow a group that is doing something that obviously does not make sense". That's a different thing.

[api]

I look at it this way: a contrarian opinion is a high risk high benefit thing. A contrarian is more likely to be wrong and it takes more effort to arrive at a correct contrarian opinion than to pick a correct conforming one, but if you are right it’s possible that you can obtain some large payoff such as investing early in a winner or selling near the top of a bubble.

[dlo]

Yes!!!