Under the influence...

Today I have been thinking about Influence.
I have always been easily influenced. It's nothing I hide.

If you told me a band was great, revolutionary, and should be held in the utmost esteem I would probably believe you... without even knowing the bands name or hearing a song they had done. My mind thinks, "why would this not be true?"

I would equally come back the next day and tell you they are rubbish, "why?" you might ask, and I would reply, "Because my friend told me".

It may, however, take more then a brief statement to believe this bad were revolutionary.

This example sounds a little extreme, which is probably because it is a bit, but the actuality is that it lies in personal fact. It's probably a good thing that I haven't had the chance to Vote or get roped into any political regimes or it might go something like "Oh you say your the best party? Your going to change Britain? Well I will jolly well come along and join this BNP of which you speak!" (See: Nazi's)

Yeh!... Wait, What were our political ideologies again?

I think the reason behind me giving into influence is simply that I have always strove to be accepted. I always put on an innocent face when being confronted by people for the first time, I hate first impressions, their possibly the worst thing in the world for me. If I meet someone for the first time its not unusual for me to start threating over what this person is running through their mind. "He's weird, he's strange, he's boring, he talks to much, he talks to little, he has no interests, why should I like him? who actually is he? when will he go away?" when they could, quite possibly, be thinking the exact same thing, or have just thought I am 'nice guy', or perhaps they didn't really care about me. NB: This 'stranger' can be anyone, even someone I will only meet once in my life, yes I care that much

Not quite the Stranger I meant.

Now in contrast to this I myself am quite a judging person and it's probably that which got me into Psychology. I like to think, and heres my modesty in the matter, that I am good at 'getting' people. Put me in a room for a while with someone and I like to think I would come out knowing pretty much how they tick. My mother thinks she does this so it might be genetic (though Mothers often think they know things which they quite clearly don't. They have this sort of motherly method of analysing reality where they think it's impossible that their Son is open to drugs, has had sex before marriage, or has in fact got a mind of their own that has entirely different values in some respects). So far nobody has really surprised me that much. When sitting there and thinking "This person isn't very nice" it doesn't take long for them to prove that my thoughts are quite correct. You know the moments when people say "Well I never expected him to do a thing like that!" I am normally thinking "I knew he was going to do that right from the start". Perhaps I am not as gullible as I first thought... Who knows? This doesn't sound at all modest and I hate sounding big headed but... thats what I think. So I suppose it that sense we are all quite easily influenced. Milgram, Ashe, and Zimbardo would probably back me up on this. Them being intellectual psychology type fella's. Most people conform, few deviate. Simple.

I am usually the first in line to conform (though Churches have never roped me in). Sometimes I think "Cor! What fun! Fighting the system! Wish I could do that! Down with Capitalism!" But often I just shake my head thinking "I actually quite like Capitalism". I am sticking to that. Obviously things we can do better, we need better health care, education, and treatment of the lower classes but I don't think we need to go all Karl Marx about things. We need a bit of a compromise. Maybe Hedonism, I quite like that Idea of pleasure seeking. Though a more communal version. If someone finds pleasure in breaking someones face they should find kinship in someone who finds pleasure in having their face broke, rather then someone who isn't totally into the idea. Freud would have a feild day with Hedonism, giving into the Ego and all that jazz.

Karl Marx: Big fan of Capitalism, take it from me

What was I blogging about? Influence? Yeh... Trailed off into Comformity, which is a type of Influence. A social one. I really should stop going off tangent, but then again, its just that I am under the influence of blogging.