All you have to do is\u00a0understand a principle of human psychology called “Group Polarization.”<\/p>\n
The “Wisdom” of the Crowd<\/h2>\n
Have you ever watched a football game (or other sporting event) on TV by yourself? Do you stand up and scream at the TV? Do you yell at the refs as if they can hear you? Do you do the touchdown dance alone in your basement?<\/p>\n I confess, sometimes I do — and I don’t even drink.<\/p>\n The biggest difference between your basement and the stadium is the size of the crowd. Big crowds produce extreme noise, extreme emotions, and extreme reactions. Small crowds (of one)–not so much.<\/p>\n Some sports fanatics, who seem perfectly normal at home on the couch, have, on occasion, even committed verbal and physical abuse of the opposing team and it’s fans when joining the crowd\u00a0at a\u00a0stadium.<\/p>\n It’s not the beer that makes you feel uninhibited in the stadium–it’s the crowd. You know this already, because you’ve seen in real life that it only takes a few friends watching the game in your TV room to bring out\u00a0that inner stadium-fanatic.<\/p>\n In social psychology, this is called “Group Polarization.” Don’t worry about the academic terms, just remember:<\/p>\n People in groups make more extreme decisions<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Every time you see a riot on the nightly news, you see group polarization at work. At home, an individual is merely irritated, but when several irritated\u00a0people join together in a public protest, the madness gets more extreme and can result in riots, shootings, fire bombs, looting, etc.<\/p>\n We know that group polarization is real, but how does it affect you when you’re giving a presentation? How can you use this knowledge to increase your public speaking skills?<\/p>\n First, understand what is happening.<\/p>\n If the majority of your audience already disagrees with you, then bringing them together in a group, will make their reactions more extreme–they’ll disagree with you more passionately, more vocally, and more viscerally!<\/p>\n On the other hand, if your audience already agrees with you, more or less, then the bigger the group, the more persuasive you will become–even if you use the same exact words.<\/p>\n If people already want to laugh, then putting them in a group will make them laugh louder, longer, and more often. That’s why the comedian is funnier in the club than in the living room. That … and the booze.<\/p>\n Think of the irony. Bigger audiences don’t necessarily prove that the speaker is more legitimate. Quite the opposite–bigger audiences\u00a0make the con artist’s job easier!<\/p>\n Psychologists have several theories on why group polarization occurs, but one thing is not disputed:<\/p>\n Emotions are contagious<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"2007_damon_wayans\"](\"http:\/\/michaelspeaks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2007_Damon_Wayans-e1476650704269.jpg\")
<\/a>Have you ever seen\u00a0a stand-up comedian on TV and thought “He’s not even funny?” Yet everybody in the club\u00a0on TV is laughing!<\/p>\n<\/a>BUT, when you actually attend the football game IN THE STADIUM (with or without beer), you ALWAYS cheer the touchdown. You almost ALWAYS stand up when the wave in the crowd comes by. You almost ALWAYS boo the ref with the crowd at a bad call.<\/p>\nThe Polarization of Public Speaking<\/h2>\n
Polarization Contagion<\/h2>\n