Suggestibility, Conformity, and Admiration for Experts and Authorities

In many areas of inquiry, having an open mind and possessing
a healthy skepticism won’t be sufficient to produce the most
reasonable beliefs. In areas where we are not competent to
make reasonable judgments, we must rely on experts and
authorities. It is essential, therefore, that we learn how to use
intelligently the claims of authorities and experts. This may be
difficult since we may be vulnerable to certain tricks of persuasion. Psychologist Robert Thouless writes:
The psychological fact of suggestion is the fact that if statements are made again and again in a confident manner,
without argument or proof, then their hearers will tend to believe them independently of their soundness and of the
presence or absence of evidence for their truth. More particularly will his hearers tend to accept the suggestions of a
speaker if he has what we may call ‘prestige’--the acknowledged dignity of authority possessed by senators, bishops,
prize fighters, successful authors, and other famous men (Thouless 1950: 57-58).
If I said in an impressive tone of voice, on my authority as a psychologist, that there are or are not such things as
ghosts, or that our souls are or are not immortal, I could succeed in influencing a great many suggestible people,
although a moment’s reflection should convince them that I have exactly the same right to an opinion on such
subjects as they have themselves and no more (Thouless 1950: 70-71).
Authorities themselves do much to perpetuate their power and convince the rest of us that it is a good thing to
accept their claims uncritically. One reason we tend to accept claims solely on the authority of experts is that the
experts themselves have repeatedly asserted that it is good for us to do so.
Another writer on the subject of the mind’s susceptibility to suggestion, Giles St. Aubyn, writes
Susceptibility to suggestion is one of the consequences of man’s gregariousness. He tends to accept statements and
opinions that are constantly repeated, whether there are grounds for believing them or not . . . .Our suggestibility
involves us in a great deal of illogical thinking because it encourages us to accept ideas and opinions uncritically,
without examining the evidence for or against them. Human suggestibility arises from a deeply rooted instinct to
respond to the herd. If several wolves are to maneuver as one, every wolf must instantly conform to the needs of the
pack. The individual’s sensitivity to such requirements is the essence of gregariousness. But man’s instinctive desire
to conform is fundamentally unreasonable, because it encourages him to accept as self-evident ideas prevalent in the
community in which he happens to live (St. Aubyn 1962: 57).
If we have a strong inclination to conform, then we would tend to desire agreement rather than disagreement
with others. Desiring agreement with others, we would be less likely to challenge them than if we had a
stronger inclination to get at the truth. On the other hand, desiring agreement would also lead us to devise ways
to keep others from disagreeing with us. There seems to be a strong connection between the tendency to
conform and the tendency of authorities and those with power to encourage us to think and act uncritically.
We’re all aware of how parents, teachers, and friends, use fear and guilt to persuade and manipulate us when
reason and evidence are lacking. We’ve all seen the effects of stating publicly a viewpoint that is not popular.
Still, despite St. Aubyn’s claim that the desire to conform is fundamentally unreasonable, conformity is
essential for social creatures to co-exist peacefully. As children, for example, we had to put our trust in our parents,
teachers, and leaders in order to survive and grow into mature adults. The problem, in other words, is not suggestibility,
authority, prestige, or conformity. The problem is in the perversion of the need to trust authorities and to
conform. The problem is finding the right point at which we should become an independent thinker.
The natural and usually beneficial tendency to conform can, when misdirected or unreflectively applied, lead
us to accept uncritically the ideas of friends, colleagues and relatives. Accepting their views makes us acceptable to
them: to believe is to belong. Accepting their views makes us one of them: to believe is to become more prestigious
in our own eyes. Accepting their views means we can stop thinking or worrying about one more thing: to believe is
to be more comfortable.