Group polarization is a phenomenon in social psychology in which members of a group tend to make decisions or adopt attitudes that are more extreme than individuals would on their own. There has been research conducted on this topic since the 1960’s that began with James Stoner. As an MIT student at the time, Stoner discovered that a group’s decisions were often riskier on average than the individual decisions before the group met. In the early studies, the “risky-shift phenomenon” was measured with a questionnaire independently and then were asked to reassess their choices in a group setting which resulted in riskier decisions in the group setting.
The major theories associated with this include the normative influence and the informational influence. According to the normative influence theory, individuals will subconsciously change their change their ideas and opinions in a group to fit in and be accepted. The other theory is based around informational influence in which people will be increasingly convinced of their own views when they hear persuasive arguments that support their position.
In today’s day and age, unfortunately, it is easy to be have beliefs that are on extreme ends especially in internet groups and forums. Studies show that in realms like Facebook and Twitter, group polarization can occur without the physical presence of other people. As long as there is a group of people with similar fundamental opinions, group polarization is likely to occur. In a study by Sarita Yardi and Danah Boyd, the researchers found that individuals associate with other most like themselves online. In Twitter, particularly, individuals are exposed to multiple points of views but replies between like-minded individuals strengthen group identity and thus, distinctly illustrates an in-group and an out-group. Despite being exposed to more viewpoints, there is limited ability for meaningful discussion as group polarization occurs and the replies that support one’s ideas reinforce one’s opinion.
As of now, the culture we reside in encourages herd mentality and group polarization in which we agree with everything that comes are way from those that have similar beliefs or we disagree with everything that is from dissimilar individuals. This limits everyone’s ability to approach and discuss matters in fruitful manners. Instead, a lot of what we see on Facebook groups involves people reinforcing each other and tearing others apart without really evaluating the behavior, attitudes, or information presented. If we observe our UC Berkeley’s Facebook confessions page, there are tons of yes-men, there are tons of people whose opinions are way too easily swayed by false information, there are tons of people whose extreme political or racist views are applauded because it’s the opinion that pleases people’s ears. While social media has the potential to expose us to a variety of perspectives, it is up to us as individuals to challenge our own beliefs consistently and evaluate the new information we gather to see if our beliefs are valid.
Now, in focusing on the idea of group polarization in your personal life, it is important to evaluate how group polarization plays a role in religion, friendships, political stances, and how you determine your beliefs. Within your friendships, there may be “yes-men” who stand there and support everything you do which is amazing but consider if they give you a standing ovation when you do things that are extreme. It would be much more beneficial to have friends who tell you the truth if what you are doing is harmful to yourself or harmful to others instead of a friendship that is based on mutual “happiness”. If you were born into religion, evaluate what it is that your religion stands for and evaluate your own beliefs separately to see what it is you truly believe. Same for politics. Instead of aligning so strongly with a political group that you fail to understand why it is that you take a certain stance on each particular issue, learn as much as you can about each issue and back up your beliefs with knowledge.
To this, I end on one note. Each of us has experienced group polarization in one way or another in our life and will continue to do so. In every single opportunity, we must dig deep and figure out not just what our beliefs are but what we are truly standing for.