How Much Of Human Behavior is "Monkey See, Monkey Do"?

[Brian556]

Think about it. How much of human behavior and likes is monkey see, monkey do?

If people were more isolated, and less influenced by others, would they end up liking the same things?
There are several aspects of human behavior that I think are trashy, and people do them just because they see others doing them, so they think it's normal and ok. It's obvious that they do not think very deeply. From my perspective, it appears that a large percentage of the population is not intelligent enough to see why these things are not good.

I think a lot of people, especially teens and young adults, like things just because they see other people liking them ,and they do it to fit in. That is the only explanations I can come up with, especially when it comes to some of the god-awful music that alot of young people listen to. There is no way in hell that someone whom is a free thinker could listen to this crap and think "that sounds wonderful". They have to be thinking "my friends like this, so I have to like it too in order to fit in".

Having Asperger's, and not being very social has allowed me to have different likes than my peers. It allows me to think for myself, and decide what is good and bad on my own accord, and not like or do things just to look good in front of others.

Also, would people naturally like sports as much as they do? Or do they just watch and play them for the socialization aspect?

[wxfree]

Socialization is very important to human survival, which means that the more social humans are the ones who survived and reproduced, which means that trait gets carried on.  People who are considered crazy or psychopathic are sometimes just the ones who don't follow the social pattern.  It's necessary to agree to certain rules, and that need carries its influence over to less important and even mundane things.

Human nature is a very complex mixture of influences and tendencies.  Concluding that people do something because it's what other people do is simplistic.  That's an influence, but only one of many.

Human nature is still evolving.  We're still fighting to become truly intelligent and not bound to an animalistic nature that simply does what it's always done.  Some people aspire more than others do to make intelligent decisions and understand the meaning and purpose of their actions.  Progress takes time.

In considering human nature, with its immense beauty and immense ugly, I find it better not to assign valuation, to praise or condemn.  I just want to understand it.  To me, the social nature is not a failing, but a natural result of human history and an interesting characteristic to observe and learn from.

[intelati49]

One of my favorite research topics is "Music and the Brain." Aniruddh D. Patel is one of the leading researchers on this particular subject, and he has found that music is very much a learned behavior.

Long story short, we like what we listen to not because it sounds good, but because we were taught to enjoy it.


I'm not entirely sure if this fits in what you are saying, but I am a huge believer in "Standing on the shoulders of Giants." For the next few summers, I plan to take a look at the history of the roads in KC. Why were they built? What have the previous studies said to do with them? What are we able to do? And so on.

If you know something is a terrible idea, then why the @$%^& would you do it again?

[roadman65]

This is a controversial topic as many have their own theories on the subject.  However, seeing it everyday where everyone seems to copy the other and might does seem to right these days, makes me think that you stumbled on to something.

It seems like we all are on the bandwagon phallacy because we are afraid of thinking for ourselves, so we look to others to think for us instead.  I think that maybe what we are seeing.  I am not a major in human behavior nor have a PHD, but that is my best guess.

[jeffandnicole]

Overall, there's very few leaders.  Nearly everyone is a follower. Some don't want to put forth the energy to be a leader; some just want to be accepted by others.

So, how much?  I'll probably said 90-99% is Monkey See, Monkey Do.  Sure, they may do things on their own, but there's still an element of coping what they saw.

[vdeane]

How much of human behavior and likes is monkey see, monkey do?

Far too much for my taste.