is the mob mad?

Question 1

Gustave le bon…

Answer 1

The crowd: a study of the popular mind 1895
Collective unconscious
Anonymity
Contagion
Suggestibility
Le bon – individuality is subsumed by the crowd

Question 2

flyodd allport?

Answer 2

There is no psychology of groups which is not essentially and entirely a psychology of individuals
The individual in the crowd behaves as he would behave alone only more so
Individuality is inflated by the crowd

Question 3

both flyodd allport and Gustave le bon =

Answer 3

Crowds are inherently mindless, meaningless action
Crowds as aggressive – responsibility for collective conflict is the crowd
Crowds are danger to public order

Question 4

why study crowds?

Answer 4

Large number of people acting in the same way is inherently interesting
theoretical approach:
Is there an underlying psychological reason for the similarity of behaviours?
Pragmatic approach:
What are the outcomes of crowd behaviour upon society?

Question 5

group mind theory?

Answer 5

Barbaric and violent crowds are caused by mindless and wanton individuals
Despite allport and le bon’s different perspectives they both neglect to account for the social context the crowd occurs within: the situation
Group mind theory is deterministic and implies that, devoid of context, mobs will be mad and violent.
This is linked to Zimbardo’s premise of deindividuation whereby individuals in crowds lose self-awareness thus they stop reasoning ore regulating their own behaviours and thus become aggressive.

Question 6

critique of the group mind theory?

Answer 6

the concept of deindividuation (based in Le bon’s construct of submergence) lacks any contextual sensitivity
do deindividuated crowd members always behave anti socially?
Further, is there truly anonymity in crowds? do people amass into mobs and riots alone and devoid of associates, friends, fellow protestors

Question 7

emergent norm theory ( turner and killian, 1972)

Answer 7

Crowds are reactive to social norms
During the ‘miling phase’ actions of ‘key’ individuals become prominent and visible described as ‘keynoting activities’
These individuals then are characterised as prototypical of the crowd and the appearance of a ‘homogenous’ crowd is simply an illusion
Problem with this is that the behaviour of the crowd is reduced to the behaviour of a few ‘key’ individuals

Question 8

are mobs mad?

Answer 8

Intergroup behaviour theorist
Who are the rioters?
Do they represent a mindless substrate given to primal urges?
Social identity model of crowd action

Question 9

in mobs, there is a shift from…..

Answer 9

personal identity to social identity

Question 10

a recent social identity approach to crowd behaviour by Stephen reicherr =

Answer 10

referent informational influence

Question 11

a crowd =

Answer 11

is a social group of individuals who share a common social category
> crowd members then identify with others in the crowd
> turner argued this was a source of social influence called REFERENT INFORMATIONAL INFLUENCE (RII)
ESSENTIALLY A SELF-STEREOTYPING PROCESS WHERE CROWD MEMBERS SEEK STEREOTYPICAL NORMS AND ADAPT THEIR BEHAVIOUR ACCORDINGLY.

Question 12

referent informational influence =

Answer 12

Individuals then determine norms from the actions of others under certain conditions
The ‘others’ need to be ingroup members
their actions and behaviours are consonant with the attributes of defining their social identification
This must take place face to face

Question 13

st pauls riot in april 1980?

Answer 13

An explanation of the limits of crowd action in terms of a social identity model.
Black and white café, bristol, 02/04/1980
Two plain clothed policemen entered the cafe, on the road outside were another 12 officers and more officers with dogs were held in reserve.
the purpose of the raid was to execute a warrant issued to investigate allegations of illegal drinking.
The B and W had lost is licence in 1979 and the sale of drugs.
Divergent perspectives on the catalyst event
Police perspective: warrant issued and due process followed peacefully
Cafe customer perspective: no warrant issued, harassment took place and the officers enquired about the sale of ‘ganja’ , some eye witness reported the police completing a drug deal themselves and some stating they “smoked ganja in the café”
Word spread…
Unjustified and unwarranted attack on the B and W café
This led to police in the area being bricked with some officers injured and patrol cars damaged
Researchers could not get a conclusive account of what happened

Question 14

limits of behaviour?

Answer 14

Intentional violence towards police, camera operators and photographers
22 out of 60 police injured
Property damage, civilian injuries

Question 15

inductive aspect of categorisation?

Answer 15

Norms based upon observation of other members of the group ( this is different to keynoting because of the ingroup distinction)
Norms are inferred not created
Behaviour must fall within acceptable limits for the attributes which define social identity.

Question 16

purposeful action?

Answer 16

in other words, those involved in the riot viewed themselves as part of the community, but defined in this context as in opposition to the police
> us VS them

Question 17

theoretical outcomes

Answer 17

Uniformity of purpose

Question 18

social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE)

Answer 18

so what does all this tell us?
Firstly, many of the accounts of crowd behaviour fail to explain ACTUAL crowd behaviour
1) from where and how do spontaneous crowds form
2) why can uniformity of behaviour be witnessed across crowds
3) how do prevalent or salient social ideologies limit and control crowd behaviour

Question 19

SIDE - social identity model of deindividuation effects

Answer 19

model originally developed to look at computer mediated communication
Over time the model has been redefined in many ways:
SIT holds that the individual is comprised of both personal and social identity components
Social identity, we know, relates to the groups we identify and to whom we belong
How are identites are compromised in any given situation depends upon the salience of particular social identifications.
When we identify with a group, we dont ‘lose’ ourselves in the group rather we shift from personal to social identities
Shift from personal > social
When we become a group member we define ourselves at the level of the social category of the group.
IMMERSION IN A GROUP CONTEXT CAN REDUCE PERSONAL IDENTITY AND INCREASE THE SALIENCE OF GROUP MEMBERSHIP AND SOCIAL IDENTITY.

Question 20

applied psychology of the mob ?

Answer 20

Non-paramilitary policing can substantially reduce hooliganism
non-violent collective psychology informed urban policing in lisbon versus traditional riot style policing in areas like the ALGARVE
the use of consensual and low impact policing actually marginalized violent fans from the body of non-violent supporters.
the study highlights how theory can inform practice, public order policy and in this case, policing

Elaborated social identity model of crowd behaviour (ESIM)
ESIM rests on the premise that collective social behaviour during crowd events is fundamentally normative
Where do the norms come from?
Shared and salient social identities
Social identites are embedded within intergroup relations which are fraught with issues regarding legitimacy and power
Where this model differs fundamentally is that it is able to account for changing social dynamics as a result of social context
the behaviour of crowds is characterised as meaningful and identity driven and a reflection of intergroup dynamics.
if crowds are to be managed effectively we should throw out the le bon textbook, rip up groupthink ideas and start again.
By considering that mobs are meaningful, NOT MAD.