Crowd Psychology.docx

WHAT IS CROWD PSYCHOLOGY?  Also known as MOB PSYCHOLOGY  A branch of social psychology  The broad study of how individual behavior is impacted when large crowds group together  Leads to Collective Behavior WHAT IS COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR? Refers to relatively spontaneous and relatively unstructured behavior by large numbers of individuals acting with or being influenced by other individuals CHARACTERISTICS OF CROWD Transitoriness Shoulder to Shoulder Contact Common and Primary Motivation Interaction Backward and Forward Movement Suggestion and Imitation Mental Homogeneity Social Facilitation Irrationality and Heightened Emotionality Diminished Sense of Responsibility Sense of Power Sense of Anonymity Role of a Leader TYPES OF CROWD CROWDS MOBS AGGRESSIVE ESCAPE ACQUISITIVE EXPRESSIVE

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MOST IMPORTANT THEORIES REGARDING CROWD BEHAVIOR 1. LE BON’S THEORY – the individual yields ‘to instincts which had he been alone, he would perforce have kept restraint’ 3 STAGES OF CROWD  Submergence – the individuals in the crowd lose their sense of individual self and personal responsibility. This is quite heavily induced by anonymity of the crowd.  Contagion – refers to the propensity for individuals in a crowd to unquestioningly follow the predominant ideas and emotions of the crowd.  Suggestion – refers to the period in which the ideas and emotions of the crowd are primarily drawn from a shared racial unconscious 2. MCDOUGALL’S THEORY - principle of direct induction of emotion by way of ‘primitive sympathetic response’ 3. FREUD’S THEORY – the principle of phenomenon of group psychology 4. ALLPORT’S THEORY – principle of social facilitation