SOCPSY 1Z03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Gustave Le Bon, Collective Behavior, Deindividuation

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Social Psychology
• Course: SOCPSY 1Z03
• Professor: Jeff Racine

Document Summary

Two or more persons engaged in behaviour judged common or concerted on one or more dimensions. Are temporary gatherings of people in close physical proximity, engaging in a joint activity. A large variety of activities (milling around, looting, etc) Some argue that a mental unity of the crowd exists. The unanimity leads participants to think, feel, and act in ways that are different than if each member were alone. The crowd: a study of the popular mind (1895) Crowds create anonymity and reduce perceptions of personal responsibility. Le bon: individual identity and self-control disappears, giving way to primitive, barbaric state. Tendency for people to imitate other people. In dense crowds, imitation of behaviours spreads quickly, creating appearance of a unanimous mass. Theories are not developed in a historical vacuum. Le bon developed his classical model of crowds in response to: The crowd seen as a threat to existing social order. Principle interest was therefore to repress and control crowds.