Why group norms beat individual intent

Behaviour Change

Decision-Making

The normal behavior of the tribe often overpowers the desired behavior of the individual. For example, one study found that when a chimpanzee learns an effective way to crack nuts open as a member of one group and then switches to a new group that uses a less effective strategy, it will avoid using the superior nut cracking method just to blend in with the rest of the chimps.

Humans are similar. There is tremendous internal pressure to comply with the norms of the group.

Excerpt from

Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones

by James Clear

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Behavioural principles

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

Short, plain-English explanations of the principles behind this post, with links to related books and examples in the archive.

We copy the group, especially when we are unsure what to do.

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Small hassles and extra steps can sharply reduce action.

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Habit formation

Repetition in a stable context makes behaviour more automatic.

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