ThatsWhatHeSaid
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 11, 2007
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- INTP
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- 5w4
xNTP and KDude, laughing to avoid social friction is a social mammal thing, right? Like chimps do, or wolves -- a submissive thing in the presence of an alpha. Or at least it's possible to look at what you described that way, that the people at the party were doing what comes naturally, doing the social appeasement work necessary to hang on to or uphold their place in the pack.
Yes. And looking back, it's not a great example of stupidity, but more of fear, which brings us to your next point:
People like Gandhi will spend time around an 'alpha' and not do the submissive thing, which shocks the alpha and the people watching. The same thing happens when someone stands up for an ideal in a workplace. Someone 'thinking for themselves' and taking a stand on an issue usually shocks people.
It's hard to think of Gandhi as an alpha himself, and it's hard to think of the one standing for a principal in a workplace as an alpha. Their behavior isn't a domination thing -- or is it? It certainly is a refusal to be dominated.
I've been reading about dominance and submission a lot lately because I think it informs a lot of what you see. If you accept that hierarchies are driven by aggression or power, then a person who is fearless and self-sufficient would be indomitable. He might not look like an alpha until he himself has amassed power--in Ghandi's case, an ability to direct and organize people.