This is the Jocko underground podcast. Number 44, Echo, Charles sitting here with
me. I've been thinking a lot about this term. I
heard a little while ago, but it seems to just be more and more important and more impactful all the time. The term is social contagion. And it, you know, in a nutshell. It's like a fad, right? Take a fad, or
Thing. But you know when you think of fad you think of hula hoops, right? Or
Rubik's Cubes?
What you don't think of is something like suicide or
Cutting yourself, which is a thing that happens with people, they get into self-harm. So, I was just reading a little bit about it. Some excerpts here, from psychology today.com starts off with this little example in 1774. Johann Wolfgang, von golt.
Published a book called
The Sorrows of young Werther in the novel. The main character were there shoots himself with a
pistol after he's rejected by the woman. He loves
shortly after the book's publication. There were reports of young men, dressing in yellow pants, and Blue Jackets, like Werther and
shooting themselves in Acts of hopelessness. This result in the book being banned in several places.
Phenomenon of CopyCat suicides which has been verified numerous times by research in recent decades, has become known
as The Werther effect. We also heard Jordan Peterson. I think he talked about on what he was on our podcast.
If you have they have like experiments or they have data that when they put Suicide Prevention signs up in a town or in a city,
you know, call 1-800 if you're feeling depressed to help you get over.
Suicidal Thoughts, suicide increases because at dead ideas, getting in people's head. I guess that's not quite a social contagion. It's to me. That's the idea of this idea, getting into your head, being placed there.
The idea gets placed there and if the idea wouldn't have been placed there, it's like a little seed that gets planted and then it
grows.
And but when I think part of the social contagion
aspect is that right now there's so many ways that a seed can get planted in your
head right primarily social media. I mean, you can stare at this freakin little screen all day and have people pump ideas into your head.
Going back to this article, social contagion is more a general phenomenon, extending far beyond suicide. It is the spread of ideas, attitudes or patterns or behavior patterns in a group through imitation and Conformity among other
factors.
The American Psychological associations, definition of social contagion lists, a few of the of those processes. So you got the first one is imitation,
copying the behavior of another person, or group intentionally or unintentionally. That's interesting, right? That's not even intentional. You see what everyone's doing. You kind of go along with it. In some situations. There can be also be an element of mimicry in which people without conscious awareness or intent, automatically copy other people's physical
movements.
That's that happens. And you know, you hear like interrogators, they'll they'll mimic people's movements to kind of build some Rapport rip. Well, what's the word rapport rapport with them?
Yo, you put your hand on your head. I put my hand in your head. Kind of like show you that I'm along with you. Yeah.
Next one, Conformity and the pressure to conform Conformity is the adjustment of one's opinions judgements, or action, so that they become more consistent with the group. Boom. We all know about
that.
But are you aware of it? I think that's like the overall underlying thread of my thought through this is, are you aware of this stuff? Are you where that's happening? Are you aware that? You're imitating? People. Are you aware that they're conforming to their ideas. Are you aware of it? Are you thinking through things and actually questioning?
What you're doing, or you just going along with because you're unaware of the fact that it's
happening.
Next one, university university, tality, universality. Sorry universality, which refers to the tendency to assumes to assume. That one's attitudes or behaviors are common to everyone in the group and are permissible because everyone's doing
it. So everybody's doing
it.
As in the case of rule-breaking by a crowd or
mob, this has a disinhibitor effect as well as
reinforcing effect setting up a circle reaction. So
you do it. I do it. You see that I did it? You do it more. I do it more. We just go in this. This circular reaction.
And an entry and an enemy impulsivity and feelings of invincibility. Also play important rules in mob situation. So that's the, you know,
mobs is an example of this of this social
contagion. And so if you're in a mob, if you're in a group and you start doing things question, what you're doing, that's my underlying thread of this whole thing. That's what I've been asking
myself.
It goes on to this other section, some fat, some other
factors
mediating, social contagion might include the need for approval or affiliation, sharing the others goals or inferring or understanding their intentions and motivations being quote inspired.
And impressed by the other and in some cases trying to gain recognition or even notoriety by surpassing the quote, accomplishment of the other.
As in the case of antisocial Psychopathic acts such as mass shootings.
You know, you see that with like, kids drinking alcohol. Yeah, adults, too, but I have a sorry adults, drinking alcohol. Yeah. Yes, I go. I'm gonna drink more than you know, I played that game before.
It's a dumb game to play. It's social contagion. I should have been saying myself. Why are you doing
this right now? Yeah. What are you doing in China? We trying to prove something to do. We try to prove their buddy. This is an interesting one. Emotional Contagion.
College doing this
all the time, right? The rapid spread of an emotion from one or a few individuals to others as in a political Rally or a sports Stadium packed with fans, or even just a room full of friends. So your emotions are contagious
which, you know, from a leadership perspective.
We say that all the time. Hey, if you start to
panic, everyone start to panic. If you remain calm, everyone start to remain. Calm?
But man, if you can get, if you allow yourself to get caught up in this stuff
without being aware of it to me. That's a problem.
Groupthink the next one group think as may
occur, for example, in political organizations or in corporations, in which cohesiveness or the desire for cohesiveness within a group
produces a tendency among its members to agree at all costs,
which leads the group to minimize
conflict and reach consensus without critical evaluation
without critical evaluation. Sounds good to me as what we're doing. As you know, you you always
make that comment. That's what we're doing sir, you know.
That's what we're doing. Hey, that's what we're doing. Yeah, you're you're on board. I'm down for the cause. You know, would you do that? Remember when you did your parents ever said you? If your friends wrote off a cliff, would you follow them? You know what? That is though, really? And it makes you kind of put this into perspective a little bit, really? When because, when your parents say that to you, it's like, they're putting it into perspective that you're just freaking following the group and not critically, thinking about it. What else did say that to you? Yes, sir. Okay. Yeah, plenty times.
And I and I was just like whatever. I didn't think too much about two later when I was an adult. I
think my parents were mostly telling me like hey,
you should do it. Other people I doing everything settle down. I can't you just act like everybody else. Why do you got to be over here? They wanted me to be more conforming and more, more group think they're telling you. Hey jump off a bridge, do something normal. Yeah. Everything's normal. That's a little like, I, you know, I was like a straight edge kid. Yes.
I was at that was not normal, you know, the normal kids were out, you know, smoking some weed
smoking, cigarette, smoking cloves, remember cloves, they might not have made it to you a 0. Close the, well, it was like a thing. Not know what the 80s. Do. Rabbits babies. You know what? I smoke it cloves. So when you were straight edge, how old were you about? You know, and here's the thing. We've kind of gone through this before. So straight edges like a whole like legitimate movement and there's factions in and all this kind of stuff.
Off when you get turned on to the philosophy. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean I was
like between the eight. This is for me between the ages of like probably 11 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 18. I'm in the I'm in the Navy.
So when when were people like smoking cigarettes or smoking weed or well, let's say 12,
13, 14, 15 16 by. That's crazy. Right?
Well, I don't know that. Oh, I've heard that before too, but I don't know. Maybe I was in a bubble or what, but there would be people smoking.
Who were like 13, 14, 15 years old and that was just crazy. I was like, hey for everyone. Yeah, they're like true. That's crazy. Smoking weed. No kids that I knew of real till like, maybe senior year taihei education. Yeah, that I saw anyway,
I tell you what, nowadays. It's crazy. Like kids are into all that kind of crap at a young age. Hmm. But I was in that mode.
And most very few people other people, you know, most of the kids, most of the kids that were like my age and they were, you know, smoked some weed, drinking some booze, you know, getting after it in that
continue on here members of a group can, can often feel peer pressure to go along with the crowd for fear of rocking the boat or out of concern for their teammates perceptions of them. Cool, peer pressure. We get that
presence of a highly.
Influential domineering authoritative role model.
That's when people are just going along because, you know, like whatever the big, the big leaders doing it.
The human propensity to be strongly swayed by compelling narratives. Oh good story. Guys,
got personal going to concern.
That's why you see advertisers use that kind of stuff stories. Yeah. Yeah stories to make you think a certain way. They do a good job sometimes too. Yeah, I think something sometimes sometimes there's commercials that you go that they did a good job on
that one, but that's what I think. I always think. I don't think. Wow. I want to buy that product. I said man that ever does a good job will
Because I'm questioning these bastards.
Yeah,
because I'm a, I'm probably the worst person to
advertise to. Yeah, I'm such a jerk when it comes to people trying to get me to do
shit. Isn't that kind? Doesn't that kind of in the maybe something just think of, isn't that kind of like an opening to advertise to you even more effectively though, because you're kind of rigid in that way. I mean, we can argue about the semantics of it like rigidity. But if you're like the worst guy to advertise to, all you got to do is basically find the
the correct way to advertise unit might be super highly influential. You
know, I'm someone pulls that off. It'll be probably be
devastated. Probably buying, whatever, you know, Flowbee, haircutting, vacuum thing for your head. Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by every little, what is it? I don't even know the difference between a sizing and marketing. Leaving marketing. Might be some technical thing. Yeah, but let's say a marketing campaign to get Jocko to not do
something to get me to not do
something. Yeah, that's like not a typical thing, right?
Leah commercial is going to want you to do something. Usually unless you have these like causes or whatever, but I think someone could get you. They'd be like, all I got to do is launch this campaign. Oh, they could use reverse psychology. Exactly, right? Yeah. Exactly.
It's what I think. So I'm going to beware of reverse psychology. Yeah. That's someone's gonna go. Do not try this. You will not like this dis
drink. Yeah. And then not show bunch of stories that you like basically disagree with or show bunch.
Of people that you're like, can't relate to or something. You're like, I'm not like them so much of
can't relate. Yeah. I just very easy to
do and This falls into suggestibility. The social social contagion is
accelerated by a high degree of suggestibility. Suggestibility is a
hypotonic highly potent underestimated force with manifestations, extending far beyond, social contagion. What is suggestibility? Suggestibility is the quality of being inclined to accept and
act on.
The suggestions of others or
being easily influenced by other
people's opinions. It also usually applies implies a state of uncritical compliance with an influence. This is so
I think to what you were trying to say about me a second ago. This is where
I think I have a like a tendency just to be like I'm not listening to this person that's in trying to make me do something. Yeah. I have a real
that'll piss me off.
Now I'll look I'm not out of control with it. I'm not like you
but I definitely am
aware that. My first reaction is going to be a push back because I don't
show that but that's my internal mental reaction is a little push back.
Like I have to kind of keep it in check so I can actually listen to what people have to say, but it's a it's a little bit of a, you know,
internal discussion in my head,
these manifestations of social contagion and suggestibility are wide-ranging. Here are a few
examples in the mental health field.
In which a problem probably
has been at least Amplified by
social.
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