PSYC 2310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Henri Tajfel, Gustave Le Bon, Psych
22 Apr 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Gustav le bon (1896: suggested that in crowds people submerge in a very primitive mind. Le bon described three characteristics of crowds: anonymity, suggestibility, contagion - whats happening in the crowd becomes contagious (aggression) Le bon described crowd as a source of power, as well: in order to harness the power - find the message that the crowd wants to hear, and exaggerate it, and keep repeating it. Allport (1924) was highly critical of le bon and argued: the individual in the crowd behaves just as he would behave alone only more so (p. 295) . Allport suggested that in crowd people reveal their true nature. Both allport and le bon agreed that crowds are bad. Social facilitation: being part of the crowd facilitated certain behaviour, people are less likely to know of each other. De-individuation refers to loss of sense of individual responsibility and reduction of inhibition due to joining a group: zimbardo"s prison study (1972) (stanford prison experiment)
