Nice link that explains one part of a complex interaction. What it fails to address is the underlying issue of why we like to be with PLMs (People Like Me). We look for things in common to form a connection to a group. That's far more fundamental that asymmetric insight.
It comes from a basic human fear that's linked to survival. Back in the cave days, we needed to know if someone was friend or foe. We needed to learn how to differentiate between the two to avoid getting clubbed over the head by our new friends. Survival in times of limited resources means sharing within our group and away from others who do not belong.
What we tend to do is to unconsciously look for patterns of behavior in others by which we can identify whether they are "like us" and can be trusted or not. In our daily lives we have people at work with whom we have things in common - same department, same style but those same people in a different context have nothing in common with us that is relevant to that new situation.
That's one of many reasons that we compartmentalize our lives.
The same applies to groups of brand X riders. We (insert brand here) riders appreciate the fine qualities of this brand. Their products are well engineered and are a reflection of who we are as people - discerning, strong, exciting (insert other ways we like our brand and what that says about ourselves). People that do not ride Brand X therefore are different to us.
We may be doing that asymmetric thing as we rationalize why they are wrong, but that wasn't where it started and it isn't the emotional driver. What we do in those circumstances is to define ourselves in a certain way that by definition means that others are probably not the same as us and therefore cannot be trusted in our cave.
And the interesting part of all of that is that the whole thing is based on Pattern Recognition. We are continuously looking for patterns of speech or behavior and it is all out of our awareness.
Simple example. Have you ever had a couple of phone conversations or web interactions with a stranger and when you meet them they are nothing like you expected them to be? Happens all the time and every time, without fail, we are surprised that THEY are so different to the way WE expected them to be. As those conversations were taking place, part our brains were data warehousing and checking for patterns.
The brain then builds a mental image of the other person but forgets to tell us that it was doing it or the basis for that image. We don't even know what that image looks like until we meet the OP and they are somehow wrong. They don't match the image that we didn't even know we had created.
That pattern recognition process is a fundamental part of survival of the human species.
Now lay on top of that all the complex social constructs we create, and it's clear that those OPs can't be trusted. They are douche bags that just don't get it, whatever "it" might be.
Now if only those idiots would get a bike like mine, vote the way I do, dress like I do as an individual etc., the world would be a better place ................
Stay sane and keep an open mind.
