Crowd psychology - what is it? What are the rules governing a large gathering of people, and how can we deal with it when we find ourselves in it? How not to follow the psychology of the crowd and when participating in a concert or match not to panic?

Psychology of the crowdtries to answer the question about emotions driven by people gathered in large groups.The crowdawakens hidden instincts in people, e.g. the survival instinct, which is often tragic - every year you hear about cases in which someone has lost their life or he alth, trampled by the pressing wave of people.

However, being in a large group can be dangerous not only because the crowd as a mass is an element that can kidnap us against our will. When we are in a crowd, we ourselves are capable of doing terrible things that we would never suspect ourselves of. People in a group behave completely differently than alone - because the psychology of the crowd comes to the fore.Grouphas its own rules, independent of the individual units that make up it.

See what the psychology of crowd is all about and what changes take place in the psyche when we are surrounded by human crowds.

Crowd psychology: awakening hidden instincts

The psychology of crowds says that one of the first reactions when being in a large gathering is emotional arousal. The crowd excites. Being around people in general is stimulating. The crowd, however, has the power to evoke extreme feelings. Panic, rage, unbridled joy - such emotions are easier to experience in a group than alone. This is confirmed by objective indicators: in the crowd we have higher blood pressure, we breathe faster, our heart beats faster. It is very often enjoyable. Researchers found that people liked a movie more when many people watch it with them in the cinema than when the venue is empty or there are only a few viewers. This is one of the reasons why the creators of tapeworm comedy series put laughter in these series - people rate the movie as funnier when they hear that others laugh too, even though almost no one likes to "laugh at the tinned food".

Our reactions in the crowd are more violent. If we get scared, our fear turns into panic in large gatherings.

The psychology of the crowd also applies to sports events- at the stadium, fans enjoy the goal more strongly and shout louder than if they watched the same match at home. Perhaps that is why people watch matches with friends or on a large screen more and more often? Unfortunately, we also experience stronger negative emotions in the crowd. When the judge is unfair or in an iconoclastic movie, people feel more rage and outrage in being in a group than in watching an incident in isolation.

Psychology of the crowd: perceiving individualism

Large groups of people have another power: they perceive a sense of individualism. People feel anonymous because they feel like they're unrecognizable. The effect of crowd psychology is additionally intensified by putting on balaclavas before the demonstration, painting the face before the match, and putting on scarves or "war paints" of your club. And when a person has a sense of anonymity, he does not obey social rules, he allows himself to do immoral acts more often and simply succumbs to impulses more easily.

The feeling of anonymity weakens the influence of moral principles. For example, Internet users who write under a pseudonym use more swear words and are more likely to be rude than when using their own names. Reports are written anonymously. Our sense of anonymity makes wrongdoing seem less wrong. In order to avoid the feeling of anonymity, the streets are lit at night, mirrors are installed in shops, and cameras (even dummies) in stadiums. This makes for fewer crimes.

Important

How to safely get out of the crowd?

  • Before you go to a mass event, check the plan of the facility, find out where the exits are. Think where, in the event of panic when crowd psychology takes hold, more people will be running, and try to come up with an alternative plan. Remember your way out.
  • Think outside the box, don't do what others do. Most act thoughtlessly (e.g. run in a direction without knowing why). Don't get carried away by the sheep's rush. If you don't know where everyone is going, choose your own direction. Trust your mind, not the psychology of the crowd.
  • When you see that people around you are starting to be aggressive, they tend to confront - withdraw to a safe place.
  • Try not to let yourself develop very strong negative emotions. When you feel that they are growing dangerously, leave the event site.
  • If you can, leave the event venue first, maybe five minutes before the end of the event, while most people are still having fun.

Psychology of the crowd: the diffusion of responsibility

The presence of a crowd causes a distractionresponsibility. We believe that we are not responsible for what we have done in the crowd. It is not up to us what will happen. For example, if someone passes out, most people in the crowd feel they are not responsible for providing help. This is a paradox! The more witnesses to a tragic event, the less likely that anyone will react, for example by calling the police. If only one person is witness to an event, they almost always try to do something. Due to the distraction of responsibility, people in the crowd may act like a "flock of rams" - mindlessly imitate others or push themselves to one exit, although the others are not crowded at all.

In the crowd we get carried away by other people, imitate them, wrongly assume that others know what they are doing.

Crowd psychology: lack of emotional control

Unfortunately, the mixture of arousal, anonymity and dispersion of responsibility is explosive. When emotions arise and at the same time resistance to immoral behavior disappears and people do not feel responsible for what is happening, the crowd becomes an element and is really dangerous - like an angry, wild animal. People's behavior becomes violent, emotions are extreme and uncontrolled. It is crowd psychology that makes a group of ruffled fans capable of doing terrible things that neither of them would endorse individually, if only they were alone, not in the group.

Psychology of the crowd: lack of empathy

It is also worth looking at the whole situation from a different perspective: in the crowd we are not only exposed to danger, but we are also capable of vile deeds ourselves, we stop paying attention to others, and we can kick, beat, push, even bite perceived as something perfectly normal. This is because in the crowd we do not feel empathy, compassion and concern for others. After all, to sympathize, we must perceive the other person as an individual. It takes time and concentration on a single person. In a crowd it is impossible. Therefore, when we see the face of a man crushed in pain, it does not occur to us to help him. We just become insensitive. It may turn out that for the rest of our lives we will carry in our conscience the awareness that we have allowed something wicked to happen, that we have not reacted, although we should not have allowed something to happen.

This will be useful to you

If the crowd kidnapped you

  • When you find yourself in a crowd psychology situation, don't try to go against the tide, rather move systematically to the least dense areas.
  • Avoid standing by the wall,metal mesh, barriers, etc. It is better for the crowd to press you against other people than against hard objects.
  • Be careful not to fall over.
  • Strive to stay on the edge of the crowd, avoid the middle.
  • Try to stay cool anyway. Don't give in to your emotions. Take your time.
  • Look for emergency exits, fire doors, avoid entering closed spaces with a large group of people.
  • Take the first opportunity to leave the crowd.
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Psychology