Most times, I find myself getting fascinated every time I take my time to observe people. Of course I try not to make it creepy or obvious, but each time I take a bit of time to watch someone, I tend to find something new about that person or about people in general that I just never noticed before.
And if there's something new I've discovered, it is how a lot of people's decisions can easily be influenced by others. And while that necessarily isn't a bad thing, what makes it a bit funny to me is that most of these guys that I've noticed getting influenced are people who like to feel like they think for themselves, when in reality all they're doing is agreeing with the majority.
There's this particular guy at my hostel who I've watched for a while now, and trust me when I say that I've lost count of how many times this young man has changed his mind about doing something (even when he swore he wouldn't) just because someone else decided they weren't going to do something that he had thought they were all going to do.
I've watched this guy change his mind about not drinking alcohol, I've watched him change his mind about not going to parties at night, and I've even watched him change his mind about moving out of the hostel. All of that happened just because he thought other people weren't going to do that stuff, but the moment he noticed that they had taken a decision by themselves and had decided to do that thing instead, he too would quickly do the same.
He's so unstable, to the point where his decisions are based off of other people's own decisions. And while he is fun to watch and sometimes play with (I've sometimes purposely changed my mind about doing certain stuff just so that I can see if he would do the same), it is not a good thing for someone his age not to have a mind of his own, where he can make decisions for himself and stand by them, no matter what changes or what anyone decides to do.
And he's not the only one who does this; a lot of people do too, and some of them don't even realize it. They all do genuinely think that they're in charge, when in reality, they're just following the majority.