10 Ways You Can Blame Science For Your Horrible Personality
2. Youre Pretty Stubborn
A study by psychologists at HP (yes, the computer people), has found that your levels of stubbornness are likely to increase the more relative to the opposition you face. This flies in the face of a lot of our theories about social pressure that would suggest that people would naturally submit to the will of the group for fear of being rejected, and anyone who doesn't is just a stubborn mule. However, it turns out that there is something in the human psyche that makes us want to go against the flow. In the study, participants were asked to choose between two pieces of furniture. When they were aware of how others had voted, people were more inclined to go the opposite way to the rest of the crowd, just to be difficult. This is more common in smaller social groups and it is thought that it is driven by our desire to have an impact with our peers. If you fall in line with a general consensus that was first put forwards by somebody else, then you become one of the crowd. However, by taking an opposing stance, you are taking a risk in the hope that you might then become a leader and be able to influence others. So, good news, if you're unbearably stubborn, it might just be because you're blessed with natural leadership skills.
