SOCPSY 1Z03 Lecture : Collective Behavior - SOC PSY NOTES.docx

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Social Psychology
• Course: SOCPSY 1Z03
• Professor: Paul Glavin

Document Summary

Chapter 15 - collective behavior: collective behavior: 2 or more persons engaged in behavior judged common or concerted on one or more dimensions. Often spontaneous and subject to norms created by the participants. Serious consequences often arise from collective behavior: crowds: Temporary gatherings of people in close physical proximity, engaging in a joint activity that is unconventional. Participants may engage in one common activity (singing), concerted action (rescuing victims), a large variety of activities (milling around, looting) Deindividuation: crowds create anonymity and reduce perceptions of personal responsibility. Le bon: individual identity and self-control disappears, giving away to primitive, barbaric state. Contagion: tendency if ppl to imitate other ppl. In dense crowds, imitation of behaviors spreads quickly, creating appearance of a unanimous mass. Theories are not developed in a historical vacuum. Theories are often shaped by ideological agendas. Le bon developed his model of crowds in response to: rapid industrialization and urbanization, french revolution, and growing fear of the working-class.