Explanation
A possible explanation for communal reinforcement is cryptomnesia, literally meaning, and hidden memory. The term was coined by psychology professor Théodore Flournoy (1854-1921) and is used to explain the origin of experiences that people believe to be original but which are actually based on memories of events they've forgotten. It seems likely that most so-called past life regressions induced through hypnosis are confabulations fed by cryptomnesia. Cryptomnesia may also explain how the apparent plagiarism of such people as Helen Keller or George Harrison of the Beatles might actually be cases of hidden memory. Harrison didn't intend to plagiarize the Chiffon's "He's So Fine" in "My Sweet Lord." Nor did Keller intend to plagiarize Margaret Canby's "The Frost Fairies" when she wrote "The Frost King." Both may simply be cases of not having a conscious memory of their experiences of the works in question.
Communal reinforcement is much like social norms, in that they can influence behavior only if people conform to them. Most of the time, people conform for one of two reasons: informational social influence, following the opinions or behavior of other people because we believe that they have accurate knowledge and that what they are doing is right, and normative social influences, conforming to obtain the reward that comes from being accepted by other people while at the same time avoiding their rejection. Like in experiments made by Solomon Asch (1951-1956) about conformity using groups of college student, it was found that after the task was over, some participants told the experimenter that they felt the group was wrong but went along avoid making waves and suffering possible rejections. Results of Asch’s experiment also show that variable such as the size of the group and the presence of a dissenter can have an effect on a person’s willingness to conform. Memory is a reconstructive process, in which we can’t remember all details, so we keep key details and “fill-in the blanks” to make a complete story. So if the suggested idea that the community reinforces is challenged, people’s memories and opinions of certain events will change as well.
Read more about this topic: Communal Reinforcement
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