Mob psychology
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Mob psychology is a theoretical approach attempting to explain collective behavior solely on the basis of the psychological states of people who participate. Mob Psychology is similar to terms such as: crowd psychology and group mentality. It is portrayed in many works of literature, including William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Mob psychology shows that individuals tend to behave in a different manner as part of a group in contrast to acting independently. Members of a group are prone to acting in ways that they would deem immoral or unjust if in control of their behavior. This is not due to change in one's belief or principle, but rather the fact that individuals tend to ignore or avoid one's conscience or rational judgement. It can be said that individuals in a group defer their goals and take upon the identity of the group. Therefore, members of a group are likely to commit acts they would never commit alone. Being in a group allows individuals to defer blame, responsibility, accountability, and/or judgement upon the group.
There exist many evidence and examples of mob psychology in modern society. One example is the persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust. The Nazi party blamed Germany's weak economy at the time upon the Jews. Experts and scholars have long pondered how an entire nation came to persecute their Jewish neighbors. Jews were harassed and treated with the utmost insolence. Another example is the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), uniting under the principles of Anglo-Saxon pride, nationalism, and segregration. The Ku-Klux-Klan persecuted African-Americans, promoting segregation under Jim Crow laws, and even murdered innocent people. Ironically the North American continent was first inhabited, not by whites, but by Native Americans, also termed Indians, by Christopher Columbus. Both the Nazis and members of the KKK feel that their race is superior to others' and united under a common identity. Nazis had numerous symbols and emblems that they bore, and the KKK dressed in white cloaks and hoods, masking their identity. Books that have been written that exhibit mob psychology include Lord of the Flies by William Golding and George Orwell's 1984.
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See also
crowd psychology
group think
This psychology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mob_...logy"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mob_psychology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Mob psychology is a theoretical approach attempting to explain collective behavior solely on the basis of the psychological states of people who participate. Mob Psychology is similar to terms such as: crowd psychology and group mentality. It is portrayed in many works of literature, including William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Mob psychology shows that individuals tend to behave in a different manner as part of a group in contrast to acting independently. Members of a group are prone to acting in ways that they would deem immoral or unjust if in control of their behavior. This is not due to change in one's belief or principle, but rather the fact that individuals tend to ignore or avoid one's conscience or rational judgement. It can be said that individuals in a group defer their goals and take upon the identity of the group. Therefore, members of a group are likely to commit acts they would never commit alone. Being in a group allows individuals to defer blame, responsibility, accountability, and/or judgement upon the group.
There exist many evidence and examples of mob psychology in modern society. One example is the persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust. The Nazi party blamed Germany's weak economy at the time upon the Jews. Experts and scholars have long pondered how an entire nation came to persecute their Jewish neighbors. Jews were harassed and treated with the utmost insolence. Another example is the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), uniting under the principles of Anglo-Saxon pride, nationalism, and segregration. The Ku-Klux-Klan persecuted African-Americans, promoting segregation under Jim Crow laws, and even murdered innocent people. Ironically the North American continent was first inhabited, not by whites, but by Native Americans, also termed Indians, by Christopher Columbus. Both the Nazis and members of the KKK feel that their race is superior to others' and united under a common identity. Nazis had numerous symbols and emblems that they bore, and the KKK dressed in white cloaks and hoods, masking their identity. Books that have been written that exhibit mob psychology include Lord of the Flies by William Golding and George Orwell's 1984.
[edit]
See also
crowd psychology
group think
This psychology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mob_...logy"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mob_psychology
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California
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Re: Mob Psychology
Thu, September 28, 2006 - 2:15 PMhomepage.mac.com/hsuth/mob/dummies.html
homepage.mac.com/hsuth/mob/home.html
The beaten carcass of an innocent person is gently swaying in the wind. Trampled grass surrounds the tree where the body is hanging. The night before, a frenzied mob came to this spot to take the life of an outsider. The outsider, the one who didn't belong, the one who refused to be just like the rest of them, the one who stood up for what he believed in. The people in the mob built up a level of hatred for the outsider beyond what they ever could have felt on their own. Afterwards, many of the people probably even regretted that they acted in such an outrageous way.
This scene has been repeated countless times in history. It could have been the KKK, the Salem Witch Trials, or even the recent incident in Fallujah, Iraq. This kind of extremist action can only come from a body of people who have briefly lost their individuality and become a herd of unintelligent sheep. With this loss of individuality, they actually gain power. The strength of a mob is one of the hardest things to control. Whether it be a physical, torch-bearing gang of hooligans or a less visible segment of society that feels a need for change (for example, the civil rights movement). In this report, I will explore many of the various aspects of a mob and the mentality that consumes it.
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Re: Mob Psychology
Thu, September 28, 2006 - 2:30 PMRiots are a good example of this kind of thing too. Witness the L.A. riot in 1992. Watts and South Central took most of the damage, even though most of the participants were mad at "The Man". Now if they took out Beverly Hills, I would have cheered... -
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Re: Mob Psychology
Thu, September 28, 2006 - 2:46 PMthats what i am saying. Why can't we have riots in the right places? Washington DC would be my pick, or the republican convention...
not that i am inciting anybody to riot, i would rather see all those protesters distributing fliers
and typing on the net. Rioting only gives energy to the entropy of the situation...nobodies ever sympathetic to rioters.
Another thought, most riots we hear about on the news are probably started by the police. I have been in one of those; the cops descended on horses and beat people senseless. It was called a riot, but the pigs are the one who started the violence.
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Re: Mob Psychology
Tue, November 14, 2006 - 2:54 PMHave you read "The Lord of the Flies"?
That was a good book about how people (in this case kids) changed by being part of a mob and then attacking the one's they thought were weak or different. -
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Re: Mob Psychology
Tue, November 14, 2006 - 3:06 PMyes, i have read the book. Actually a great example of pack psychology and mob psychology.
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