topic 5 - understanding the behaviour of crowds

Question 1

what does the term ‘prosocial behaviour’ mean?

Answer 1

this refers to behaviour which is recognised as helpful, kind, cooperative and peaceful

Question 2

what does the term ‘anti-social behaviour’ mean?

Answer 2

this refers to behaviour that is unhelpful, destructive and aggressive.

Question 3

how are the terms ‘deindividuation’ and ‘conformity’ related to crowd behaviour and how does it affect it?

Answer 3

members of a crowd lose their personal identity among others, this is known as deindividuation. Under these conditions, each member of the crowd is more likely to conform with the behaviour of the majority because they are no longer acting as an individual. Crowds magnify levels of conformity because of the this deindividuation of its members.

This helps explain why ordinary people when in large crowd s sometimes cause criminal damage and get involved in fighting then they would not normally do if alone.

Some researchers argue that rather than a loss of personal identity we gain or form a new identity within a crowd. When protesting, our views become as strong as those around us. Rather than become anonymous, we adapt and conform to the group norms.

Question 4

how does the term ‘obedience’ related to the behaviour of crowds and how does it affect it?

Answer 4

Within a crowd, an authority figure can have influence over others. This is especially true if the authority figure is close to the crowds members and has great power.

In Milgrams experiment, it was found that proximity, legitimacy and power of the authority figure showed higher levels of obedience. It may be true that this could also happen within a crowd. The intentions of the authority figure could either be prosocial or antisocial. The crowd can therefore be directed to be peaceful or aggressive.