Have you ever observed the way children, when playing a game, will take the sudden proclamation of a rule as absolute truth?
For example, today I was watching some kids playing foosball. 2 were playing, 1 was sort of hanging about, and he suddenly announced that the player with the lowest score would win. Now, before this announcement, the players had been competing for the highest score, and when the winner became the loser, she was very upset.
They worked it out amongst themselves eventually, but I wondered why the 2 players simply took what their observer said to be true. He had no real authority, yet his annoucement caused an upset, because it changed the way the game was to be played.
Aren't children interesting?