Who would study psychology if they didn't have some kind of problem?

Chapter 344 [Closed Groups]

“And…” Nan Zhuren paused for a moment when he said this.

"What's wrong?" Nan Zhuren paused for so long that Chang Ming on the other end of the phone started talking to him instead.

Nan Zhuren recalled what he saw when he was consulting with students from the sports team.

After organizing his thoughts, he said, "Not all students have 'problems' such as anorexia, anxiety, or depression; some students have other 'problems'."

“All the students, including Li Mingchen, felt that Wang Rui’s behavior was correct and necessary for the sake of grades. However, students like Li Mingchen and Lin Junkai were passively accepting this theory.”

"And there are a few students. They are very... proactive, even supportive of Wang Rui."

“They used to be good kids, but now it's like a switch has been flipped on them. When I use pictures and words related to bullying to emotionally manipulate them, they don't show any defensiveness or remorse; they only show acceptance, indifference, and even… excitement!”

As soon as these words came out.

The other two people present, along with Chang Ming on the other end of the phone, all wore solemn expressions.

After a long silence, Weng Pingting slowly exhaled.

"Does a closed-off group lead to group polarization and even group blind thinking? Indeed..."

Chonghui's brows furrowed deeply, clearly thinking of the same thing.

Only Chang Ming on the other end of the phone asked, "I understand part of what Teacher Nan said, but what does Teacher Weng mean?"

Nan Zhuren began to explain.

……

A closed group refers to a group form with clear boundaries, relatively fixed members, and that does not easily accept new members.

The members of such groups are usually determined at the beginning of their formation, with extremely low mobility. New members must undergo strict screening or group consensus to join.

At the same time, this group has clear entry rules, and generally strengthens its boundaries through specific standards or rituals to ensure internal homogeneity.

Given the stability and boundaries of its members, a closed group can easily achieve high cohesion through the value of various factors; however, this can also lead to many psychological impacts and potential risks.

The most common examples are **group polarization** and **group blind thinking**.

Does the sports training team that Li Mingchen and his team belong to have the stability, boundaries, and high cohesion of the members mentioned above?
Yes, they all exist.

That's perfect.

Their sports teams are clearly such a group.

……

Nan Zhuren explained: "Group polarization is simply conformity. In a closed group, people's individuality is greatly weakened. As long as one person in the group has enough influence to put forward a viewpoint, the rest of the people will choose to follow it—without even judging the nature of the viewpoint on their own."

"In this situation, if the viewpoints put forward are good, that's fine; but if they are faced with bad viewpoints and bad choices, in order to continue to conform, the good people in the group will become neutral, the neutral will become bad people, and the bad people will become even worse people."

"【Group blind thinking】is the degradation of group members’ psychological efficiency, reality testing, and ultimately moral judgment under the influence of group pressure."

Nan Zhuren frowned deeply, seemingly filled with aversion to what he was about to say.

"This will lead to many flawed thinking tendencies in them: they will be overly optimistic about the current situation and adopt many risky strategies; they will not question the group's existing moral values ​​and will even uphold them; they will ignore warnings from the outside world and stubbornly stick to their own opinions;" "They will also hold stereotypes about others, causing those within the group who disagree with the majority to be oppressed or to oppress themselves, making the group lack self-censorship capabilities, and even..."

Nan Zhuren took a deep breath: "...There might even be so-called 'spiritual defenders'."

Chang Ming on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment.

After a long pause, he finally spoke, his voice a little hoarse: "According to you, Teacher Nan, Li Mingchen is a child who caused problems due to 'self-suppression'?"

"Correct."

"And some children, under these circumstances, have already started to go astray? Even turned into so-called... 'moral guardians'?"

"...Based on the information I gathered from our conversations, they used to at least reject this kind of behavior that was almost 'bullying'; and now they may not even realize how bad their behavior has become."

Nan Zhuren did not draw the worst-case scenario conclusion.

However, it did not deny that such a situation could not occur.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Director Chang, given the current situation, is there anything we can do?"

Nan Zhuren pressed further, "Now, through Li Mingchen's account, I know that the cause of his problem stems from Wang Rui. Now that we know Wang Rui has even more serious issues besides overtraining, is there anything we can do to address this?"

There was continued silence on the other end of the phone.

After a long pause, a sigh came: "At this stage, it's difficult. After all, judging solely from what you said, Teacher Nan, the matter could be big or small; most importantly, Wang Rui's actions did not cause any substantial or serious personal harm to the students."

This is an important point—the severity of misconduct on campus is often determined by the degree of harm caused to the student.

Even with Li Mingchen, none of this would have happened if it weren't for the accidental fall.

However, Li Mingchen's case is now essentially closed, and his family has already received compensation. Therefore, pursuing further accountability against Wang Rui based solely on Li Mingchen's descriptions in his psychological counseling would be of limited effectiveness.

Does this mean... we have to wait for the next unexpected event to happen?
After a long pause, Chang Ming finally said, "According to what you just said, Teacher Nan, some good children have been corrupted by Wang Rui?"

"...You could say that."

"In that case, even if we disband the sports team now and let these kids leave, it won't be enough, right? After all, according to you, they've already been 'turned on,' so this matter absolutely cannot be left unresolved. We have to turn the kids' 'switches' back on?"

“…That’s the best way,” Nan Zhuren replied. “Does Director Chang have a solution?”

There was another moment of silence on the other end of the phone.

Chang Ming remained silent many times today, clearly indicating that he was deep in thought.

Unfortunately, Nan Zhuren didn't see his expression and didn't know what he was thinking.

Then, unexpectedly, a "beep beep" sound appeared.

Chang Ming hung up the phone.

(End of this chapter)