Unshared Beliefs are Dangerous

Hot take! Opinions you hold in private, but don’t share publicly are dangerous to healthy communities. I recently got the chance to listen to author Todd Rose speak on this very topic of hidden common beliefs. I’ve become a fan of his work lately, including his book Collective Illusions, which dives into complexities of human behavior like this. 

What is a collective illusion? It’s any situation where people in a group go along with a belief that they don’t agree with because they incorrectly believe the group believes it. 

Humans behave this way more often than you know (SEE: illusion). 

“Authenticity” is a term thrown around much more often than it’s practiced to the point that its meaning may be muddled at this point. At the basis of the idea of authenticity, is that what you’re presenting is congruent to what you think, feel, and believe. Presenting incongruently? That’s inauthenticity. 

When we do this in groups, a damaging thing happens. The loudest, most often shared perspectives appear to be the majority view. It polarized reality and people even begin to mimic extreme beliefs they don’t even share because it seems as though it’s what everyone feels. 

The good news is that if we talk to one another, we’ll find out the truth, which is that we agree on much more than it seems. And, “they” aren’t nearly as different as it seems.