Doris Lessing Group Minds Essay

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It is human nature to share the views of those around because it is hard to understand the social laws which come with groups. Doris Lessing explains in her essay, Group Minds, how people in the Western world say they live in a free society and claim to make their own decisions and be individuals, but Lessing argues how they take freedom for granted and actually conform to group pressure anyways. These main themes from Lessing's essay will prove that although it is a complete essay, it is fueled by emotion (for which it) delivers a short-sided stance on group behavior. Lessing writes about an experiment, that consists of giving a group of people objects that are similar, but hold slightly noticeable qualities that differ, such as size. Two people from the group are told by the researcher to defend the idea that the objects are the same size. The other group member then responds either agreeing or disagreeing. “But the majority will continue to insist- speaking metaphorically- that black is white, and after a period of exasperation, …show more content…
Doris Lessing does a good job of illustrating how individuals will go against their own opinions, in order to please a group. Lessing presents the article in a coherent fashion and she effectively establishes her credibility. None the less she fails to use sources to support her arguments and only relates her ideas to the Western world making her arguments inapplicable to anyone outside of America. Lessing familiarizes human natures yearning for acceptance into groups, and contests the cordiality of this feeling. Here Lessing states that many people will blindly follow commands for the rest of their lives without ever questioning the authority. Lessing presents that the citizens in the west who believe they are individuals are enchained by it and actually have shackles around their
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