Crowd Behavior

17.1.1 Crowd Behavior

Objectives:   

Describe the most common types of crowd behavior.

Discuss these explanations of crowd behavior: contagion theory, social unrest and circular reaction, convergence theory, and emergent norm theory.

Types of crowds

• Herbert Blumer-American sociologist whose main scholarly interests were symbolic interactionism

• Blumer divided crowds into four categories:

• Casual crowds—relatively large gatherings of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time; if they interact at all, it is only briefly

• Conventional crowds—people who come together for a scheduled event and thus share a common focus

• Expressive crowds—people releasing their pent‑up emotions in conjunction with others who experience similar emotions

Types of crowds (cont'd)

• Acting crowds—collectivities so intensely focused on a specific purpose or object that they may erupt into violent or destructive behavior. Examples:

• A mob—a highly emotional crowd whose members engage in, or are ready to engage in, violence against a specific target which may be a person, a category of people, or physical property

• A riot—violent crowd behavior fueled by deep‑seated emotions but not directed at a specific target

• A panic—a form of crowd behavior that occurs when a large number of people react with strong emotions and self‑destructive behavior to a real or perceived threat.

Types of crowds (cont'd)

• To these four types of crowds, Clark McPhail and Ronald T. Wohlstein added protest crowds—crowds that engage in activities intended to achieve specific political goals.

• Protest crowds sometimes take the form of civil disobedience— nonviolent action that seeks to change a policy or law by refusing to comply with it.

• At the grassroots level, protests often are seen as the only way to call attention to problems or demand social change.

Multiple Choice

Only a conventional crows can develop into a mob.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Crowds, Mobs, and Riots have 0 similarities.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

A ___________ is defined as a relatively large number of people in close proximity to each other

• Mob

• Crowd

• Public

• Mass

Explanations of Crowd Behavior

• According to contagion theory:

• People are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior in a crowd because they are anonymous and feel invulnerable.

• Gustave Le Bon argued that feelings of fear and hate are   contagious in crowds because people experience a decline in personal responsibility.

Crowd Theory

• According to Robert Park:

• Social unrest is transmitted by a process of circular reaction. 

• The interactive communication between persons in such a way that the discontent of one person is communicated to another who, in turn, reflects the discontent back to the first person.

Convergence theory

• This focuses on the shared emotions, goals, and beliefs many people bring to crowd behavior.

• From this perspective, people with similar attributes find a collectivity of like‑minded persons with whom they can release their underlying personal tendencies.

• People may reveal their "true selves" in crowds.

Convergence theory (cont'd)

• Their behavior is not irrational.

• Their behavior is highly predictable to those who share similar emotions or beliefs.

• Very expressive

• Hiding in the crowd

• Attribution everyone is doing it

Multiple Choice

When you feel that your view is validated by public. It is called _____ effect

• Primacy

• Recency

• Halo

• Bandwagon

Open Ended

Why do people follow the crowd? Cite evidence from the notes in your answer.

Multiple Choice

This is the process of explaining the behavior of others as well as one's behavior.

• social influence

• social interaction

• attribution

• persuasion

Emergent norm theory 

• Ralph Turner's and Lewis Killian's emergent norm theory states the following:

• Crowds develop their own definition of the situation.

• Crowds establish norms for behavior that fit the occasion.

• Emergent norms occur when people define a new situation as highly unusual or see a long‑standing situation in a new light.

• Emergent norm theory points out that crowds are not irrational.

• New norms are developed in a rational way. 

•  New norms are developed to fit the needs of the immediate situation.

Multiple Choice

Members of a crowd develop a new norm to deal with an unconventional situation.

• Contagion Theory
• Emergent Norm Theory
• Contagion Theory
• Group Think

Multiple Choice

Collective action happens when similar people gather in the same place.

• Contagion Theory
• Risky Shift
• Emergent Norm Theory
• Convergence Theory

Multiple Choice

Mobs become "infected" by mob mentality and lose the ability to reason.

• Contagion Theory
• Convergence Theory
• Emergent Norm Theory
• Triad

Multiple Select

Today’s lesson was

• Understandable

• Gave examples

• Interesting

• Interesting

Open Ended

Today I learned list 2 items