PSYC 2310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Gustave Le Bon, Social Loafing, Deindividuation
2 Mar 2017
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Document Summary
Gustav le bon - one of the first psychologists to look at crowd behaviour. He suggested that when people are part of a crowd, they submerge to a level that is irrational and uncivilized. 3 dimensions of crowd behaviour aggressive behaviour. Anonymity - crowd members are anonymous that tends to lead to more. Suggestibility - tends to be negative rather than positive. Contagion - demands spread and become contagious within the crowd. Le bon described crowd as source of power and that there"s a way of controlling it, directed towards the needs of right wing politicians. In order to harness this power, people need to simply find the message they want the crowd to get and to exaggerate that message. Allport was critical towards le bon"s view. The individual in the crowd behaves just as he would behave alone only more so . Allport suggested that in crowd people reveal their true nature.
