In other words, how much a normal person should tolerate to others behaviour?
The answer depends on your goal and position in society.
A dictator who wants to keep in power will have little tolerance to those that disagree, whereas a sales person needs great tolerance to obtain a sale.
In peace time, tolerance of foreigners is beneficial to society as a whole, in war time one has to beware of the enemy.
In the early days of European explorers, some South American tribes welcomed them. As a result many tribes people died from the diseases brought by the explorers.
In modern society, my view is that religion is there to make bad people better, and to help reduce conflict. However, bad people sometimes use religion to motivate others. This happened with different sections of Christians in Northern Ireland in the 1970's and now with different Islam sects. In such circumstances tolerance can be both a force for good and can cause defeat.
A great man once said, speak quietly, but carry a big stick.
Game theory can be of use here. The strategy that wins against all other strategies is called "tit for tat". Start off being co-operative (tolerant) and if the other person tries to dominate then dominate back. After that follow the opponent's behaviour.
The real world is a little more complex of course.
Regards
Paul
I think you need to be clearer in framing your question: What kind of behaviour are you talking about, and how would do you define 'tolerating' or 'not tolerating' that behaviour?
I think normal should also be clarified further. Does normal refer to the ordinary average person of the society or does it refer to psychologically normal indicating absence of a mental disorder.
I am also a bit wary about the use of "should". As psychologists we should try to focus on the empirical evidence and theoretical constructs in a non-judgmental way.
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