WHAT INFLUENCES PEOPLE?

Kulani Abendroth- Dias was up next. She used an example of Johann, a German boy. Johann was a lover of animals and wouldn’t hurt anyone. Fast forward a few years, and Johann became a member of the Nazi Regime. So how did Johann go from someone so innocent to someone like that? Well, it’s all about the influence.

Kulani spoke on the various methods that people use to justify things the way they do through moral disengagement.

We do this to convince ourselves that there’s a reason for what we’re doing. Group behaviours affect people’s mindsets. Displacement of responsibility, the discrediting of evidence/ denial, essentialist attribution, selfdefence, these are all things that influence us. The key thing to understand is that we all do it. Humans have been justifying and disengaging for centuries. We are all a product of our group norms. But what if these norms could be influenced for good? Certain people have a better ability to influence others. Rather than lay down facts, if we could use verified facts and present them as a story, the impact would be greater. In conclusion, Kulani spoke perhaps the most important words that this country needs to hear.

“We are not born to hate. We learn to hate”. But in the same way, we can learn to accept human beings as they are. We can use social norms to accept and rebuild our country together. Oh, and Johann was Kulani’s grandfather- in law.

The author is senior tech writer for ReadMe a leading tech news provider. For more information log onto readme.lk