17 Facts About Mob Mentality That You Should Know Before You End Up Having It
Have you ever joined the crowd and wondered why you did that? The mob mentality usually occurs when you get into the actions or beliefs of the crowd and follow them.
Herd mentality, or better known as a pack, mob, or gang mentality, describes how people can be influenced by peers to adopt behaviors on an emotional and rational basis. When they are affected by it, they might make different decisions.
Sometimes, mob mentality can lead to shaming and destruction of property. The thing is that you don’t have to be a slave and take some effective steps to break the old traditions.
If you ever wished to participate in the mob, then you must know these facts about it and other associated things.
History of Mob Mentality
Have you ever wondered where this concept of Mob Mentality comes from? The idea of mob behavior was initiated by 19th-century psychologists Gabriel Tarde and Gustave Le Bon.
The behavior in human societies has also been studied by Sigmund Freud and Wilfred Trotter. The economist named Thorstein Veblen’s The Theory of Leisure Class describes how individuals copy group members of social status in their behavior.
21st-century academic fields like marketing and behavioral finance identify and predict the irrational and rational behaviors of investors.
Causes of Mob Mentality
There can be several explanations for the causes of mob mentality. Here are the major causes of mob mentality.
1. Identity: When people are part of a group, they can lose their sense of individual identity.
2. Emotions: When you are part of a group, it can lead to emotional states like excitement and hostility.
3. Diffusion of Responsibility: When you are a part of the group, it creates the perception that unacceptable behavior is not a responsibility but a group one.
4. Also, the larger the group will be, the more there will be diffusion of responsibility.
Facts About Mob Mentality
1. You Lose Your Principles
When you are in a group, you are surrounded by people. At the same time, you think your actions won’t matter. Later, you also want to become a part of the group and take on the principles of the mob. While you never act violently alone, you lose that principle.
2. Size Matters
The size of the mob plays an incredible part in whether or not someone will participate. If you are in a group of people, then you might not follow the crowd, in contrast when you are in thousands of people.
3. A Common Identity
A mob forms an identity around a cause. When police tried to manage order and enclosed mobs in space, they found their mob mentality and identity. The policing of mobs tends to backfire, causing the mob to feel their rights are legal.
4. Groupthink
If you are a member of the mob, then you will not be an individual anymore and would do whatever the mob demands. This kind of thinking is referred to as Groupthink and could be dangerous for everyone. Sometimes in groupthink, people could make irrational decisions and cause property damage.
5. The Stock Market
You must have seen or read about the worst stock market crashes in history. While it is believed that the ups and downs in the stock market happen due to supply and demand, it is not known that it is greatly affected by mob mentality and emotions. Marketing professor, Daniel J Howard, said,
“Stock market bubbles and crashes are caused by herd mentality. It’s scary to me because we make our own heaven, and we make our own hell.”
6. Online Mob Mentality
With the rise in internet usage, it is clear that it has become a ground for mob mentality. Mobs rarely use evidence and facts and destroy human life. Once the damage is done, a victim can’t do anything for recourse.
7. Do the research
If you want to avoid interacting with the mob, you need to research solid sources. Read the subject, listen to everyone, and you will be informed, and thus, you won’t easily follow the crowd.
8. Check your stress factor
According to reports, stress and emotions play a major part in making decisions. It can make you follow the crowd and do everything like them. A report in the Journal of Consumer Research revealed that people under stress copy other people. So, think about how stress is making you copy others and making wrong decisions.
9. Take a Break
Following a mob mentality could cause you to make impulsive decisions. So, rather than joining a mob mentality without any research and facts, it would be better to take a break and clear your mind and come with a firm and right decision.
10. Ask yourself questions
When you have decided to join the crowd, ask yourself a few questions - is it something you were dying to join, do you believe the decisions would not harm anyone, do you have an opinion on this & more. Based on situations, ask a few questions from time to time and save yourself from following the crowd.
11. Be comfortable if you disagree
Be friends with people having different opinions and beliefs; when you will be surrounded by people having different ideas, then you will grow and would less likely follow the crowd.
12. Stand Apart
Choosing to be stand-alone can be a difficult job/choice. You might have to stand apart and sometimes be questioned about your choice. Sometimes, with mob mentality, you would have to make a conscious decision of standing alone and not following the crowd.
This can save you from immoral actions that are involved in mob mentality. Do this, and you will be grateful later.
13. You can form your opinions
After you have completed your research, you can make better decisions. Form a strong decision, and you can stay away from a mob mentality.
14. Break the Habit
If you think you are constantly following the mob mentality (online or offline), then change it. Research has shown that you can break habits and stop following constant decisions. Decide not to follow the herd, think for yourself, and break the stereotypes.
15. Commercial Marketing
Marketers have known the psychological issues of humans for a long time. If someone is following something, then others will do the same. The best example of the same is commercial marketing.
If everyone is doing it, then this will convince you to buy it. When you don’t know anything about the product, then advertising can persuade you to buy at least one product.
16. It takes 5% of the crowd to influence other people
It is believed that the size of the crowd influences people. A study from the University of Leeds found that it takes 5% of individuals to influence 95% of the crowd.
17. The mob isn’t always right
It is believed that the decision by the mob is always right. But, throughout history, the mobs have been wrong about the things they think are right.
Final Words
Have you ever been a part of the mob? Would you encourage anyone to join it? Do you know other facts about mob mentality and strange things? If so, then drop your comments below. If so, then drop your comments below.
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