The Code of Collective Behaviorism in the Attempt to Find the Self by Nicole Terry The common Subject, I have observed, finds a sense of self (that is independence, autonomy, individuality) by imitating behaviors of the Group. The Group is often Family (Mother, Father, Sister, Brother) when in early childhood. The younger child learns how to behave in a certain situation from the older sibling. How does the firstborn learn? From negative reaction to a particular behavior (which before negative reaction is a native behavior), the firstborn is at that moment molded into the Parents' ideal of what it is to be “The Child,” as the Child relates to the Parental Unit(s). This relation impresses upon “the child’s” tabula rosa its first introduction of the Authority, commonly known as “Mom” and/or “Dad.” The child then learns through trial and error how it is meant to behave. In adolescence, the Group has extended or removed to include Friends. A sense of self, depending on the characteristics of Friends, is now attained through the behaviors of other adolescents. The child now begins to learn behavior that is often the opposite of its Parents' Ideal (is it adolescence where we learn that Parents are fallible and magnificent liars?). Self is dependent upon the Group Approval. By adulthood, the behavior of the self has been firmly fixed, but the Group has now become much wider and larger based. As it now includes: Co-workers, Associates, Clients, Partners, etc. (other roles in society). In the common herd, the Extended Group has already established the Role, as the Role, being perfected since birth through the various (controlled) institutions of Education, Family Television, Teacher, etc. as a systematic mechanism of pre-programmed behavior that spits out Adult Role at 18 or 21. It is easy to create the personality in the individual intent upon following the Group. This self is not aware that its self is personified in millions; the Group is not a true ideal, but a program that ultimately transforms the individual into a Consumer. In the common masses, self is cloned. However, the true individual (most likely labeled Resistant, Defiant, Anti-Social, Hyperactive, Insurgent, etc) does not acquire its self through the Group, but as an observer of the Group. The true individual sees the Group as the plastic cookie-cutter of image that it is, so behavior remains native to its Being rather than assented in return for comfort or security. This is why the true individual is often uncomfortable in crowds and insecure when growing up among the common masses. It is incapable of “fitting in.” Does this Code relate to genetics? Even when in a group (of equals) there is not collective mentality but a group of individuals all secure in their own thinking, rather than emulating the Group. The self is never found within the group, as the self is merely one of the collective Group Self. © Copyright 2008 Nicole Terry ALL RIGHTS RESERVED [back to Essays]  [more Writings]