Have you heard of the wisdom of the crowd? According to this theory, collective opinion is more accurate than the opinion of an expert.
Does audience poll ring a bell? In the show ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’, taking an audience poll is a good way to move to the next level. The social information that one gathers through channels like Wikipedia, Quora, Mouthshut or reviews is found to be more reliable than that shared by an individual. You got the drift, right?
When I first heard about this concept, it confused me.
And I will tell you why.
When a woman is abused by her husband and her friends ask her to adjust, they can’t be right. When a rape victim is told by almost the whole world around her that it was her fault, they can’t be right. A young girl who wants to study is denied the opportunity so that her brother can study, the family cannot be right.
The wisdom of the crowd is not correct in all cases. And now you know in which ones it isn’t.
For day 21 of #NaBloPoMo, I am writing for MicroblogMondays and here is some food for thought.
happiness and food 
I agree. Very good food for thought. It takes a very strong person to not follow the crowd.
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Thanks Wendy. I think sometimes the crowd is right but not always.
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It does make sense. A lot of time the crowd is not right and we need to take decisions based on our own understanding. Thought provoking, Parul.
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You are right, Naba. That’s my point. Thank you!
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Interesting thought Parul. If everyone follows the crowd there will be no change at all. We need people who step out to bring in change.
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Excellent (if sobering) point, Parul. This reminds me of a clip from an episode of “Brain Games” that was bouncing around social media recently. Crowd wisdom is sometimes not wisdom at all.
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Good thought parul. I always feel, if we know that we are doing something correct, we need not think of majority who discourage us . Right is right whether many beleive it or you alone.
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Well said.
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I agree. The concept is sometimes right, but not always. Every rule has its exceptions, so it shouldn’t be treated as always correct. Well said. 😀
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Yes. How quickly a crowd can become a mob.
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I wonder what we might do to get the best out of a group and not the worst. I think you’re right in the examples you give and also, history shows us many times when the majority was wrong (here in the US, slavery) and when mob rule has gone wrong.
That said I do think asking a group of trusted, wise people can be a good strategy.
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That’s why individual thought should be encouraged and nit stamped upon. Crowd polling is ok.for some not all decisions.
It takes one man/woman to change course of the world.
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Herd mentality, it is said, is for the cows! But how easy it is to listen to what the crowd says and move that way! yea, sometimes popular opinion might work but like you said, we better leave that judgement to our wise selves.
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Interesting thought there.
Reliable or not depends on if the answer is straight- right or wrong, yes or No. For example, which country hosted the first world cup? This has only one right answer, and helps to with a crowd opinion.
However, most answers that we seek are subjective. There are multiple right answers. Judging the correctness and suitability of it is always on us. The crowd, or otherwise, helps in getting a perspective, that’s all.
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Thought provoking. True, just because the groups have numerical superiority, it does not mean that they are always reasonable in their thinking too!
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