1 Crowd behaviour is an emotional issue –Some see them as agents of change –Some see them as unruly mobs A crowd is any group which performs collective action –As if one thing with a purpose These actions can be of any character –Celebration –Mourning –Anger –Satisfaction

2 Crowds can vary in many respects –Size –Type of leadership (defined or loose) –Homogeneity –Degree of manipulation –Many others! In general, people have a negative view of crowds –Seen as primitive, destructive –Media feeds into this perception –“Mob mentality” view is quite common –Permits required to form crowds (they are dangerous?)

3 Crowds are interesting to psychologists –Occurs in the middle of the individual-group levels –How do so many people behave in a similar without overt co- ordination? Many psychologists have tried to explain how crowds work We will look at several explanations for this phenomenon

4 The Classical view (Le Bon, 1895) Le Bon collected the views of several earlier authors –Basic idea: being in a crowd transforms you Proposes the psychological law of the mental unity of crowds –A collective mind that forms spontaneously –Different from the “normal” mind –Affects thought, emotion, and action

5 LeBons theory: Crowds are irrational / primitive, dominated by unconscious elements Being in a crowd affects you: –Homogeneity of action –Capacity for violence increased –Reduction responsibility –Lowering of the intellectual –Exaggerated emotions (easily swayed by rumours, images, etc)

6 How does the “collective mind” take over someone joining the crowd? –Anonymity causes a sense of power –Emotions, images etc spread via contagion –Leads to an increase in suggestibility (swayed by simple images etc) The central idea is regression to a barbaric state –change of motivation to the more primitive –To the level of “women, children and savages”

7 Being in a crowd is like being hypnotised –LeBon thought the spinal cord took over Le Bon’s book was very influencial –Bestseller when released –Influenced Freud, Hitler, etc. –Spread into lay thought –Most people still believe some form of this idea about crowds Sees no good elements in a crowd –Crowd == Mob

8 Criticism of Le Bon Hardly a “scientific” work –Le Bon was a member of the ruling elite “explaining” the lower peons –No “method” – no research, no subjects, no observation Only seems to apply to a small set of crowds –What about peaceful crowds? Le Bon’s theory no longer used by psychologists –Some Lebonian thought still hangs around

9 Deindividuation theory American psychologists look at the crowd in the 1960s-1970s –Zimbardo (1969),Diener (1980) –Vietnam war era -- many protests, some violent A group of theories, slight variations on a basic theme All share the notion of deindividuation –Reduction in self-awareness/ self-control –Occurs automatically on being in a crowd

10 When you join a crowd –You are perceptually immersed (sights, sounds, dancing, etc) –Leads to an increase in arousal –Leads to attention shifting to the outside (away from the self – reduced self-monitoring) –Leads to more responsiveness to emotional cues, lack of planning & impulsivity You are now in a state of deindividuation –Will continue until arousal decreases and attention shifts again

11 Deindividuation is both –The process and –The product Deindividuation is seen as an altered state of consciousness –Greater feeling of togertherness with the group –Time seems to pass faster –Concentration on now –Disinhibition which can lead to amoral behaviour

12 –You are blocked from monitoring yourself –Loss of self-control can lead to aggression, violence etc Derived from observations of real crowds –Chanting, singing, etc common –Evidence for increase in arousal –Only some crowds turn violent –Post-hoc reports of a different mental state

13 Criticisms of deindividuation theory A bit too similar to Le Bon –Being in a crowd “transforms” you into a less responsible creature Still explains crowds as destructive or dangerous things Has a fair deal of empirical support One of the most influencial of the modern theories

14 Le Bon’s theory and deindividuation theory are reductionistic –“lay the blame” on the individual –“contagion” – being in a crowd is like a disease –Occurs automatically The crowd is essentially still seen as an irrational mass –Le Bon – regression –Deindividuation – self-control is blocked Much evidence against this idea –Even violent crowds target specific groups, etc

15 A different take on crowds – emergent theories –Focus on the crowd as a group entity Crowds are seen to emerge from particular conditions –Narrow conditions (rumours, milling, etc) –Wider conditions (unrest deprivation, etc) The central process is conformance –People tend to behave in accordance with social norms

16 Reminder: a norm is a shared set of information in a group –Affects behaviour –Affects beliefs –Affects social perceptions (justice, prejudice, etc) In emergent theory, crowds are seen as situations which cause new norms to emerge –Each crowd situation is unique –Norms are defined “as you go along” Individuals behave communally due to –social pressure to conform –desire to conform to the group

17 Opposite of contagion theories –Contagion: uniform, anonymous, excitable, uncontrolled –Emergent: communicating, socially defined, with prescribed limits to behaviours How does communality spread then? –Not through “contagion” –Through rumours

18 What makes rumours special? –Products of interest and ambiguity (hear what you want to) –Certain things are included, others left out –Define a relevant collective definition of what’s happening Rumours communicate the new norms –These norms emerge because none others seem to apply to collective action

19 Smelser’s value added theory (1962) –An example of an emergent norm theory You begin with particular conditions –People want change of a social structure –This leads to a situation of strain A new norm then arises: –A belief arises that the change cannot occur via normal channels (“generalized belief”)

20 The existence of the norm then drives the crowd Game theory – another example –Special branch of maths used by economists & political scientists People choose targets/actions based on const-benefit decisions The more each person thinks the others will support him, the more likely the actions are

21 What can we say about emergent theories? Less deterministic than contagion theories –Crowd behaviour occurs with rational people who make decisions Crowd beaviour is seen to have purpose –No more “rampaging random mob” Crowds are not mindless –Self-controlling, self-justifying structures

22 Social Psychology does the crowd Reminder: a person’s identity tends towards the social side when –categories become salient –You categorize yourself in terms of these categories When you self-categorize, you adopt properties of the group –Power differences –Perceptions of justice, legitimacy, etc

23 Crowd action occurs when –Power relations are seen as illegitimate –No possibility of social mobility is evident Under these conditions, crowd behaviour is used as a means of addressing social inbalances Still left with things to explain: –How does “leadership” work in crowds –Who sets the limits on behaviour?

24 Reicher explains this: –It has to do with norms –We self-stereotype into a particular category –We use the information from the stereotype to tell us how to behave –BUT: crowd situations are often novel and unfamiliar –may not have a norm, or may not know which to use

25 Answer: we look to see what other people are doing Look for exemplary members –Those who most closely fit the stereotype Observe the behaviour and induce what we should be doing The exemplary members are not “leaders” (but they could be) –Simply used as guides to how to act