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Then, our brain actively makes things worse by tricking us into seeing things in a way that lines up with the bullshit beliefs the group is spewing out, even when said beliefs are fundamentally stupid and wrong. The brain makes sure we conform by actually punishing us for voicing a minority opinion; every word that disagrees with the way the group is going makes the neurons in our amygdala shake in their boots and light up. Remember our anti-social, asshole geniuses from the first entry? Maybe their secret isn't that they are unclouded by emotion, but that they simply are more easily able to shrug off peer pressure.

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"Daniel, that is an excellent, well-thought suggestion, but I don't give a fuck what you think."

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Limiting the group size to two doesn't necessarily help, either, because the second you add another head in the mix, we have a tendency to become overconfident, which leads us to ignore outside advice and makes it difficult to change our opinion, even when experts tell us it's flat-out wrong. All you need is one person agreeing with you to convince yourself you're infallible.

Of course, in many cases you have to work with others simply because they have information and/or experience that you don't. This paradox is the reason why our culture simultaneously pounds us with morals emphasizing teamwork ("We can accomplish anything if we work together!") and individualism ("Would you jump off a bridge just because all of your friends did it?"). Whether or not you should go your own way or trust the group really depends on who turns out to be right, after the fact.

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"Hindsight, you son of biiiiiiii-"

Yeah, it's kind of amazing that we humans are able to get anything done.

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For more facts about our gray matter, check out 5 Ways to Hack Your Brain Into Awesomeness and The 6 Most Mind-Blowing Ways Your Brain Can Malfunction.

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