Collective Behavior Gage Hill Ian Eastep Sam Barlow Defining Collective Behavior • Collecting Behavior: the spontaneous behavior of people responding to similar stimuli. • When using the term collective it refers to a large number of people who do not normally interact • Collective behavior involves more structure and rationality than may seem to be the case on the surface Rumors, Legends, Fads, and Fashions • Rumor: widely circulating piece of information that is not verified as being true or false. • Urban Legend: a moralistic tale that focuses on current concerns and fears of the city or suburb dweller. • Fashion: A widely accepted behavior pattern that changes periodically • Fad: A fashion, mannerism, or activity that spreads rapidly and disappears quickly. Cont. • Rumor • Mass media exploits the publics fascination with rumors. • Usually spread by people about events or other people that are of great interest to themselves • Legends • Tales often focus on current concerns and fears • EX. Before the fears of AIDS • Fashion • Changes seen most often in items involving personal appearances • EX. Clothing, Accessories, and Hairstyles • Fad • Consumer related fads can come and go and can be as intense as they are short lived. • May seem trivial but can have profound economical effects Mass Hysteria and Panics • Mass Hysteria: A collective anxiety created by the acceptance of one or more false beliefs. • EX. Salem Witch Trials • A more recent example is illegal immigration. • Panic: reaction to a real threat in fearful, anxious, and often self damaging ways. • Although panics may occur at the outset, major natural catastrophes usually lead to highly structured behavior. Crowds • Crowds: a temporary collection of people who share an immediate common interest. • Types: • Causal • Least organized, least emotional, and most temporary type of crowd • Conventional • Has a specific purpose and follows accepted norms for appropriate behavior • Expressive • No significant or long term purpose beyond unleashing emotion • Acting • Takes action towards a target; concentrates intensely on some objective and engages in aggressive behavior to achieve it Crowds Cont. • Mobs and Riots • Mob: an acting crowd that is ready to use violence to achieve a purpose. • Individuals who are tempted to deviate from the mob’s purpose are pressured to conform. • Mobs have strong leaders to focus the crowds on one event • Riots: an episode of largely random destruction and violence carried out by a crowd. • Often direct their violence and destructiveness at targets simply because they are convenient. • People who participate in riots typically lack power and engage in destructive behavior as a way to express their frustrations. • Usually triggered by a single event. • EX. May Day Riots • Can be described as long standing tension Crowd Behavior Theories • Contagion theory: Theory stating that members of crowds stimulate each other to higher and higher levels of emotions and irrational behavior. • Three stages; 1. Milling; People move around in an aimless and random fashion 2. Collective excitement: Intensive form of milling; crowd members become impulsive, unstable, and highly responsive to the actions and suggestions of others. 3. Social Contagion; Extension of other stage; Involves rigid, unthinking, and non rational transmission of mood, impulse, or behavior. Cont. • Emergent-Norm Theory: Theory stating that norms develop to guide crowd behavior. • Spontaneous norm creation within the crowd. • People within crowd are present for various reasons, hence they do not all believe in the same thing. • EX. Nazi destroyed Jewish Merchant stores while others watched silently. Cont. • Convergence Theory: The theory that states crowds are formed by people who deliberately congregate with like minded others. • The independent variable in crowd behavior is the desire for people to come together with a common interest. • EX. Abortion clinics protestors. The END! .