Christmas is a time of joy and enjoy, but also a time of unprecedented envy. The great gifts one person receives are inevitably desired by any number of that person’s friends. The gifts one child receives are immediately coveted by their sister or brother. Shopping for a gift for others, we often find things we desire for ourselves as well!

We like to have what others have. We like to do what others do. Some call it “keeping up with the Joneses.” Scientists call it the “flock syndrome.” It’s the crowd instinct we all have to imitate and copy.

We all have two strong drives within us. One is to individuate, to be special, to self-affirm. The other is to imitate, to fit in, to conform. These often feed off of each other when it comes to the flock.

Some scientists now realize that the flock…