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  3. A new study uses advanced brain-scanning technology to east light on a topic that psychologists have puzzled over for more than

A new study uses advanced brain-scanning technology to east light on a topic that psychologists have puzzled over for more than

admin2013-04-15  54
问题    A new study uses advanced brain-scanning technology to east light on a topic that psychologists have puzzled over for more than half a century: social conformity.
    The study was based on a famous series of laboratory experiments from the 1950’s by a social psychologist, Dr. Solomon Asch.
    In those early studies, the subjects were shown two cards. On the first was a vertical line. On the second were three lines, one of them the same length as that on the first card.
    Then the subjects were asked to say which two lines were alike, something that most 5-year-olds could answer correctly.
    But Dr. Asch added a twist. Seven other people, in cahoots with the researchers, also examined the lines and gave their answers before the subjects did. And sometimes these confederates intentionally gave the wrong answer.
    Dr. Asch was astonished at what happened next. After thinking hard, three out of four subjects agreed with the incorrect answers given by the confederates at least once. And one in four conformed 50 percent of the time.
    Dr, Asch, who died in 1996, always wondered about the findings. Did the people who gave in to group do so knowing that their answers were wrong? Or did the social pressure actually change their perceptions?
    The new study tried to find an answer by using functional M.R.I. scanners that can peer into the working brain, a technology not available to Dr. Asch.
    As in Dr. Asch’s experiments, many of the subjects caved in to group pressure. On average, Dr. Berns said, they went along with the group on wrong answers 41 percent of the time.
    "We like to think that seeing is believing, but the study’s findings show that seeing is believing what the group tells you to believe."
    The implications of the study’s findings are huge, Dr. Berns said.
    In many areas of society—elections, for example, or jury trials—the accepted way to resolve conflicts between an individual and a group is to invoke the "rule of the majority." There is a sound reason for this: A majority represents the collective wisdom of many people, rather than the judgment of a single person.
    But the superiority of the group can disappear when the group exerts pressure on individuals, Dr. Berns said.
    The unpleasantness of standing alone can make a majority opinion seem more appealing than sticking to one’s own beliefs.
Why did so many subjects give incorrect answers?
选项 A、They failed to judge the length of the lines.
B、They wouldn’t like to stick to their own beliefs.
C、They preferred to act in accord with prevailing social attitudes.
D、They wouldn’t like their working brains to be investigated by M.R.I. scanners.
答案C
解析 见文章最后1段，与其坚持己见带来不快，还不如顺从大多数人的看法。
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