Conventional Stupidity

Diet and Fat: A Severe Case of Mistaken Consensus – New York Times

If the second person isn’t sure of the answer, he’s liable to go along with the first person’s guess. By then, even if the third person suspects another answer is right, she’s more liable to go along just because she assumes the first two together know more than she does. Thus begins an “informational cascade” as one person after another assumes that the rest can’t all be wrong.

Sometimes the crowd is not so wise. Please pass the ice cream.