Psychological Elements of the Crowd Essays - 1552 Words

Conforming to Riots: Psychological Elements of the Crowd I. Introduction From a psychological standpoint, crowds have been an elusive, enigmatic and frightening phenomenon; the nuances of the human mind in itself are elements which evoke worlds of study on their own, let alone the implications of attempting to analyze a collective of such minds. However, the study of crowd psychology is obligatory to enhance knowledge in many a field of study, including criminology and political science. Society’s growth and recession alike hinge on the numerous phenomena we can attribute to crowds, and hence the subject lends itself much importance to examine. This paper will go on to scrutinize what is known of crowd psychology, the phenomena involved†¦show more content†¦The sentiments and ideas of all the persons in the gathering take one and the same direction, and their conscious personality vanishes. A collective mind is formed, doubtless transitory, but presenting very clearly defined characteristics.† − The Crowd: A study of the popula r mind He went on to outline some elements of the ‘given circumstances’ that he attributed to crowds. The first was what he called ‘submergence’, an occurrence wherein individuals cease to assert their own identities and instead align to an unconscious and shared mentality, or where a sense of personal identity and uniqueness is ‘submerged’. Such an occurrence is assisted by the scaffold of having other people around them, granting the person with a feeling of anonymity and empowerment. The second element was ‘contagion’; Le Bon stated that within a crowd, feelings and action are literally contagious. In spite of morality or self-interest, individuals will succumb to mimicking what the crowd at large is doing. Finally, Le Bon stated that persons become susceptible to ‘suggestibility’, or believing and feeling whatever a ‘hypnotizer’ (e.g. an influential speaker) is saying, and often acting out on it. Moder n theory, in turn, took consideration to other factors of crowd elements- including the outside factors such as police presence. By the 20th century, many researchers had deemed Classic theory an inadequately scientific perspective on crowd psychology, mostly due to what wasShow MoreRelatedThe Theory Of Collective Behavior Essay1219 Words   |  5 Pagessituational facilities. The defining characteristics of collective behaviour are not physical or temporal or psychological but social as according to Smelser. He says that many social elements myths, ideologies, the potential for violence, etc. are either controlled or taken for granted and hence are not readily observable. During episodes of collective behaviour he says these elements come into the open and then we can observe them. 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