Mob Mentality & The Psychology of Crowd Behavior

1/7/2014

Research & Dialogue

See a full description of the assignment on the side bar on the right.

See a full description of the assignment in the side bar on the right.
In class time will be provided on Jan 14th & 16th. The completed assignment is due January 21st.

The Psychology of Mob Mentality and Violence
By. Dr Wendy James

One dog may bark at you but it’s more likely that a pack will attack you.

We are not exempt from that behavior because we are human and not canine. As evidenced by dogs operating in a pack environment, human society is based on group dynamics.

As humans, we have instinctual responses that are exacerbated by group influences.

What we might not do as individuals we may do as part of a group. People may lose control of their usual inhibitions, as their mentality becomes that of the group.

You have never heard of a peaceful riot. Riots are by definition violent in nature.

All a riot is, is violent group behavior. The larger the group the greater the amplification of that group behavior. If the group behavior is peaceful, exemplified by Martin Luther King and Ghandi, the group behavior is peaceful and orderly.

If the group behavior is violent, the larger the group the more magnified the violence.

A mob mentality phenomenon has occurred throughout human history, whether witch burning, religious zealotry, political protests or reaction to perceived racial micro aggressions.

Three psychological theories address crowd behavior.

First is Contagion Theory, proposes that crowds exert a hypnotic influence on their members that results in irrational and emotionally charged behavior often referred to as crowd frenzy.

Second is Convergence Theory that argues the behavior of a crowd is not an emergent property of the crowd but is a result of like-minded individuals coming together. If it becomes violent is not because the crowd encouraged violence yet rather people wanted it to be violent and came together in a crowd.

Third is Emergent-Norm Theory that combines the two above arguing that a combination of liked-minded individuals, anonymity and shared emotions leads to crowd behavior

This entry was posted in Published Articles on July 18, 2013.

Historical Examples of Mob Psychology

Historical Examples

Open the tab on the left to access numerous Historical examples when Mob Psychology was evident in shaping historical events.

Film and Video clips related to Mob Psychology and Behaviors.

Salem Witch Trials Documentaries & Films
You can access both films and audiopodcasts of the Salem Witch Trials & the impetus for Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", by clicking on the text and/or the icon on the left .

Mob Psychology: My Opinions & Insights

Blog Post:

Write and post:

A brief summary of the historical evidence you studied. Be sure to include: When the event(s) occurred, what happened, who were some of the key individuals involved and how mob psychology was exhibited in the events you studied.
Discuss your reaction to the historical examples and film clips you studied.
When finished add your opinion to the following questions: Are people better individually or collectively? Are there positive sides to 'crowd behavior' ? Explain. Is it possible to avoid 'crowd behavior' or a 'mob mentality'? How? Explain your answer
When finished with you own post, RESPECTFULLY read and respond to a minimum of two of your peers posts.

425 Comments

Michael Pope

1/7/2014 08:22:37 am

The effects of mob mentality on crowd control
By: Jill Elaine Hughes, Phoenix Forward: Perspectives
http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html

This article talked about Flash Mob Crimes. Flash Mob Crimes are described as a new concept on the article, but the article explains that all it is is anything to do with mob violence. It explains that many people would never do many of the things they would do while attending with a group. They tend to leave many of their other standards back at home and get really crazy really fast. Thomas Milner, a University of Phoenix instructor in Criminal Justice and Security. He has tons of experience in the field of Mob Mentality. Milner says that most mobs and riots are started with one little outbreak. For example trowing a rock at another person, throwing paint onto someone in outrage, shove someone, grab someone's arm, etc. This act can be done by a ringleader of some sort, or a random individual. This type of act are called an overt acts. Overt acts tip the balance into mass violence.

The Psychology of the Mob Mentality
By: Doctor Nicola Davies
Health Psychology writer and Researcher
http://healthpsychologyconsultancy.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/the-psychology-of-the-mob-mentality/

This website article explores explanations for what causes mob mentality. Like the other article it talks about how when people are in a group, they tend to experience loss of self-awareness. It talks about how that sight of seeing others carrying out riots and organizing mobs might encourage others that it is OK to do those things. It really emphasizes on how people's feel anonymous in groups. This may in most cases, reduce their responsibility and accountability senses. The article also talks about studies that were done that tested how different personalities or circumstances might make the person more likely to do these actions. It talked about how adolescents youth are more likely to do these actions because they have a lack of a stable family. They might be able to gain a sense of identity by participating in group raids. They would think that a gang is their new family because they truly accept me and I would do anything for them. People might also be more susceptible to looting and stealing in a time of hardship or financial circumstances.

The 1992 Los Angeles Riots also know as the Rodney King Riots was a major series of riots that included much looting, arsons, and civil disturbances. These riots were the largest riots seen in the United States since the 1960's and the worst terns of death toll after the New York City draft riot. Estimates of property damages topped one billion dollars. The rioting was stopped and subdued after soldiers from the California Army National Guard, with the U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton were called in to stop the rioting after the local police could not handle the situation. In total, fifty-three people were killed and over two-thousand people were injured.

In my opinion, people do better while they are individual. I believe this to be true because they are more civilized and orderly. However, if people are in groups, more people are recognized that they don't approve of this matter. They can be seen as a bigger person. A realization that many people don't approve or approve of one thing. I do believe that there are positive sides to crowd behavior. There can be presidential elections where there is an organized crowd who can approve of the speaker in a cheering or clapping manner. I think that it is impossible to avoid crowd behavior just because humans want to express their feelings whether good or bad. And at some point they will want to share it so much that they lose control of their thoughts.

Mrs. Ness

1/8/2014 08:38:28 am

Michael,
You chose two very good articles, I'm impressed with how well you summarized the content and pulled the most important information from the text. Well done. I remember the Rodney King riots, as well as the events leading up to them and I'm pleased you told this oft forgotten example of mob violence and behavior.

Question: If we behave better individually than in groups, why is it that so much of our culture is wrapped around group activities, e.g. school, church, entertainment, speeches and rallys etc....? Are our experiences richer when we are with groups or might we get more out of those same activities were we experiencing them individually?

Michael Pope

1/16/2014 08:02:11 am

Mrs. Ness. Responding to your questions that you gave me. Here are my opinions on the matter. I think I mentioned this above in my post but if I didn't, it doesn't matter because here it is. I think that people do work better in groups. However, I think that they lose some of their sense of identity, such as, when kids are at school, they want to be the center of popularity. I'm not saying that having friends is a bad thing, but I am emphasizing on the fact that many people don't act the same way they do when they are in front of their parents as they do in a large group. And also, I'm not saying that this is bad it is just the matter of when things get out of hand when people aren't in their natural comfort zone. And to respond to your second question. We really do get richer experiences when we are in groups. As humans, we want to be a part of a group. We can look back at those experiences when we were with friends and say, "Remember that one time I did a back flip while falling out of the back of your dad's truck? That was crazy!!!" Now if we look at it if we didn't have any friends or we were not with some other people at the time we couldn't have that same feeling. It would be somewhat like. "Oh I remember that time, but when I told everyone, they wouldn't believe me." It's just that sense of having fun that everyone wants to be a part of and feel every once and a while.

Melanie Henrie

1/17/2014 03:09:42 am

I like that you used flash mobs as an example. sometimes people don't realize what they are doing in a mob, and if they are in a mob they think their actions cannot be traced back to them so they do things they know are wrong.

Kaitlyn

1/17/2014 03:10:54 am

Micheal,
Great job! You have made some very interesting points in your submission.
I liked you you used the Rodney King riots in New York as an example. There are so many bad things people can do when they are in large groups with one purpose and one mentality.
There are also many different opinions on whether humankind would be better and in my opinion there is no right answer. Humans are such weird creatures and there is no telling what they do in a group, whether it's helping lots or hurting lots. I do believe that a "mob" only happens when there's one group, one purpose, one mentality.

Christian Taylor

1/17/2014 03:12:38 am

Great job, Michael. Your articles were very interesting, and I'll definitely research the Rodney King riots. What I liked best was your opinion. Although i disagree that one person is better, I really liked how you said that the mob may see themselves as a bigger person. I didnt think of it that way before.

Alora Colton

1/17/2014 03:14:52 am

Michael, I found both of your articles very interesting. They are an excellent sources. I love how you said that it doesn't have to be a "ring leader." It could just be a random person. Personally I think that many people don't think about what they are doing though. It is just something they do that kind of catches on I guess. Over all really great job.

Spencer Laudie

1/17/2014 03:19:00 am

Hey, great job with your assignment. I also learned about the LA riots. I thought it was very interesting how it began. As you probably know, the police officers were being unfair to the people, but in court they were getting away with what they were doing. It really began when Rodney King was beaten for 15 minutes on camera by the police for speeding!
There are many other similar instances described on this website http://www.southcentralhistory.com/la-riots.php
I learned a lot from your post. Thank You!

Andy Jones

1/17/2014 03:30:12 am

Michael,
Your articles helped me to better understand the cause of mob mentality. I think that it is so weird that humans do such a horrible thing. I agree with you on how we as humans do better on our own. Once we get in a group we just lose all of our judgement and just follow the group. Mob mentality can be a very horrible thing.

Andy Jones

1/22/2014 03:41:16 am

I read your article on the Psychology of Mob Mentality. I was so cool to see all of the different things that could be the cause of mob mentality.

Normandy Labrum

1/17/2014 03:31:02 am

Well done Michael. Your summaries were informative and interesting. I agree that people are better on their own for many of the same reasons you stated. To add many people in large groups lose themselves in their mind. Your historical example was spot on.

Ruthann

1/17/2014 03:31:17 am

Michael, I found it very interesting about the overt acts. It really is quite amazing how many times things like that are used, on purpose or accidentally, to get a whole crowd headed in the same direction that the person who did the overt act was headed in them self. I think a rather common example in some schools would be food fights. Even if the fist person to throw food meant it as a joke, if the other person throws food back it can quickly escalate. I also agree with you that it is better to be individual than just another part of a group. You did a very good job of summarizing your articles and stating such an original example.

Andy Jones

1/17/2014 03:34:46 am

Michael,
I thought it was really horrible how the LA riots needed over a billion dollars in repairs. I didn't know about the Rodney King riots so it was fun to learn about. I totally agree with you on how people are better off making decisions on their own. It was cool to learn about how riots are caused by just the smallest things. Mob mentality is horrible.

Andy Jones

1/17/2014 03:36:34 am

Sorry I responded twice. My computer didn't show that I had posted so I thought it didn't post.

Amelia Morgan

1/17/2014 03:42:07 am

wonderful insight! it is true that we cannot completely avoid Herd Mentality because we are all humans. the statistics for the Rodney King riots are shocking! good job!

Kennedee Young

1/17/2014 03:46:51 am

I like how you said that just one little act can tip the scale and cause a full on riot. Because it can go either way. Everybody can follow the heard and ignore someone injured and lying on the ground. Nobody wants to help because no one else is, but as soon as someone helps them then everybody else does too. But then when nobody is rebelling or causing a riot they also wait for that one person to do it first. Nobody wants to be the first to do anything whether it be good or bad. Which intrigues me. So I just wonder if there were two people and one person had the guts to do the right thing and one had the guts to do the wrong thing which person would gather a crowd and go against that other one person? Or would there then be two rioting groups against each other?

Brooklyn Gotfredson

1/17/2014 03:48:36 am

I researched your example on the Rodney King Riot. I think that it is interesting that once mob mentality starts, it can go on for several days after like in this riot.

Brianna Hancock

1/21/2014 06:11:27 am

I agree with your opinion. I like how you pointed out that both groups have good things about them. I think that to have a bigger impact with your opinion, you could add bad things about them as well.

Normandy Labrum

1/22/2014 02:55:53 am

After I researched the Rodney King Riots I understood the points of the riots better. Part of the reason that they began was Rodney King was African american and many people were so disgusted with the, in their mind, racist treatment of this man. The other part was that the police force had been out of control and using unnecessary force.

Nephi

1/22/2014 03:00:56 am

Overall I thought you did great. I think the first article is true, everyone just acts like a different person in crowds, especially if they're feeling frustrated. I don't completely agree with your opinion though. I think being in groups and being alone depends on the situation, but I do agree that mob mentality can be affect people positively.

Not Jordan Bennion link

1/22/2014 03:03:36 am

Michael, I read the article on Flash Mob violence. I also noticed some different things in this article. I read a portion where it discussed peaceably assembling and I quote,
" “Peaceful assembly, free speech and public redress of societal grievances all play an essential role in our democracy,” he says. “It’s up to law enforcement to ensure that people can exercise their rights in a peaceful and safe way. But once the line is crossed from peaceful assembly over to violence, then law enforcement has to respond.”"
If you have read this, you would see that large groups acting as one have and will help people for a long time to come. In our own country. We peaceably assemble every day! We have two mob like structures sewn into the very fabric of our nation. So, I will say that I disagree with your opinion.

Not Jordan Bennion

1/22/2014 03:05:01 am

http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html
I forgot to post the URL

Alora Colton

1/22/2014 03:03:44 am

I had never heard of the Rodney king riots. So I went and researched them. This example is a great example of mob mentality. Meaning that it had a lot to do with it, not that the actual event was great. One thing that you did not mention was how out of control they actually got. "Worst riots since the 1960's" can leave some people curious. For this I went to newsone.com and searched Rodney King riots. I was surprised to know that the riots lasted for several days and many people died. This article also talks about how they where stopped and stuff. But this example was reall great!

Danielle Smith

1/22/2014 03:38:30 am

Michael,
I decided I wanted to read the first article of yours that you posted. I read it, and I cannot really say much. You did a very superb job at summarizing this article. I have to say that I think it is sad that there are so many disturbances to normal lifestyle in society by many mobs, but from what I read in your article, there are activities that can use crowds, you just have to know how to control them. Thank you for sharing the article Michael!
http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html

Ruthann

1/22/2014 03:53:28 am

Michael,
I was very interested in your historical example. I looked it up and I agree with you that it was horrible. Of course something I find even more astonishing is that Rodney King later asked why everyone couldn't just get along. You'd expect him to be filled with rage, but instead, he aught for peace. Truly amazing.

Ike Melanson

1/22/2014 03:53:38 am

Michael,
I also chose to read about the Rodney King Riots. I found it fascinating that only a couple of random acts can result in large fights and riots.

Emmy Nielsen

1/23/2014 09:55:49 pm

http://healthpsychologyconsultancy.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/the-psychology-of-the-mob-mentality/

I decided to read your second articles. I think you summarized it very well but I think you should have included that emotions can lead to mob mentality as well. I think that you really took a lot from that article. Great Job!

Carson Bell

1/24/2014 01:05:09 am

Michael, I recently studied the Rodney King Riots and found them to be a very scary but interesting subject! You summarized them well and I liked the way you told it:)

Danielle Smith

1/7/2014 01:25:19 pm

Examining the Mob Mentality
Author: Megan Donley : writer for the South Source
http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx

This article was an interview with the head of the psychology program at South University, Tamara Avant. She said that group violence occurred because people forget all about themselves. They begin to do whatever because they have a feeling of reassurance that it is okay because everyone else is doing it. A person is more likely to not take on responsibility while in a mob, because of that reassurance. She said that mobs are sometimes started when people can do nasty actions while nobody knows their identity, or because the participant is in need of things that the mob can provide.

How Riots Work
Author: Molly Edmonds: A writer for HowStuffWorks and has graduated from Emory University
http://people.howstuffworks.com/riot.htm (the whole article, all 6 pages)

Riots can begin because people want to complain and make their voice heard about something they do not agree with. Most of the time mobs begin unorganized, but once someone starts something, the other members begin to follow. Mobs can become a group of people that are weak alone, but within a mob, can do things they cannot imagine doing alone. Morals begin to disappear during this time and the focus is mainly on destruction. A little after the riot begins, people start to forget the whole reason the mob began. Riots normally can be easily broken up if government officials are involved. Mobs and riots will always happen, but it would be nice if they could be stopped before they began.

Joseph Smith, the first prophet for the LDS church was killed by a mob at the age of 38. He was being kept in Carthage Jail, when a mob attacked the jail. First his brother Hyrum was killed, and Joseph was killed soon after due to bullet wounds. They killed him because they all agreed that they did not like the church he came up with, and he had to be stopped. The mob believed he was an evil man who needed to be stopped from spreading his nonsense to everyone. Another example is the internet. The internet allows people to gang up on others and say things that would never come out of their mouths in person. The mob mentality here, is that if the person cannot see who is saying it, my identity is safe. Or they think that they can get away with stuff because it is spread across the internet, so that other people can agree with the information that is being said. This can also be called cyber-bullying.

I think it depends on the type of people that a person hangs out with, or the type of work that needs to be accomplished. People can work together collectively, if all of the participants have the same ideas on what they want their end result to be. This has exceptions though. If the conclusion that is going to be made does not agree with the morals one of the persons has as an individual, it is not a good idea to work collectively. It is also good to work as an individual, because you can keep your morals and sometimes can get work done faster. I know I usually get work done faster when I work alone. I think there is no positive side to crowd behavior, because it affects society in a bad way. Most of the time crowd behavior is for the worst in society, it has innocent people killed that should not have died. I think it is possible to somehow avoid crowd behavior. I believe it would be possible if when people feel that they do not agree with something, they should try to let it go, or go about it in a professional manner. The individual could write a letter or have a formal meeting with the one or those that they have a problem with. They could show they have a disagreement but do not have to do it in a manner of complete and total rage. So in my opinion, it depends for individually or collectively, there are not positive sides to crowd behavior, and there is a way to avoid mob mentality.

Mrs Ness

1/8/2014 08:48:14 am

Danielle,
Your summaries were both well written, I was particularly intrigued with the first,so much so that I looked it up to read the entire article for myself. I found your historical example very accurate, particularly in light of the readings you will soon be doing in class on Shame and Blame and the Haun's Mill Massacre. I was also interested by your use of the internet as a good example of mob psychology. If I understood you correctly, the mob doesn't have to exist in person, but infact can exist on line and with anonymity can become worse than in person, i.e. cyber bullying- interesting insight. I would be interested in your opinion related to the question I posed to Michael in his first post.

Carson Bell

1/17/2014 03:10:10 am

Danielle, I really enjoyed reading your responces and how you explained them. I liked the way that you explained the first article and how you talked about Joseph Smith and cyber bullying. I agree with you 100% and think you did an absolute great job.!

Kaitlyn

1/17/2014 03:18:37 am

Danielle
You have made some very interesting points!
I definitely agree with you on the point that when people make a "mob", they forget their own mentality and sort of adopt the feeling of being a group. However, I disagree on the point that mobs and crowd behavior hurt society, because only in some instances they do.

Christian Taylor

1/17/2014 03:20:04 am

Danielle, great job. I personally read the article how riots work, and you did a fantastic job of summarizing that. You pointed out things that the first time, I didnt catch, like how people cant remember why the mob started. I also like your example of Joseph smith. I mostly agree with your opinion in that a group will usually be more effecient as opposed to one person, for better or worse. I also thought that your insight about how it isnt a good idea if an individuals moral is at stake in the long run

Alora Colton

1/17/2014 03:23:18 am

Danielle I love your second article in particular. I think that your opinion is a very valid one with lots of support. The first article was one that I read as well and I still find it very interesting that people don't feel that what they are doing is wrong. I have to disagree with you that mob mentality is always bad. I agree that most of the time it leads to violence but in particular cases the results are heart warming. If somebody did a random act of service, would you not want someone to continue that trend? So I personally think that it is not always a bad thing,,, just most of the time.

Spencer Laudie

1/17/2014 03:31:17 am

I liked your idea of the internet being a place where there is a lot of mob mentality. I had not thought of that one. But it is true. People can gang up on the internet using Facebook, Twitter or other social media networks and hurt other people not physically, but mentally and emotionally.

Nathan L. Worthington

1/17/2014 03:31:46 am

Good job on your summaries and details. I really liked some examples of mob mentality you used especially the ones nobody generally thinks about. When I was writing mine I didn't even think about modern conventional social sites that spread information. Good summaries, although im interesting as Mrs.Ness said in her first post to Michael

"Question: If we behave better individually than in groups, why is it that so much of our culture is wrapped around group activities, e.g. school, church, entertainment, speeches and rallys etc....? Are our experiences richer when we are with groups or might we get more out of those same activities were we experiencing them individually?"

Normandy Labrum

1/17/2014 03:38:05 am

Danielle,
Both of your articles were very intriguing. I disagree, however, with your statement that there are not positives sides to crowd behavior. I think that there are. Peaceful protests are positive and have accomplished many great things in the past.

Michael Pope

1/17/2014 03:46:25 am

Danielle, Thank you so much for bringing up how Joseph Smith was killed by a mob. I was meaning to bring it up in my report but I completely forgot. It is a very intriguing story about mobs against a religious group. Really great report, And thank yo again for bringing up Joseph Smith.

Kennedee Young

1/17/2014 03:56:01 am

Danielle, I really liked how you used the internet for one of your examples because when you think of mob mentality you might think of people gathered in the streets attacking people and shouting and yelling. But the internet is a really good example. Because it is very easy for a lot of people to voice their opinions on something and gang up on other people. Another reason for the internet being a great mob mentality source is also because of the anonymity. Its really hard to trace something back to its original source on the internet. And you can do all of this without leaving the comfort and safety of your own home. I do wonder though if the same people grouping up on the internet would still group up on people and say the things they do if they were still in a group, but saying those things in person and not over the internet?

Brentley Burnham

1/17/2014 09:34:30 am

Wonderful job Danielle! I totally agree that cyber-bullying can be a form of crowd behavior. I also think that it is one of the most common example of crowd behavior, at least for junior high students because almost any form of media can be used to anonymously or personally bully people. I also thought that your example of Joseph Smith in Carthage Jail was excellent.

Brianna Hancock

1/22/2014 03:01:07 am

Danielle,
I went and read your first article. First of, great job I think that your summary of it was very good and i think that you brought up a lot of the most important things. Second, I think that she was very negative towards mob mentality and failed to bring up the good side to this human tendency. There are good things that can come out off it, is there not? Do yo think that she could have done better in saying everything about mob mentality? Let me know what you think.

Jake Breckenridge

1/22/2014 03:35:45 am

Very good summaries however i believe that the mobs always have thier starting point in mind. you dont do something without motivation wether itt be good or bad.

Ellie Howard

1/23/2014 08:12:44 am

Great job Danielle! I never thought about the web as a mob mentality. But your right cyber bulling is totally mob mentally! People totally say things on the web they would not ever say in real life. Your post is very well written

Brentley Burnham

1/23/2014 01:02:50 pm

I read the article "How Riots Work" and I think you did a wonderful job of summarizing it. I liked how it quoted Martin Luther King Jr. and the quote went something similar to this riots are not revolutionary they just get in the way of the actual solution. It also said that when you are in a group you start to lose your ability to think for yourself and just become another part of the mob.

Brentley Burnham

1/23/2014 01:14:20 pm

Here is the web link for my response
http://people.howstuffworks.com/riot.htm

nobody

1/24/2014 12:54:06 am

good job danielle!

Rhiannon Gray

1/8/2014 07:49:39 am

The first article I read was “Herd Mentality Explained” by Rick Nauert PHD http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html It explained how it only took 5% of a crowd to influence a crowds direction. The other 95% just follow along. They did experiments where they asked people to randomly walk around a block and only a few individuals where told what direction to go. By the end of the experiment they were all going in the same direction, and they didn’t even notice! The second one I read was “What Is Mob Mentality?” and it didn’t say who wrote it http://brainz.org/what-mob-mentality/ It explains how animals act differently in groups them by themselves, it also depends on the size of the group. It also says how not all mob mentalities are violent but that’s how we think of them.
My historic example is one of those violent ones. In 1857 the Mormons (for whatever reason) felt threatened by and attacked a train wagon of families” not wanting to be blamed for it they all dresses up as Indians. After five days the Mormon Militia approached with a white flag and as soon as they were out of their forts the Mormons shot them. They then denied it and blamed the Piute.
I believe that people act better with themselves. When you are by yourself you have to think for yourself and you don’t turn into a sheep. You aren’t under pressure to act a certain way or to impress someone. There is certain energy when you are in a crowd and if everyone is angry that will probably affect you, if you are in a crowd where everyone is crying you probably will to. It’s not always a bad thing to be in a group. Being by yourself means you aren’t influenced by people, but a crowd could be an influence for good. Like Gandhi or Martin Luther King JR. all you need is that one person to be a good influence and I think it will be a ripple effect. I agree that it is much easier to join the crowd then go against It., but you never know the effect you can have on people. In one of the articles it said the bigger the crowd the less people it takes to influence it. It is possible to avoid Mob mentality you could 1) Be that person to change the current 2) Think for yourself, don’t become a sheep and 3) you could always leave, being a coward is an option you know..

Mrs. Ness

1/8/2014 09:05:45 am

Rhiannon,
Very interesting summary of your first article, I was particularly drawn to the statistics you quoted and how easy it is for a small minority to sway the mob, when in fact the mob doesn't even know they are being swayed.... sounds like unless we are constantly vigilant we can easily become a flock of sheep. Your second article is a little weak; however your example is quite interesting, particularly given the article on Hauns Mill Massacre we are reading in class. In your example you say "the Mormons (for whatever reason) felt threatened by and attacked a train wagon of families" Hauns Mill Massacre is the reason for the Mountain Meadow Massacre. Ironically the causes are very similar, shame, blame and mob psychology. After reading the article in class, I would be interested in your comparison of the two massacres.

Lastly I felt your conclusion was the best part of your post. You were brilliant to identify ways to avoid, or in fact change a negative mob mentality. Using the example of Ghandi and Martin Luther King was spot on. Well done

Not Jordan link

1/22/2014 03:34:13 am

Rhiannon
Good Job! I liked how you talked about how people in a mob are more likely to do something because they want to impress someone or you are under pressure. Although I don't agree with everything, I found that part very enlightening.

Brooklyn Gotfredson

1/17/2014 03:14:24 am

I really like the first article that you read where it says that it only takes 5% if people to start and then 95% of people follow. I think that your example of mob mentality is really interesting. I also think that people can think better if they are by themselves instead of alone.

Kaitlyn

1/17/2014 03:25:39 am

Rihannon,
Wow, your submission is very interesting, and I loved you you put that we should not become sheep, just to follow the crowd and be behind others. I also found the insight very interesting on "the bigger the crowd the less people are needed to influence it" at fist glance, it doesn't seem like that would be true, but it really is!

Ashton

1/17/2014 03:25:56 am

Rhiannon, I like how you compared humans to animals, acting differently when their in groups than when they're on their own. It gives people the idea that mob mentality isn't just a thing with bad people or even just humans. It's with everything. It gives people a sense of comfort and safety. I agree with your opinion that when you're acting on your own, it's easier to think about what you're doing before you're doing it and there isn't any peer pressure involved. I like the idea of people being sheep, it's a nice way of saying that people sometimes follow the crowd.

Christian Taylor

1/17/2014 03:29:30 am

I really liked your first article. I think its amazing that only 5% can spark a huge riot. That was a cool expierment you included, too, how they all went the same direction. I thought that the Mormons example was a good and creative, rather than just using a famous one such as the holocaust. Although I dont completely agree that an individual is more effecient than a crowd, I see your point. You made a good argument that individually, we have to think for ourselves, and our own moral code stays with us.

Michael Pope

1/17/2014 03:33:15 am

Rhiannon, I agree with you 100%. If people are alone, people aren't under the pressure of becoming a sheep. They have their own choice. They can choose for themselves. You did a great job and I am astounded at what information you were able to pull out of the text that you found on the websites. Great Job.

Normandy Labrum

1/17/2014 03:43:04 am

Rhiannon
Your articles were very interesting. I liked how your historic example was the Mountain Meadows massacre. That has always intrigued me. I don't however believe that crowd behavior can be avoided. It is human nature and will always be a part of your DNA.

Amelia Morgan

1/17/2014 03:48:13 am

Great insight! However i believe when you walk away from a crowd you are not a coward, you are the bravest person present. you are right that we should try not to get sucked into a herd mentality.

Rhiannon

1/17/2014 03:56:38 am

I totally agree. Im not sure why i used that word but i do think it is extremly hard to break from the crowd so you are right

Danielle Smith

1/17/2014 03:54:36 am

Rhiannon,
I really liked your examples of mob mentality. I just think it is so sad that they would do such a thing. I also liked how you numbered your examples on how there are ways to avoid mob mentality. I agree that there are ways to avoid it, but you organized it better then I did! I really liked your submission Rhiannon!

Melanie Henrie

1/21/2014 09:50:32 am

i also researched the mountain meadow massacre. it is terrible how mob mentality and the blame game are present in this example. Terrible things happen when a creature feels threatened and also feels that it can strike out against its attacker succesfully.

JEFF

4/28/2022 06:55:17 am

Ma name jeff

Kennedee Young

1/22/2014 03:24:09 am

Rhiannon,
I liked how you gave actual statistics in your submission. It was interesting to find out that it really only takes five percent of a mob to sway the opinions or actions of the people. I also liked the way you stated mob mentality. It isn't just a bunch of people all of the sudden attacking a religion or race. Or how a bunch of people don't just come together to stop segregation. It is as you stated a ripple effect. One or two people can start to protest or rebel against something and a few more people will realize that they also feel the same way, this will go on until there are enough people that everyone else gets this mob mentality and says that oh well if all of them are doing then I should do it too. I thought that your examples were great and that you had a good submission.

Jake breckenridge

1/23/2014 11:26:00 am

http://brainz.org/what-mob-mentality/
I read this article and it talked about how you act you act differently in groups. It changes how far off you away from your morals in the different sized groups. Good summery Rhiannon.

Brentley Burnham

1/23/2014 12:24:13 pm

Great job Rhiannon! I really like how you compared herd mentality to a flock of sheep. My fourth grade teacher would tell us all the time not to act like sheep and I thought it was cool that you used that comparison. One thing that I don't agree with is how you said that cowards are people who walk away from the crowd. I think the opposite. I believe that the cowards are the people who realize the herd mentality but don't try to stop it (negative crowd behavior).

September Cluff

1/10/2014 12:25:31 am

“Herd” Mentality Explained
By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html

This article stated that “making decisions based on the actions of others is a behavior consistent among many species.” Just 5 percent of people can influence other’s actions, and the other part may “follow without realizing.” Mob mentality can be good, or bad, depending on how you use it, like many things in life. Just a few people can persuade a crowd to do something opposite of what they were doing before. And herd mentality can be found in animals too. Animal migration is one instance in particular that shows the effect of it. Humans and animals are alike in this.

The Effects of Mob Mentality on Crowd Control
By Jill Elaine Hughes
http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html

This article talked about flash mob crimes, where individuals would, as a group, hurt or kill innocent people, or rob companies. This has caused a much birgger focus on mob mentality. It says that when people are in groups, they are more likely to do something they might never do, or even dream of doing themselves. “It’s up to law enforcement to ensure that people can exercise their rights in a peaceful and safe way. But once the line is crossed from peaceful assembly over to violence, then law enforcement has to respond.” Maybe it’s only one person starting something, but soon, the whole group is. This is mob mentality. When mass violence occurs, it is very hard to stop. Mob violence is part of human psychology.

Some examples of mob mentality include the French Revolution and even large sporting events. The Holocaust was definitely herd mentality, as well as the internet today. Most of these are horrible examples of herd mentality because people were killed or hurt.

I believe that, overall, people work better alone thinking for themselves. But mob mentality can be good if you use it wisely. Using it to promote a campaign at school to not take drugs would be a good example. But like most things in the world, mob mentality can be harmful, possibly even ending with death. Many times in history has mob mentality happened, resulting in terrible consequences. So I believe that as long as we try to use mob mentality to be helpful, it’s a good thing.

Mrs. Ness

1/10/2014 02:36:38 am

September,
Your article summaries are outstanding. As I noted in class, after Rhiannon mentioned the Herd Mentality article, I too read it... pretty amazing isn't it that an outspoken minority has such power? Regarding your historical example, e.g. the French Revolution and large sporting events... give us more. You are assuming that your readers understand the mob mentality witnesses in the French Revolution and sporting events. Please explain and give examples. I look forward to reading what you post.

Lastly I like that you acknowledge the complexities of mob psychology i.e that it can be both positive and negative.

I'll look for your updates....
Mrs. Ness

Samantha Roberts

1/17/2014 03:08:06 am

Very well done September.
Your summaries were amazing, I would very much like to read the article.
Your example was very good, as well. That war was a sad thing for a lot of people.

Kaitlyn

1/17/2014 03:20:46 am

September
I agree with pretty much all of your submission. Those articles are very interesting, aren't they? I also very much like the way you put that crowd behavior and "'mobs" are not always the best, and that it is probably better with each person for themselves.

Danielle Smith

1/17/2014 03:23:04 am

September,
I really liked what you said in this article. I would have liked to know more details on some of the examples of the mob mentality, like what happened in the French revolution? In what ways is the internet an example? Though I would have liked to hear more, I liked that you said that mob mentality can be good when there is a school campaign to promote kids to not do drugs. Overall, I quite enjoyed what you had to say. :)

Alora Colton

1/17/2014 03:36:55 am

September, (by the way I still love your name.)
I thought that your second article in particular sounded really interesting, so I went and researched it. I thought that it was really interesting and a great source of information. Overall I agree with your opinion that if we make this a good thing it can be really helpful. One thing I was confused about was the internet example. Did you mean Cyberbullying? But overall really great job

Kennedee Young

1/22/2014 03:32:21 am

September,
I really liked your summaries of your articles, I felt like I really understood them. I also liked how you said that not all mob mentality is bad and that we can use it for good too. But I really liked how you said it, because you didn't say it can be used for good, you said that WE can use it for good. Mob mentality doesn't just occur, someone has to start the mentality and get it going, this is especially important for good mob mentality. Because we all say well oh yes mob mentality can be used for good, but we don't actually influence anything. If we really want something to change then we need to be the influence. I just liked how you stated that. Overall your submission was really good and I liked it.

Jake Breckenridge

1/22/2014 03:43:53 am

i read the same article as you did and i thought it was really good summary.i think that when we try to use it to be helpful that it can turn bad really quick. think about the congregation on the i have a dream speech. if Martin Luther King jr. had said his message different it would be know as the bad mob.

Ellie Howard

1/23/2014 10:39:49 am

I read your article, "Herd Mentality" explained." I found it very interesting that only five percent of a group can influence the other ninety-five percent. Great job September!!!

Carson Bell

1/14/2014 11:00:39 am

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html 'HERD" Mentalities Explained, Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor..
In this article he talks about how that as little as 5% is needed in a group to do something for the other 95% to do the same without even noticing at all. I thought that this was very cool becasue we always hear about riots breaking out and it only takes just that 5% to start it and for the rest to automatically do the same. He says that us as humans act as though we are a herd of animals migrating. We started reasearching this subject from the behavior of birds migrating. We always see that one bird in the front leading the way. But why does the whole flock follow? That ird is just like the rest of the flock? But that is what makes this subject so interesting. In the article it talks about how there was an experiment where a group of people in a hallway were to line up next to one another without communicating or gesturing. As time progressed everyone in the hall was in that formation and it looked like a snake running down the hall. Yet no one said anything to one another it just kinda happened. Overall I really liked this article.

http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html Jill Hughs Univerity of Phoenix. The Effects of Mob Mentality.

In this article it talks about how as we start hearing about these flash mob riots we start to really want to get to know what is truly going on behind all of these incidents. She says there must be some type of psychology going on behind this because it takes someone to simply do something for the rest of the crowd to react in ways they wouldn't do themselves. I like to think of it as a disease or a wildfire spreading once it starts it cant be stopped. It really is funny to think about becaus eyou would think if someone else does it I will do it but if you yourself does it the rest of the crowd does as well, I just find it very interesting on so many levels. Another point she brings up is the most common places you see these types of things are in places such as sporting events like i someone were to throw a punch everyone joins in and there is no stopping the teams. Another example is a fist fight when everyone is screaming for the fight to get interesting.

One of the historical events of mob violence that pops into my head is the "Malice at the Palace." this event takes place at an NBA stadium in Detriot. One player fouls a player very hard, that player then goes for that specific player and everyone looses control. First the fight is only consisiting with the players but once the stadium gets into it there is nothing physically possible to stop it. Watching the video on Youtube is absolutely interesting to see how the fight just progresses higher and higher. Eventually it takes all night to clear the stadium and the fighters, and with no surprise the game was canceled.

Personally I think that it is better for people to stay to themselves individualy. This doesnt always neccisarilly have to be bad beacuse in some cases like Martin Luther King JR or ghandi there was a mob for good. It is possible for good crowd behaviors then in my opinion but others may disagree. Therefore there is ways that this can be avoided but once it starts it is very hard for it to stop, Just as my example of NBA fight. Overall I really enjoyed this and could learn about it all day!

Ryan Raff

1/17/2014 03:08:59 am

Carson, I really liked all the examples you used especially the "Malice at the Palace" one. I'm going to go watch that video now. Overall, I think your opinion on the subject of Mob Mentality is very accurate and interesting.

Samantha Roberts

1/17/2014 03:13:21 am

Good job Carson. Your opinions were very good, and your examples helped me understand a whole lot better.
Your historical events were great, and they are very true. It's as if your in a violent movie with drunks in a bar. It does only take one little move to get everybody into an alcohol fight.

Brooklyn Gotfredson

1/17/2014 03:21:02 am

I really like the articles that you chose. It think that it is interesting that migrating can be a form of mob mentality. I agree that people are better of if they work alone.

Jack Miskin

1/17/2014 03:22:39 am

Carson could learn about this all day!!!! Carson is finally excited about learning and that's probably why this is such a good post. I really liked (and was not all that surprised) that you found an excellent sports example of mob mentality. I agree with your opinion that people have better values and motives individually then when part of a crowd.

Kaitlyn Christensen

1/17/2014 03:22:46 am

Good job Carson, I really love your voice in stating your opinion. I also loved your choice of historic examples of mob mentality. There are many times this has happened, but I think you picked some of the best examples.

Kaitlyn Christensen

1/22/2014 03:05:55 am

something else I found while looking on the University of Phoenix article was the many ways that a harmless "flash mob" can become something unlawful and harmful to people. I found that very interesting. Another thing was an opinion of Ruth Carter, a founder of a troupe that organizes flash mobs, tells us about their intentions of a flash mob and the process of making one. There is actually a lot you have to research, you have to make sure you are not against the laws and you won't harm people. She tells us that, "the goal of flash mobs is never, ever to commit a crime. Our goal is always to entertain and make people wonder what they just saw." It is very interesting how something so harmless can become so harmful.

Danielle Smith

1/17/2014 03:30:03 am

Carson,
I really enjoyed what you said in the first two articles, I liked how you added what was intriguing to you when you read them. I really like the example you used, because I have never heard of it before. It was nice to learn about. I also liked how you backed up your opinion with real evidence too. I think you did a great job Carson!

Nathan L. Worthington

1/17/2014 03:37:14 am

Good examples Carson! Interesting statistics in the first paragraph especially. I liked your insight during the summaries about how amazing it is that 5% of a population can spark the rest of the population (the other 95%) into doing certain things

Rhiannon

1/17/2014 03:44:05 am

I agree with you that it is better to be alone unless it is for a good cause, i made the exact same comment about Martin Luther King jr and Ghandi in my comment. i think it is better to stay alone so we keep our standards unless its a positive crowd. I really loved how you described it as a disease of a wildfire because its very true and we dont even realize its happening to us. Great job:)

Rhiannon

1/17/2014 03:53:52 am

I actually looked up Malice at the palace because it sounded interesting and i was right. thats crazy how the players started playing with out even thinking of the consequences (9 of them were suspended) and thats insane how everyone joined in. great example.

Christian Taylor

1/17/2014 03:55:01 am

Did anyone else alreadyknow about thhe Malice at the Palace? Carson, have you seen the videos? I agree, that is a great example. I cant believe I didnt think about it.

Michael Pope

1/18/2014 10:09:16 am

Carson,
I looked up your historical example that you gave and it was really quite intriguing. One thing that I feel that you should have included as well. At the very start of the brawl, the refs were able to get it back under control with a few bad feelings amongst players. Then, a drink was thrown at one of the players that started the brawl and he got really mad. Mad enough that he charged into the crowd and started the real fight. Like you said before, many of these things really can be avoided, however, once they start, they are almost impossible to stop.

Michael Pope

1/22/2014 02:55:15 am

Sorry, I forgot to add my website that I used for my additional research.
http://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-malice-palace/

Ryan Raff

1/22/2014 02:58:37 am

Hey Carson I went and researched The Malice at the Palace and I found it very interesting and exciting. I loved the example you used and I enjoyed learning about it. It was really cool.

Normandy Labrum

1/22/2014 03:04:38 am

Carson
I liked your example of "The Malice in the Palace."
It really was a mob mentality. Many people joined in because others were doing it. It wouldn't have happened without a large group.

Jack Miskin

1/22/2014 03:13:16 am

Carson, I also went in and research the Malice at the Palace incident. It is amazing that it seems like the players initially started, and helped the fight along. After a drink was thrown at one of the players, everything went wild, and the crowd started to interact too. I did not previously know about this and thank you for sharing it with us.

Ruthann

1/22/2014 03:38:46 am

Carson,
I found yours very intriguing. It's amazing that people can get riled p by a sport so much that a simple foul wa enough to lead to a riot large enough to cancel a foot ball game. I agree with you that mobs can be good. The main things that can make mobs bad, are what their goal is, and what they're willing to do to complete it.

Ike Melanson

1/22/2014 03:43:39 am

Carson,
I also researched "Malice at the Palace" and found it very interesting that just because of a few basketball players, a full out brawl was started.

Kennedee Young

1/22/2014 03:45:16 am

Carson,
I really liked your summaries, they explained the articles and I felt were well written. Your historical example really intrigued me, because I have heard of people fighting over sports but I have never heard of something so large and serious happening. I just think that it is amazing that so many people can get so mad over something as silly as sports. I am not trying to insult anyone who likes sports or sports themselves, but they are just a game. And when people get so worked up over it it really does amaze me how quickly they can lose their self control and overreact.

September Cluff

1/23/2014 01:12:52 am

I was, like others, very interested in your unique example of "Malice at the Palace", so I did some research on it. It is very amazing what happened there, even though it wasn't good. This is truly an example of mob mentality. I also liked your insight on herd mentality. Good job.

Kirsten Grover

1/23/2014 11:55:54 am

Carson, your first article was amazingly interesting. I loved how it talked about how as the crowd increases the number of people who knows what is going on decreases. The experiment in the hallway was creative and very smart of them to do. By the way you did a great job of summarizing the articles.

Emmy Nielsen

1/24/2014 04:09:07 am

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html

I read your first article. I think you summarized it perfectly. You didn't include that they said not all mob mentality was bad, but you included it in your opinion so it doesn't really matter. Great Job!

Mrs. Ness

1/15/2014 12:34:27 am

Dear Carson,
I'm pleased you are enjoying your study of the Salem Witch Trials, and the era in which they occurred... You best as you are our director and key editor of the Readers Theater we are compiling!
Regarding your comments, you will note by my previous entries I found those same articles interesting.... what is it about humanity that we flock like birds? You note in your personal comments that you believe we behave best individually rather than collectively, in that vein let me address the same question to you that I did to many of your peers, i.e. why then do so many of our cultural behaviors, i.e. school, work, church etc... take place in collaborative groups, or collectives vs. individual study? It seems counter intuitive? What think ye? I look forward to reading your response.
Good job.
Mrs. Ness

Normandy Labrum

1/15/2014 06:49:30 am

"Examining Mob Mentality" by Megan Donely
http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx
This Article talked about why people join in violent Mob behavior. They under go "Deindividuation" which is where one does things that they would not usually because they are in a large group and feel the violent are the whole groups fault not just their's. The individual feels that their actions cannot be traced to them and so feel no remorse for their actions. They do not feel their actions will affect them personally later. Also the article said that only a small fracttion of people in a mob are criminals and the rest just follow.

The effects of mob mentality on crowd control
By Jill Elaine Hughes
http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html
This article was talking about how many people will commit "overt acts" that all add up to mass violence. One overt act can cause others to do things that they usually wouldn't do. And it is just a chain reaction.

Normandy Labrum

1/15/2014 06:59:49 am

Continued.

Historical Example
My example is Krystalnacht or the night of broken glass. I really like this one because it didn't just occur over one night it went on for about a week and sparked other crimes. It started when a Nazi official was shot and killed by a Jew. This led many people to gather together and burn houses, synagogues, and other Jewish owned places such as stores. Many stores and houses were broken into and looted by the mob. Glass windows were smashed and so many were terrorized. In the end no one won because the war broke out and the Nazi's were defeated. And the Jews had the Holocaust thrust upon them.

I don't think we can ever be free of mob mentality. It's human and animal nature to do what others are doing. Individuals don't have to get involved, but many still do. In my mind it is unavoidable. I also think that people are better on their own. Their actions reflect who they are and what they stand for then. They are vulnerable then and that is good.
There are positive mob actions though. Like with Martin Luther King Jr.

Mrs. Ness

1/15/2014 11:40:53 pm

Dear Normandy,
I am interested in the first article you read and summarized and it's use of the term ""Deindividuation", I don't think I have ever hear the term used before, on the other hand, the word perfectly captures the nuances of crowd behavior and a mob psychology. Thanks for introducing me to a new word! Regarding your historical event and personal thoughts, We covered Krystalnacht in class this past week, we used it in the context of shame, blame and guilt, it is however a good example of mob psychology- see if you can come up with an event not discussed in class and bring it to the table. I am interested to see what you come up with. Lastly, in your conclusion you throw out the name of Martin Luther King Jr. as an example of positive mob action; however you did not explain why you feel his behaviors fit a positive model, please explain. I look forward to reading your responses.

Best wishes,
Mrs. Ness

Normandy Labrum

1/17/2014 03:07:45 am

Martin Luther King Jr. gathered large crowds for a number of peaceful protests against segregation. After these incidents the civil rights movement progressed a ton. Now segregation is illegal.

Another example of Mob mentality in history is when in Burlington 100's and hundreds of teens went to a church and came out in droves and were sprayed by fire hoses and sent to jail. This is another example of a civil rights mob mentality. The teens would not have done what they did if not for the fact that so many were doing it. Also it goes the other way. MAny people would not have discriminated if not for the fact that so many were doing it.

Kirsten Grover

1/17/2014 03:14:10 am

Normandy I agreed with what you said on how we can never be free of mob mentality. I think that is true because of the reason you said. It is our nature to imitate others. I would like to know why you think people are better on there own. People could still do bad things without a group or mob. I understand that there would be less people that would join in and that would decrease the intensity. I liked all of what you were saying I just do not feel like you completely finished your thought on the last paragraph. Keep it up. I want your opinion

Emmy Nielsen

1/17/2014 03:14:38 am

I like how you explained it as a chain reaction, because that's really all it is. I agree that, at least right now, there's no way to stop mob mentality because I think that it can happen anywhere with a group of people. You can't just suddenly stop people from interacting with each other. I also liked how you brought up Martin Luther King Jr. and the positive effects of what happened with him.

Ashton

1/17/2014 03:15:43 am

Normandy, I really liked how you explained the idea of mob mentality, with people feeling like it can't be traced to them and that they won't be the ones blamed. I like how you said that it only takes one single act of violence to spark a chain throughout a crowd, with your perfect example of that, the Krystalnacht. But do you think that the fact that they can't be traced could lead them to do good things? I know people that would be afraid to do anything on their own, whether it's good or bad. Some people just need someone beside them to help them through. Great job though.

Samantha Roberts

1/17/2014 03:20:40 am

Very good Normandy. I would love to read that article.
I would like to say that it is entirely true. Everything you have said, I hear all about when my mother comes home from work. Even if you're not apart of groups like that, people do terrible things that they'll never own up to. I guess it's the human nature.
Very well done!

Ashton

1/22/2014 03:02:35 am

Normandy,
one thing i believe you forgot to mention is what sparked him to kill the German. The Germans recently banished thousands of Jews to Poland, but Poland denied their entry, two of them being the murderers' parents. In revenge, he killed the German. This brought the Germans to believe that all of the Jews were killers, and that's how it all got started. You did really well though, great job. Here's what I used to research the Kristallnacht:
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005201

September Cluff

1/22/2014 03:23:39 am

I agree that it is very hard to escape mob mentality, but that we can also make it a good thing. I agree with how you said "The individual feels that their actions cannot be traced to them and so feel no remorse for their actions," and I believe this is why people join in with mob mentality. It's hard for them to see why it will affect them or others then or later in life.Good job though, I like what you said, and agree with you. I was interested in the first article you posted, (http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx) and went to it. I like how it talked about going to sporting events, or something of that nature, and yelling or cheering. Would you still do it if you were the only one? Probably not, it's mob mentality, multiple people do it, and eventually, almost everyone will join in. It said that people think it can't possibly be their own fault when doing something with a mob. ("Everyone was doing it!").

Not Jordan link

1/22/2014 03:44:55 am

Normandy,
I did a little research on Kristallnauct and found some more interesting information. I found out that not only were buildings hurt, but at least 91 Jews were actually killed and the ones who were not killed were thrust into concentration camps at a number of 30,000! I thought that was an enormous number.

Kennedee Young

1/23/2014 01:44:14 pm

Normandy,
I researched your historical example of Krystallnact deeper and l thought it was interesting that so much broken glass littered the streets that that is why it was called Krystallnacht or night of broken glass. I also learned that over seven thousand Jewish businesses were burned or destroyed. Something that intrigued me though was that it wasn't just the nazis attacking the Jewish people, it was almost anyone who wasn't Jewish. Really cool, so yeah.

Normandy Labrum

1/17/2014 03:50:20 am

In response to Kirsten's question about why I think people are better on their own is this. I think people are better on their own because they are vulnerable and noticed as who they are. If people are aware of your actions you try harder to be better and stand up for what you believe in. Or even what you want others to think of you. Basically, to keep up self image.

Jake Breckenridge

1/23/2014 11:33:04 am

http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx

I read this aritacle after the captivating summary by normandy. it talked about deindividuateing which is like acting different in a group than by your mother and grandmother. you already summarized everything, Normandy and for that I thank you!

Ryan Raff

1/15/2014 07:56:01 am

“Crowds & Behavior-Why did I do that?”
By Bakari Akil II, Ph.D. in Communication Central
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-central/200911/crowds-behavior-why-did-i-do
This article basically says that animals and people act different (in a negative way) when in crowds. To prove her point, the author tells of two studies. The first was a study of Norwegian rats. Eighty of these creatures were placed in a cage. They had the resources they needed to survive but if there were more than two hundred of them within a fourth acre they would begin to die. Researchers found that the rats were pushing each other around and fighting-creating a dangerous environment. But, of course, they had no where else to go so they eventually died.
The second study was with Sika deer. They lived on a two hundred eighty acre area of land. Each of these animals needed at least three acres of their very own space. Then the population reached three hundred. The deer started dying because of enlarged adrenal glands (too much stress). When the population reached normal again, the deaths stopped.

“The Effects of Mob Mentality on Crowd Control”
By Jill Elaine Hughes, University of Phoenix
http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html
This article talks about flash mob crimes and that there is different psychology behind crowds and individuals. Sometimes when people are in a crowd they will act in ways they would never act individually but not all mobs will act with violence even when upset. And people can act as individuals even when they are in a crowd. It also tells how people are trying to prevent mob violence to ensure safety.

My historical example of mob mentality is the Tulsa Race Riot. It happened in 1921 after a white woman accused a black man of assault. When the violence started, the man ran and a manhunt took place to catch him. When all was said and done, thirty five blocks were ruined by the flames. This left ten thousand people homeless and an estimated damage cost of $1.8 million ($21 million today).

I think people are better collectively, despite all the riots and mobs. I mean, if people have their heads screwed on straight they should be able to work positively with other people. Look at our world today. For most of the day we are hanging out with friends and family or at school. Basically, we are almost always around other people and we seem to do a pretty good job. So, I definitely think there are positive sides to ‘crowd behavior’ if everyone in the crowd will think before they act and keep their emotions under control to avoid mob mentality and crowd behavior.

Mrs. Ness

1/15/2014 11:51:38 pm

Dear Ryan,
Finally.... I've been waiting for your post... you are always the first to get your ideas out there. In any case, I was interested in both of your articles but found the first "Crowds & Behavior - Why did I do that?" by Bakari Akil quite intriguing for two reasons. First the two animal behavioral examples he gave were interesting simply because of the irrational behaviors of the rat and deer. I was reminded of the early pilgrims, both in Jamestown and Plymouth who were surrounded by food (shell fish in the Chesapeake region and nuts and root crops in the Plymouth regions) yet were starving to death because they were rotely following long rooted European feeding patterns. Second as interesting as the articles were (I followed your link to read them) the author makes a big jump comparing rats and deer to man, I was hoping to see him provide more evidence of our common link. Your historical example was well thought out and documented (and outside the norm) well done. I am hopeful that as your peers read your post they will do some outside research to find more information on the Tulsa Race Riots, I am assuming most know nothing about them. Lastly you are the only one of your peers (so far) who indicated that you felt we behaved better in crowds than individually, you provided lots of evidence to support your claims. Good job.

Regards,
Mrs. Ness

Carson Bell

1/17/2014 03:15:52 am

Ryan, I really liked how you talked about the animal experiments. To me those were very interesting and very cool to think about. I also liked the way you summarized the second article, I read the same one and thought it was well summarized. Also I never have heard of the Tulsa Race Riot until now and really liked it. Great job.

Michael Pope

1/17/2014 03:16:21 am

Ryan,
This is a very well structured, organized post. The thing that really caught my attention though was on your first link where it talks about the different animals. First off, I would like to know how the deer died when the population got to big. You said that because of the stress it caused on the deer it made them die. Was it that the deer were killing each other, or they had too little food. I would really like to know. I also believe that if people have their heads on right that all of this random killing would be stopped.
Really well done Ryan, I got a lot out of your info.

Jack Miskin

1/17/2014 03:17:22 am

I liked the two examples that you posted in that article. The deer need enough space, so when there is to many, they die off. I however, have to disagree with your opinion on mob mentality, i believe that people re worse collectively because they can get away with things behind the mask of anyominity.... anyomity .... anyomimty..... you get the point.

Samantha Roberts

1/17/2014 03:25:02 am

All of that crap for one black man. I don't know how this generation came to be with so many of our ancestors treated in that manner and sometimes killed. Thank the heavens for our better lives today.
You did amazing Ryan. Your examples were well written and incredibly creative. I loved how you explained the details of the articles. It really gets us thinking before we go and read it.

Danielle Smith

1/17/2014 03:37:33 am

Ryan,
I really enjoyed the first article, because I thought the studies were quite interesting. I liked your example too, because it is another example that I have not heard of, but would like to look into it a little more. The thing I found that I liked the best, is your last paragraph. You pretty much said in a nice way, that if people are not stupid, and actually think, being in a crowd would be fine. I thought it was nice you could put it nicely. You did a great job!

Ruthann

1/17/2014 03:47:19 am

Ryan,
I found both your articles very interesting, but I have to admit, the historical example was rather unnerving. It is hard to believe that All those people would go against that poor man simply because back then it mattered that he was black and she was white. I have next to no doubt that if a black lady had accused a white man, there would have been no chasing after the runaway suspect. I also must tell you that in my opinion, yes groups can be good, but it is much better to think and act as an individual.

Christian Taylor

1/17/2014 03:48:24 am

Great Job, Ryan. I liked your take on animals, i thought that was unique and very interesting. I am also intrigued by your article, the Tulsa Race riots. I am definitly going to look that one up. I'm on your side, opinion wise. I agree that people work much better in a group, and I'm glad yyour brought up how in our society today, we are almost never alone. we are part of a crowd at school, we come home and be with our amily, and we participate in group activities. Overall good job.

Spencer Laudie

1/22/2014 03:02:42 am

I agree that people can be better collectively. Most people work better with other people. When you are with other people you can help each other and build off of each other. Sometimes having other people actually is better because you want to look good in front of others. For example, when you are by yourself it is not as important to have good manners, but when you are with others many people try to have better manners.

Danielle Smith

1/22/2014 03:11:07 am

Ryan,
I know it's me, again, but I decided to research the first article that you posted.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-central/200911/crowds-behavior-why-did-i-do
Anyway, I found there were some interesting things that were in the article, but not in your summary. I thought the second to last paragraph was very informational. It gave a theory about how people blame their actions on their personalities while in the moment, but when we look back at the not so smart action, and we blame it on the situation. I think this is true, because people do it so often, we do not even notice it. The way you described the different studies made was magnificent. I was quite surprised when I read the study of the rats. It became quite a riot, didn't it? Anyway, I thought your article was intriguing, and I was glad that I could have the opportunity to read it.

Normandy Labrum

1/22/2014 03:15:17 am

Ryan,
At first I thought that by "Tulsa Race Riots" it was like a horse race riot or something, but after research I realize that it was a huge racial dispute. It was a fascinating occurrence because it was Caucasians against African Americans. It is still a haunting experience.

Ike Melanson

1/22/2014 03:29:03 am

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-central/200911/crowds-behavior-why-did-i-do

For one of my other three articles, I read this one. The study on the rats was probably the most interesting. I found it weird that the Alfa male just kind of took over and kicked everybody else out.

Kennedee Young

1/23/2014 01:14:40 am

Ryan,
I really liked the summaries that you gave for your articles and I found your historical example very interesting, because no one has brought that one up yet. I researched an article about the Tulsa race riot. The article I found explained in detail what happened with the black man and the white woman. It is said that they believe that the black man got into the elevator with the white woman and accidentally stepped on her foot and she screamed. Later when people wee asking what happened the white woman claimed that the man had tried to rape her. This put people on edge and the black man was put in jail. When a mob of white people tried to take him out of jail the police refused. African American soldiers offered to help protect him but the police refused. After this kept happening the whites started to attack black soldiers and burned black neighborhoods. It was a really interesting article. I'm glad I researched it.

Ellie Howard

1/23/2014 08:52:13 am

Ryan,
I looked up you article, "Crowd and behavior- why did I do that" and found the topics and information very intriguing. The study about the rats was very interesting. It was weird how their behavior changed because of their lack of space. Great job telling about the article in your post!!!

Kirsten Grover

1/23/2014 12:23:25 pm

I read your second article and found it interesting but not my favorite. I liked how in this article it said that a positive crowd could turn by one or two people. It could be a shove or someone throwing something but it could change the tone of the crowd. It could change from a crowd to a mob. Great job! :)

Emmy Nielsen

1/23/2014 10:09:59 pm

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-central/200911/crowds-behavior-why-did-i-do

Your first article sounded really interesting so I read it. I can't think of any important details you left out, so good job! I think that article proves a really good point that the size of the group and the environment can really affect what happens to the group.

Carson Bell

1/24/2014 12:48:18 am

Ryan, I reasearched the Tulsa Race Riot and found it to be a very interesting topic. I really enjoyed learning about all of the things that happenned and thought you did a great job summarizing:)

Kaitlyn Christensen

1/15/2014 08:58:52 am

Article #1
"Examining the Mob Mentality" by Megan Donley
http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx
Summary:
This article was about the idea of how people act and why they act that way when they are in a situation with a big mob. In these situations, people do something that is called “deinviduation” where basically they forget the idea of being the one person, themselves, and adopt the idea of being one group with one idea and one opinion and one purpose. This is more likely to happen when you are in a large group and you are allowed to stay anonymous. Mobs are also more likely to become violent when there's a large group, so large mobs equal trouble! The article also gave a great example of people changing their ideas to something that's not the norm, how you act at a concert. Face it, you wouldn't be singing aloud and yelling as loud as you were if you were the only one doing it!

Article #2
“Herd Mentality Explained” by Rick Nauert P.h.D.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html
Summary:
This article showed how the behavior of animals in large groups was and is very similar to humans. People tend to gravitate toward one another and follow a person who knows what they're doing. This article gave an example of when people were placed in a large room and asked to walk around to see how they act around other people when in a large group. Only some people asked where to walk, and people formed a group and walked in a sort of snake-like formation. People also were examining the leaders of such groups and how they acted, and it is kind of hard to recognize the leaders from the followers in large flocks of birds as in human mobs. In this way, this article showed lots about how humans are like animals!

These articles were very interesting and especially the first one, providing a way how people acted when they are in a mob and what that is called, provided an understanding of how and why people act the way they do in large mobs. Don't underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups! Mob mentality is probably something that will last forever and there is not a thing that humans can do about it. It's obviously human nature to “follow the leader” and that is what makes a mob a mob.
The same thing happened on and around the aftermath of the Holocaust, when so many people were killed and that happened because of a bunch of people acting as one, with one mentality and one purpose in mind. Many people's anger can really escalate into something big and sometimes very powerful. Major sporting events are big examples of this, when people get together to do something they set their mind to, they are going to accomplish it! I heard a story where at a soccer game, people were very hateful towards a call the referee made and they actually decided to kill the ref! It was a very gory story, but it sets the idea of mob mentality very much into focus!
I found the idea of mob mentality very interesting. Humans act very much like animals in a lot of things we do, especially in mob mentality. In truth, human nature is to congregate when we want to accomplish something, and putting ourselves in a position where we are in a mob empowers the capacity to accomplish things of a normal, single human. People by themselves can't really do much unless they are a leader of a group or mob like Martin Luther King or Ghandi until they decide to be picked up with the crowd and act as one with them, adopting their mentality and ideas and their one purpose.

Mrs. Ness

1/16/2014 04:39:35 am

Dear Kaitlyn,

You successfully posted the two best one liners on the blog:
1. " Face it, you wouldn't be singing aloud and yelling as loud as you were if you were the only one doing it!"

2. "Don't underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups!"

You have great "voice" when you write. It makes your writings far more interesting to read- good job!

Regarding your response to the blog questions and forums, like many of your peers you mentioned Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi as examples of positive mob psychology, the question is why? That is, what did they do that made them positive examples, not their message but their mode of sharing it? If the mob simply followed like sheep in a flock, do they (the mob) get any credit for having participated in a mob mentality that had a positive outcome? If the members of the mob (positive or negative) have given their agency and individuality to the leaders of the mob, how are these two movements any different than what you might term "negative movements". I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Regards,
Mrs. Ness

Kaitlyn

1/17/2014 03:15:14 am

Mrs. Ness, thank you for your question!
I think that some people are sort of destined to be leaders in large groups. If nobody listened to that charismatic speaker or that one person that made a good point, then we would not have mobs. I think it is just as simple as that. However, mobs have proven they have two different sides, to help or to hurt. If nobody were to decide to break that invisible barrier and say something or do something, nobody would be the leader of that mob. I believe that all mobs have a leader and they all start with one person saying, "this should change".

alexis corpron

1/17/2014 03:16:14 am

I also learned in one of my articles that even though the mob started out peaceful most of them do turn violent. I also agree with what you said about why people do what they do. I would definitely wouldn't scream and yell at a concert if I were the only one. One thing that i don't necessarily agree with is that large groups/mobs equal trouble because that may not always be true. It may be more common but large groups don't always equal trouble. I also agree that mob mentality will never end its just impossible to control everything that everyone does.

Michael Pope

1/17/2014 03:24:46 am

Kaitlyn, very astounding report. I was very intrigued that you added in your historical example that at a soccer game. People were so mad a one of the refs, that they decided to kill him! That I believe is true Mob Mentality. Mob Mentality in my opinion is when people are so mad at someone or something, that they know that they must do something, whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. Just the thought of the hatred that has to be in people to do such things as that just makes me want to run away.

alexis corpron

1/17/2014 03:26:21 am

I really liked reading your article it was very interesting to know that humans are a lot like animals in some way. The only thing that i disagree with in your summaries was that you said large mobs/groups equal trouble. I don't agree because not every single large group like that is going to cause trouble. I did agree with what you said about following the leader. I would definitely would not scream and shout if I was the only one doing it.

Samantha Roberts

1/17/2014 03:29:55 am

Awesome job Kaitlyn!
I do recall the story of the referee at the soccer game. It was very popular where I am from.
I loved how you shared a lot of your opinions and knowledge about the subjects that may or may not have been in the articles. I intend to find out.
Well done!

Danielle Smith

1/17/2014 03:47:09 am

Kaitlyn,
I admired your submission, and I liked what you said about mobs. It would probably be quite scary if you made one bad call, and people were so mad, they wanted to kill you! I would not want to be him. However, I did not see your opinion on if people are better collectively or individually. I would have liked to know what your thoughts were. Anyway, you did fabulous!

Ruthann

1/17/2014 03:55:13 am

Kaitlyn
I totally agree with you about how concerts are an example of mob mentality. At the same time, I'd most likely be that one person who was forced to go t the concert with her friends and has no idea what everyone else is doing. Yeah individuality! (Even if it's in great part due to ignorance and not caring about the weird people on stage singing the loud song that everyone else is hoppin' up and down to.) I agree with you that mobs can be very dangerous, especially the large ones. I was really impressed with your reply to this question.:D

Normandy Labrum

1/17/2014 03:56:31 am

"Face it, you wouldn't be singing aloud and yelling as loud as you were if you were the only one doing it'
I'd Keep singer. I might even get louder. But that's just me. Your post was amazing.

Brianna Hancock

1/21/2014 06:21:56 am

I like your opinion on mob mentality. Although I must say that I disagree with your statement " People by themselves can't really do much unless they are a leader of a group or mob..." I think that many people can influence groups in strange ways, even the small people.

September Cluff

1/23/2014 01:00:40 am

Wow Kaitlyn! Your summaries were some of the most interesting I have read. I feel like you really captured what both the articles were trying to say. I also read the second article as one of mine, and thought it was fascinating how they walked in groups around, and only a few select people were told where to walk, but soon others started following, until it was a big group. Thank you for your insight, it really helped me understand!

Kirsten Grover

1/23/2014 11:24:01 am

I read your first article and I thought it was very interesting. I thought you summarized it well. I liked how the article said that they don't think it is a bad thing if a group of people is doing it. They act like the group is to blame and not them but it is both because it was their choice to follow.

Brooklyn Gotfredson

1/15/2014 10:39:53 am

Examining the Mob Mentality by Megan Donley South University
http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx

This article really focused on what kind of people usually become involved in mob mentality. The article says that a lot of people that don't have a lot of self-value are usually the ones that are more prone to become a part of mob mentality. People that are apart of mob mentality start to do things that they normally wouldn't do and think that it is acceptable. The bigger the mob the more that someone can loss there sense of who they are. When different events occur, the more violent the group can become.

How Riots Work: Mob Mentality by Molly Edmonds a major in creative writing
http://people.howstuffworks.com/riot3.htm

This article really talks about why people may do it. When one person gets violent about something, it can cause the whole group to also get violent. People can lose their sense of what they want, and can do things that they don’t really want to do. Being part of a group makes it so that people think that they are invisible and they won’t get in trouble for their actions. When people come into places like prison, it makes people more pressured to get violent. And when people have a common goal it makes it so that they join together.

One historical example of mob mentality is the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. The citizens of France were upset because they felt like they weren’t being treated fairly. Because they thought that they weren’t being treated fairly they turned to violence. Like in the second article, since they had a common goal, they joined together so that they could help one another. This example is a great example of mob mentality and how people can loss there senses and do things that they usually wouldn’t.

I think that when people don’t have a sense about who they are, they naturally become a part of group. I don’t think that becoming a part of a group is not a good idea. People can get wrong ideas, and follow along with what everyone else is doing. When you become a part of the group, they can’t get out of it. I think that people need to learn how to do things individually.

Rhiannon

1/17/2014 03:12:58 am

I really liked your first article summery where you said that people with low self esteem are the most common people to participate in mob mentality. I really think that's true because they don't trust themselves to make a good decision so they turn to other people even if they know what they are doing is wrong. My favorite part of your whole comment is when you said "Being part of a group makes you feel invisible so you think you wont get caught" i think people want to do bad things sometimes because its human nature but they don't do it because of the consequences but if they are in a group of people they think that no one will get in trouble. great job:)

Ashton

1/17/2014 03:21:15 am

Brooklyn, I really liked how you mentioned that some people are more prone to mob mentality than others. People with low self esteem are more likely to be willing to follow someone than to think for themselves and make their own decisions. I also enjoyed how you mentioned that people lose a sense of who they are, what they're doing, and why they're doing it. But do you think that people with low self esteem could possibly lead a group? Or be able to resist the temptation of following the crowd? Great job though.

Kirsten Grover

1/17/2014 03:22:06 am

Brooklyn I liked how you summarized the two articles because I almost felt like I was reading them. I am not very good at remembering the things that happen in history so I would have liked it if you actually told me more about the event in general. I felt like you could have said more in the last paragraph like why should we learn to do things alone and how would we do it. Overall great essay.

Emmy Nielsen

1/17/2014 03:22:31 am

I really liked how you tied in one of your articles with your historical example. I also liked how you said that when people have low self esteem they're more likely to join a group. What do you mean by when people are in a group they can't get out of it? Do you mean they can't because they don't realize they want to, or something more like they can't because they feel pressured to stay?

Alora Colton

1/17/2014 03:41:34 am

Brooklyn I love your insight. I to agree that people should learn to be their own person, I also loved your article and your example of the French revolution. I totally agree with pretty much everything that you said. Overall really great job

Alexis Corpron

1/17/2014 03:58:02 am

I found it very interesting that the people that feel like they have no self worth are the type of people that are more likely to join in these mobs. I definitely agree that when people are in groups they tend to think that they are invisible and they won't get caught because every one else is doing it. One other thing that i agree with is that people tend to forget who they are when they join a group.

Michael Pope

1/18/2014 10:24:12 am

Brooklyn,
Great Job on your blog. I looked at your example of the French Revolution Reign of Terror. It was a very gruesome time indeed! It is an excellent example of people coming together to fight for their rights and in doing so made that time and place considered a very long, terror filled, mob scene. Great work.

Michael Pope

1/22/2014 03:01:55 am

Sorry, I forgot to add the website that I used for my additional research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror

Brianna

1/22/2014 03:20:28 am

Brooklyn,
I read your second article. I liked what it was saying on the triggers of mobs. It was interesting to see that so many different things can effect a single person and then they get e group and everything turns into chaos. I think that she should have suggested ways that normal people can help in stopping and preventing mobs. I also think that her points on social media and all that it does to a mob were rather interesting. I think that mobs totally can form from things on instagram or facebook. How do you think that we as a people can prevent and stop mobs?

Alora Colton

1/22/2014 03:21:36 am

I honestly did not know a ton about the French Revolution. I thought that is was very similar to the American revolution. But I wanted to know more. So I researched it. On history.com on the french revolution I found an article. I was surprised out how similar, yet different the French revolution was to our own American one. Think about all the anger that was involved, that was their. But I think what was different was the way that it went. The Americans had their own resources and stuff. But the French where so poor, it was almost ridiculous trying to fight back. But mob mentality came in and they did anyway.

Ellie Howard

1/23/2014 09:23:01 am

I like how you said that people who usually have the same goal come together in a group. You can see many examples of this in history like the freedom riders and the marches lead by Martin Luther King Jr. great job Brooklyn!

Kennedee Young

1/23/2014 01:53:35 pm

Brooklyn,
I looked into the reighn of terror and it astounded me. It had a death toll ranging in the tens of thousands of people. Almost all of these people were executed by the guillotine. I actually found that the guillotine became one of the national symbols of the French revolutionary war. It was a very interesting topic to read on. Great example. Good job.

Olivia Pendrey

1/16/2015 12:01:42 am

Good Work, but what if someone is scared of being different, being different is, in most cases, the cause for bullying. I agree with you that people need to learn how to do things individually. People are naturally wimps though, we are automatically wired to take the easiest path possible, even if it hurts other people- we do not usually notice- we just take the simplest path for our "Human Body" But what our spirits want to do is completely different. You should rephrase that sentence into,

Our Human Bodies want to by-stand things in order to not e the victim, but our souls work differently. We need to focus on what's right. I understand it's difficult, but that doesn't make it the wrong thing to do. Sometimes you need to sacrifice something you love to save someone you love.

Mrs. Ness

1/16/2014 12:16:26 am

Dear Brooklyn,

I enjoyed reading your summaries and historical examples, in both cases I found myself when finished, wanting a little bit more. In the case of the former you write...
"Being part of a group makes it so that people think that they are invisible and they won’t get in trouble for their actions." Brilliant insight, I would love to have read more evidence supporting the statement. The same is true of the French Revolution, as a Historian, I am often befuddled by man's willingness to give up their agency in favor of the invisibility of the crowd. Please take a few minutes to disaggragate and give us some specific examples of this behavior from the French Revolution. I am a firm believer that in the applied lessons of the past are the improved behaviors of the present and future. I would like to learn what lessons you believe are applicable from the French Revolution. I look forward to reading your insights.

Regards,
Mrs. Ness

Jack Miskin

1/16/2014 01:15:15 am

Article # 1
http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/personal_experience/article/600664/Mob-Mentality/
Jordan I. Teen Author

This article mainly points out that many people together should really be considered one whole person. This is because when people have the option of anonymity, they will confrom to something they think or even know, is morally wrong. They gave examples such has people electrocuting eachother in Nazi Germany and the mob that marched around Penn St. campus after their head football coach was fired. Another thing it says is that when faced with a choice between the outside against the mob and being in the mob, they usually choose to conform to the general populations will adn mentality.

Article # 2
http://volumeone.org/articles/2012/03/20/3094_Good_Mob_Mentality
Good mob mentality
Thom Fountain

This article is about creating good mobs. They call these "cash mobs" these mobs are basically a group of people who go to a store, spend some money, and generally have a good time. They don't promote violence and this kind of mob mentality is good and profitable for many companies in the area. It says that they are trying to help out the community by promoting good mob mentality this article has a cash mob date set for March twenty-fourth. So we should expect to see some mobs then.

Historical example
The mountain Meadow Massacre is an example of mob mentality. In that massacre, the people of Southern Utah were enforcing marshal law on the state, travelers weren't allowed into Utah. However, a group of people going to California got caught in state. They asked to be left alone but the people of Southern Utah decided to see what was going on, when they approached, the fighting somehow started. The people of Utah didn't really want to kill anybody but because of the mob that formed, they killed everybody in that group.

My opinion on mob mentality is pretty mixed. I believe that in most cases, mob mentality is hurtful and an opportunity for good people to do bad things. However, sometimes it seems as if people in history have won because of mob mentality so I guess i am a fence sitter on this one. It can be either a very good thing or a very bad thing, never in between.

Mrs. Ness

1/16/2014 04:53:04 am

Dear Jack,

Given the prominent role you are playing in "The Crucible", I was quite interested in reading your article summaries and responses. Calling yourself a "fence sitter" in an honest response to a nuanced question. Personally I have found many of the 'most' difficult questions don't fall into simple black and white scenarios. For example the historical example you provided was of the Mt. Meadow Massacre, there can be no doubt this was a tragic episode in Utah's pioneer heritage, I am certain if life allowed "do overs", the participants in South-western Utah would have handled things differently. I believe the only way to truly understand what happened there is to review the accounts that occurred in Far West, Missouri in which their positions were reversed. Both cases provide startling and tragic examples of mob psychology. Perhaps it is one the most important reason to study history, given that we can't do "do overs" we at the very least have the lessons of the past so we can avoid similar mistakes, that said, what are the lessons we can learn about mob psychology from Haun's Mill (the readings are available on the Salem Witch Trial page) and the Mt. Meadow Massacre? I look forward to reading your response. BTW, great job in your difficult role as John Proctor.

Regards,
Mrs. Ness

Ike Melanson

1/17/2014 03:13:43 am

Nice job Jack, I really like the example that you used. Its a really good example of how a probably peace full mob turned very suddenly into a not so peace full mob. I really like the first article that you used. And how it says large groups are like a person. I have never heard of a "cash mob" and would really like to know more. Thanks again for the great post.

Ryan Raff

1/17/2014 03:17:30 am

Jack, I really liked how you saw both sides to Mob Mentality, especially the positive. Everybody always views mobs as a negative thing, but you found an article stating that mobs can be positive. Overall, I agree that Mob Mentality can be good and bad. Great job.

Carson Bell

1/17/2014 03:21:35 am

Jack, I really enjoyed reading your summarizes and found them quite interesting. One thing I really loved was the Violence in History topic that you chose the Mountain Meadow Massacre, I thought that, that was such an interesting story and really enjoyed the way you told it. Lastly I found your opinion very good because it truly can be good or bad.

Alora Colton

1/17/2014 03:30:45 am

Jack, I love the articles that you chose. I think that the second article in particular is very interesting. Usually we don't think of mobs as a potentially good thing. I also agree with you that they are either good or bad. But it also depends on the perspective you take. Like if you think about the riots and protests of the 60's then we would think of them as a generally good thing. But if you looked at it from the perspective of the Police then it is not a good thing. So although I generally agree with your opinion it is interesting to look at the other side of things. Just something to think about...

Michael Pope

1/17/2014 03:40:09 am

Jack, I really am surprised about the fact that you were able to find an article that explained that there are good mobs as well as bad mobs. I was intrigued so much that I visited the website and you really summed it up quite well. I am quite surprised that businesses can profit from these cash mobs that you mentioned. Great articles that you chose Jack. I really enjoyed reading your report.

Andy Jones

1/22/2014 03:10:35 am

I liked how you showed us the good side of mob mentality. Everyone thinks that if something can be bad, it is always bad. I think that mob mentality is a great thing, it is good that we are able to follow the group. The problem is the purpose of the mob, if we could all unite for something good then we could really make a difference.

Andy Jones

1/22/2014 03:20:37 am

Jack,
I read your article on cash mobs and it is really cool how people help their community and local businesses by using a good form of mob mentality. I liked how they chose to do this to businesses that could really help the community. It was cool how they helped that stores sales increase 123%! That is a great example of how we can use mob mentality to our advantage.

Jack Miskin

1/24/2014 12:52:02 am

Jack, I really found the mountain meadow massacre to be very cool! I thought it was crazy how people who are against stuff like that woould kill a whole party. very good summary.

Brianna Hancock

1/16/2014 03:14:45 am

Article #1
“Herd” Mentality Explained
By Rick Nauert PhD
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html
One great thing that this article mentioned was that mob mentality is basically just making decisions based on the group around you. It also said that usually 95% of individuals are following unconsciously. The other 5 of individuals are the ones who are actually leading the group. During a study that some people put together, only some individuals were told specifically what to do. They could not talk and had to stay an arms length away. The people who were not told directly where to go, soon followed after the people who were more informed. Fascinating things like this happen in our every day lives.

Article #2
The effects of mob mentality on crowd control
By Jill Elaine Hughes
http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html
My article states that when your in a "mob" you get caught up in the moment and start doing things that you never would have imagined doing on your own. We always have had a way to join together peacefully, even when we are mad. When things start to go violent then that is when the police are called in and all chaos breaks out. One good quote that this article had was "There is definitely a different kind of psychology going on in large assembled groups, versus individuals acting alone." I feel like this sums up Mob Mentality quite nicely. A peaceful group can turn violent, it's not impossible. That is why we need to remember that we are individuals.

Example
The example that I decided to choose was the Burning Man Festival. It all started on a beach in San Francisco, but now owns over fifty thousand annual visitors. Now held in the desert in Nevada, many examples can be extracted from here. This is an example of a peaceful crowd. Throughout the weeklong festival many occurrences of mob mentality stand out. If your the only one not doing it, then why not join?

My Opinion
My opinion varies. I think that it all depends on what the cause is, and who you are with. If it's a peaceful crowd and you are there for a good cause, then by all means! Gather if you would like! But when a group turns violent and starts losing it's individuals, then that is when I believe that it would be better if people stayed true to themselves. There are those weird messed up people that no matter what are going to do something crazy, but let's stay who we are and work together for the greater good of men.

Mrs. Ness

1/16/2014 04:59:13 am

Dear Brianna,

You chose two articles read by many of your peers, you might want to check out my responses to them regarding the articles you choose. You selected a very different kind of historical evidence of mob psychology, i.e. the "Burning Man Festival", unfortunately your brief description assumes a knowledge about the festival that I simply do not have. I admit my own ignorance, I know very little about this festival, please explain how the festival (other than many people gathering on the beach in SF) provides historical examples of a mob psychology. I look forward to what you add. It's always fun to learn something new.

Regards,
Mrs. Ness

Brianna

1/17/2014 03:10:33 am

So the whole festival thing started as a group of friends doing dumb things. Many people originally thought that what they were doing was really dumb. Then more people started joining and it started becoming a "cool" thing. I thought that it was fascinating how with the minds changed of just a few people, it blossomed into something huge. Honestly, for my sake, DO NOT GO!!! If you research about it you will know why!!!

Melanie Henrie

1/17/2014 03:19:06 am

I don't think it is all wierd and messed up people who use mob mentality. some people don't even know that they might be leading a huge group of people. The ones that are aware, sometimes use it to their advantage either for good or for evil it happens. It is not all wierd and messed up people that use mob mentality.

Brooklyn Gotfredson

1/17/2014 03:26:43 am

I like your summaries on the articles that you did. I also like your opinion. I agree that mob mentality can be good if you don't turn to violence.

Alexis Corpron

1/17/2014 03:52:09 am

Brianna
I agree with what you said about how in mobs lots of people forget that they are their own person and that they can do as they wish. I also agree if people are gathering for a good and reasonable reason then go ahead and gather. I also think that you are right in saying as long as you don't forget who you are and its for a good cause then go ahead and gather with a group.

Ike Melanson

1/17/2014 03:54:05 am

Brianna,
I realy like the articles that you used, however, I disagree with your opinion. You said that if you are in a good crowd, and have good in cause, then its ok to be their. In one of Christian's articles, it talked about one group that got together to have a pillow fight. When it was done, their was over 30,000 dollars in damage, but overall, I agree. Thanks again.

Brianna

1/22/2014 03:51:07 am

Ike,
I can see where your're coming from. Although in situations like that I tend to laugh. I read Christian's article and I agree that when some people come together and do stuff like that, that it can have a negative consequence. I think that something such as that should not be condemned though. I mean it was for fun right?

Ellie Howard

1/23/2014 09:10:21 am

I agree with you that crowds can have a positive influence. In some examples are cheering your team on at a basketball game, and leading a group to help stand up for someone when they are being bullied. You did a great job Bri!!!

Nathan L. Worthington

1/16/2014 08:10:12 am

I read a few articles (trying to find ones different from my classmates, and thought this was as close as I could get so here is the first one)

5 Horrific Psychological Experiments #2 the Stanford Prison Experiment.
written by:Josh on the stuffyoushouldknow blog.
Website URL: http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/blog/5-horrific-psychological-experiments-2-stanford-prison-experiment/

This couple of paragraph story had me entranced in the last paragraph or so after describing how and when mob mentality was used including the Salem Witch Trials Josh (author of post) explains an experiment conducted by a university that went completely out of hand. A group of 70 men were sorted through and around half the group was picked to be in the experiment. Half of the group was assigned as guards, and the rest were brought to a fake prison set at the university. The men assigned as guards were told not to use physical punishments. The experiment designed to be two weeks lasted five days. The guards were described as becoming increasingly violent and inhumane, and had developed into a highly abusive gang that would follow each other and do anything the other did. "The results were more horrific than the test" says Josh (author). One of the guards even got the nickname John Wayne, and adapted a southern accent becoming increasingly brutal. The test conductors themselves just formed a groupthink and left it alone. The experiment ended when an outside researcher arrived and cut off the experiment before it got to out of hand.

My second article doesn't have as deep a story but still good examples and description.

"Professor looks at mob mentality connected to riot"
By: Shelby Rowe

http://www.westernfrontonline.net/features/article_81eba826-39c3-11e3-b651-0019bb30f31a.html

This example gives the story of a riot beginning with innocent passerby pausing and watching a gang of drunks throwing around bottles of beer. The large group paraded through town not harming anyone but attracting much attention which got people to follow. The drunks began to smash at police vehicles and the mob of "innocents" went along with it, observing. The drunks were now a slightly larger group and were flipping off cops dancing on cars, and causing general destruction. Police responded to the violence, and they were beginning to make arrests which egged on by the crowd whom was watching and commenting loudly the drunks protested against. The began to punch and kick attempting to harm the police in any ways possible. Mob mentality and the general chaos (along with some beer) had prompted the prosecutors into destruction.

My opinion on mob mentality:
Mob mentality is not inherently, no that's like calling Adolph Hitler a murder from birth. Mob mentality can work in the favor of social events, and large groups especially politically. The problem is the moral of the mob mentality. In the first two examples the people were placed in inherently bad situations with not so morally strong of leaders. A bishop of a church group or the local knitting club official (the nice old lady whom knits people sweaters) aren't just going to raid the yarn store or blow up some other church of a different religion. These are the kind of people who stick to what they know and are honest people. Now maybe some random person might start drinking with his friends, and his friends friends, and so on but those are people who are different. I don't think your gonna see the prophet taking a drink and flipping the bird at the police. Mob mentality all depends on A: the leaders of the group B: the event or the events place C: the group itself. Therefore mob mentality can be both good and bad.

Lastly (just now remembered): my historical example:
The Rodney King, L.A. Riots are a story I remember very well. It started with a man pulled over for speeding by the L.A.P.D. (Los Angeles Police Department.) The police had a regulation recorder mounted to the dash with no sound recording. For no apparent reason the police began to beat the man pulled over Rodney King (race: black, this is an important detail to the story). The video was leaked from an anonymous source, and the whole city was uneasy. Rodney King was brought before an all white jury and the situation was dealt with. The occupants of the city were however unsatisfied with the trial, and began to do simple acts alone. However after a few days it escalated to violence on a major scale, and the it was so large a mob that the police themselves were pushed back and locked into their own prison forced to stay inside or be overwhelmed by the mob. With the police gone nothing held people back. Murders were committed on the streets, thefts, breaking and entering, more sensitive subjects, and finally the U.S. riot control and military forces were deployed to put down the riot with an estimated dead of over 55 people and 2,300 seriously injured. It was a truly horrific thing, and one o

Mrs. Ness

1/16/2014 11:58:54 pm

Dear Nathan,
First, thanks for looking outside the norm. Given that I actually read everything you'all write I was getting rather tired of reading about herd mentality. I was particularly intrigued by the first article you read, so much so that I too looked it up to read the study. Prison violence and mob psychology sadly often go hand in hand; perhaps this has something to do with your own analysis that A: the leaders of the group B: the event or the events place C: the group itself, control the behavior of the mob. That leads me to a question, what or who do you think was controlling the behavior of the prison guards, men and women who presumably did not have criminal records, nor criminal tendencies, ended up behaving as badly as the criminals they were sent to govern. Why is that? Who was in control of their (the guard's) behavior? I look forward to reading you response.

Regards,
Mrs. Ness

Nathan L. Worthington

1/17/2014 03:16:09 am

A question well asked Mrs.Ness it makes me recall the prison guard nicknamed John Wayne in the story whom adapted a southern accent without southern origins. Mob mentality is not all about the people in the situation in the world. The mind is very active, and convincing. My theory is that John Wayne was playing his part. He just played it a little to well. His brain was shall we say, convinced by the situation. Reflexes kicked in and he did what he thought prison guards actually did because he himself it sounds like believed that they were actual prison guards. The environment changed from testing the theory to an actual prison. Once one person is convinced of the illusion that he/she has conceived more people get that illusion. More people begin to follow the new world they created inside their minds. To them this by the end was probably more than just a test.

Carson Bell

1/17/2014 03:27:47 am

Nathan, Great job man! your summarizes were excellent and I found the story very interesting. I also enjoyed your summary of the Rodney King Riots and found that story very crazy but interesting.

Ryan Raff

1/17/2014 03:29:39 am

Nathan, I found both of your articles different than other people's (which I think is a good thing) and interesting. I liked how you used stories and examples in your post. I also liked how you said that people in groups are not always a bad thing and how you told what Mob Mentality depends on. Nice job!

Ashton

1/17/2014 03:33:58 am

Nathan, I really enjoyed your first article. I found that idea of the guards becoming out of hand on their own and becoming more and more violent very interesting. I'm definitely going to read up on it more. I also really enjoyed your historical example. I've never heard of it before and the idea that so many people were fighting against the police is insane. It really makes you wonder how people could do such things. Great job.

Jake Breckenridge

1/17/2014 03:46:14 am

Good job mostly i can overlook grammatical errors but not when the error makes police men dance on cars. I know, I know you meant to put a comma there and congrats on your wonderful summary about the prison riot.I learned a lot. I disagree when you said that people act the same in riots. most people act entirely diffrent when they are in groups.

Nathan L. Worthington

1/17/2014 03:51:17 am

Sorry about that everyone didn't even notice probably because I didn't read back over it. Good catch on it though, and no the cops were not dancing on cars. Sorry again.

Ashton

1/17/2014 03:53:21 am

Nathan, I found your article about the prison experiment very interesting, so I decided so I decided to research it more. One thing I think you forgot to add is that the researchers had even developed their own mentality, letting the guards perform the violent acts against the prisoners. It's crazy what some people will do but great job.

Ashton

1/22/2014 02:53:22 am

This is the article I used to research what Nathan wrote about.
http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/blog/5-horrific-psychological-experiments-2-stanford-prison-experiment/
:)

Brianna Hancock

1/21/2014 06:15:39 am

I like the fact that you tried to get articles that no one else had. I also like the things that you said in your opinion about mob mentality, because I do agree that people don't do things wrong straight from birth. I liked the articles that you found as well. Good job!

Melanie Henrie

1/21/2014 09:58:25 am

I liked how you described two different types of people and showed how different people can be by the different ways their leaders act.

Samantha Roberts

1/22/2014 03:02:29 am

Nathan,
You did very well in this post. Everything was put in correct and I loved your opinion.
You summarized the articles well, and I'd very much like to do some research on your historic event.
(Something tells me that you love cops or have connections with cops.) You went above and beyond, and it was very well done. I don't recall any other of our awesome classmates to have written about any of it.
Well done!

Ruthann

1/22/2014 03:07:01 am

Nathan,
I found it absolutely horrific that a police officer, someone who has pledged their life to the protection of justice, would simply pull over a man and proceed to bear him merely because of his skin color. I have never liked the periods during which non-whites were persecuted. I mean really, if you think about it, almost all of America fell to the power of mob mentality! I do however agree with you on the point that mob persuasion can be both good, and bad.

Ruthann

1/22/2014 03:26:38 am

Nathan,
I was so fascinated bty the article you found, that I decided to look it up. I looked at the #1 example and discovered it too was about mob mentality. The Milgram experiment was horrible. Some average citizens were asked to help teach students with a new method. Shock therapy. Every time a student got a question wrong, the "teachers" were to pull a lever that would shock the student. Every time the voltage would get higher. none of the teachers knew that the students were not actually being shocked. They were simply strapped to the chairs and were to act as if being electrocuted. Agonized screams were played through hidden speakers. many of the teachers continued to pull the levers, even seeing that their student had clearly passed out. A horrifying display of what people will do when told to.

Andy Jones

1/16/2014 09:20:01 am

Article #1
What Mob Mentality Can Teach Us About Black Friday
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115685/what-mob-mentality-can-teach-us-about-black-friday

BLACK FRIDAY MOBS CAN BE VERY VIOLENT!!!!!
People don't always make their own decisions when they are in a herd or mob. They usually follow the mob and let it make all of their decisions. There are two studies given in the article that helps to prove this. In one study, people were put in a video game emergency where they needed to flee a building. They were exit signs, but the mob was going in a different direction. Most people chose to follow the mob. In the second study, people were shown two cards, one had a line on it and the other had several different lines that they could choose from. They had to choose the line that matched. Without distractions, they had a 99% success rate. They went through the test again, but with a large group of people, the trick, all of the people unanimously chose an incorrect answer. The success rate dropped to 63% on that part of the test.

Article #2
Top Ten Mob Mentality Stories: Sporting Events
http://listverse.com/2013/07/28/top-10-instances-of-mob-mentality/

At the beginning of the article, it talks about how people normally wouldn't go shirtless and paint their chest unless other people were doing it. People only do some of those things since other people in the crowd are that same thing. This article also gives two examples of this. The first example is in 2011 in the Stanley Cup when Boston beat Vancouver. The fans were so disappointed that they lit fires, robbed businesses, vandalized, and disrespected law enforcement officials. The second in in Egypt where 21 soccer fans were sentenced to death for starting a riot. The riot that they started killed 74 people and injured 1000 people. Unfortunately, the verdict started another riot where 30 people were killed and 400 were injured. It took just 21 people to start that riot, and then everyone else followed. You can see the damage that mob mentality does.

From what I have learned, i think that we are better when we make decisions on our own. I think that there is a positive side to crowd behavior. If we all worked together towards a good common goal, then we could do great things. As a crowd we can do more, that is not really the problem. What is the problem is the goal we are working towards as a crowd. We can avoid bad things happening if we be an up stander and stand out of the crowd. We could also avoid bad crowd behavior by beginning the crowd through good behavior. Then we could really get stuff done in the world.

Mrs. Ness

1/17/2014 12:08:36 am

Dear Andy,
You chose two interesting articles, I have often thought the chaos that erupts on Black Friday, following on the heels of a National day of Thanksgiving is similar to the violence that often erupts during Ramadan in much of the Islamic world. A sad reminder of the duality of man. We can be both sublime and base. Your historical evidence is a sad reminder of that. By the way did you take the time to watch the video that was on that same site on conformity and mob psychology? I have posted it above, take a few seconds and watch the video. I would be interested in your insights.... what examples of similar behavior do you witness in the classroom, the halls, the grounds of the school of everyday? I look forward to reading your response.

Regards,
Mrs Ness

Ike Melanson

1/17/2014 03:28:00 am

Andy,
I loved your choice of articles, I liked the examples that the articles gave. The example in Egypt was superb one. In one of the articles that I read, it talks about how it only takes about 5 percent of the people in a crowd to control where they go, and what they do. I comply agree with your response to the question, I also think that we make better decisions on our own because we don't have 100 other people influencing the choices that we make. Thanks again.

Jack Miskin

1/17/2014 03:28:10 am

I like the video game example a lot, when faced with danger, people usually try to go with the flow and escape. The statistics on the second article surprised me. It took just 21 people to start a riot that killed, maimed and destroyed peoples lives. It is interesting to me that after the verdict, the people proceeded to riot yet again. I think that is just a sign of 21 stupid people that brought out the worst in everyone.

Ryan Raff

1/17/2014 03:36:40 am

Andy, I really liked the examples of Mob Mentality that you used in your post. I also liked how you said that crowds can act in a positive way if they have the right motivation.

Melanie Henrie

1/17/2014 03:43:23 am

Wow. I really like your example in the sports fans. It is crazy how far the ripples of a riot will go.

Nathan L. Worthington

1/17/2014 03:46:37 am

I have been to stores during Black Friday (was up in a line till four in the morning in fact), but the point is that these were some very good examples. I just said period in my mind to emphasize it even though you can't hear me. These examples were just downright fantastic. Amazing job on your personal opinion as well.

Nathan Worthington

1/22/2014 02:58:53 am

I looked at Andy's article about black friday (link below), and I really commend you on the exemplary summary of the events listed. http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115685/what-mob-mentality-can-teach-us-about-black-friday

Kaitlyn Christensen

1/22/2014 03:20:36 am

Andy,
Wow, I'm so glad you brought up Black Friday! I have heard very many stories about what happens on Black Friday and to be honest with you, they kinda scare me. People... wow, we seem like the "dominant, evolved race" but we can certainly do devastating things when in large groups.

Kaitlyn Christensen

1/22/2014 03:32:11 am

I looked at the article with examples of mob mentality (Andy's second article) and I found a lot of very interesting examples. The Burning Man Festival was something I looked at too and I really was intrigued about that, the whole idea was very jaw-dropping. People really learn to follow the herd, don't they?

Danielle Smith

1/22/2014 03:26:12 am

Andy,
I decided to read your article because one time as I was scrolling through the blog entries, I just saw the words "black Friday can be very violent" in all capital letters, so I wanted to know what it was about. I read the first article, and I think you did a wonderful job doing your summary. As I was reading the article, I thought that the article was doing a summary of what you wrote. I thought it was quite queer how people while in an emergency would go away from an exit sign, but we all want to be the same, right? I thought it was funny also how the shopping carts were frowned upon by men and women, but when hired people started using them, everyone joined in. Anyway, great job on your summary Andy!
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115685/what-mob-mentality-can-teach-us-about-black-friday

Emmy Nielsen

1/23/2014 10:26:25 pm

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115685/what-mob-mentality-can-teach-us-about-black-friday

I read your first article. I thought it was cool how it said that to get people to use shopping carts, they took advantage of mob mentality and hired a bunch of people to start pushing them around stores so it would catch on. I think it's fine that you didn't include it because it's really just an interesting fact, but I thought it was cool. You did a great job summarizing the rest of the article.

Melanie Henrie

1/16/2014 09:39:47 am

The psychology of mob mentality and violence
By:Dr Wendy James
Summary:
Whenever you are in a group, your natural instinct is to follow what the group is doing. The bigger the group the more violent they become.

The green issue: examining mob mentality
by: Megan Donley
http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx
Summary:
when you are in a group sometimes you do something called: deindividuation. deindividuation is when a person lets go of their individuality and simply goes along with the group. when you are in a group you do things that may not be acceptable otherwise. Like at football games you wouldn't yell and cheer if nobody else was doing it. Many people think they can't be held responsible for actions when they are a part of a mob. The bigger the mob, the more likely mob mentality is going to kick in. anyone is suseptable to participating in mob behavior. people are more likely to loot in dire situations when they are a part of a mob.

What mob mentality can teach us about black Friday
By: New Republic
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115685/what-mob-mentality-can-teach-us-about-black-friday
Summary:
When people are black Friday shopping they slip into the mob mentality easily. Black Friday shoppers tend to create mobs that can become unruly or even violent. When shopping carts were invented they didn’t catch on until inventors hired people to push them around stores.

Violent historical example: The mountain meadow massacre
It all started in 1857. Utah Mormons discovered a wagon train of families on their way to California. For whatever reason, the church members felt threatened by these passersby and unleashed an attack. Not wanting to take blame for the assault, they disguised themselves as Native Americans, à la the Boston Tea Party, and enlisted the help of some Paiute “Indians.” The emigrants defended themselves for five days—until the “Mormon Militia” approached them with white flags signaling a truce. Low on water and provisions, they gladly accepted the truce and agreed to be escorted into Mormon protection. However, as soon as they left their fortifications, they were murdered and buried in shallow graves.
Initially, Mormon leaders denied any involvement in the massacre and placed all blame on the Paiute. Later, they admitted the Mormon Militia’s participation but claimed the militia acted on its own accord and not under direction from Brigham Young (the church’s prophet and president at the time). Today, the church maintains a monument in the meadow to honor those who were murdered.

I think if people are on their own and aren’t being influenced by other people, they have their own thoughts and feelings and you can get their true opinion.

I believe that if a crowd influenced by mob mentality is rooting for something good, then mob mentality can be good.

If a group of people is grouped together for a peaceful purpose then sometimes it can be avoided. I believe that if people get together for things like church, mob mentality is not very likely to set in.

MARY E HENRIE

1/16/2014 10:12:10 am

I like how you point out that in some cases mob mentality can be good. It made me think that if one person sees someone else helping someone they may also look for someone to help. It is important to realize how your actions influence others.

Hopefully these articles taught you to watch your actions when you are with a group. Mob mentality my be a powerful influence but you always have choices and a wrong action is still wrong whether you participate with a group or on your own.

Melanie Henrie

1/17/2014 03:11:42 am

Thanks mom.

Brooklyn Gotfredson

1/17/2014 03:42:19 am

I researched your example on the Mountain Meadows Massacre. I think that it is really interesting how when people are in mobs, they feel like they can get away with things and do things that they probably wouldn't on their own.

Mrs. Ness

1/17/2014 03:43:59 am

ear Melanie,
Thanks for your insightful post. You write: "Many people think they can't be held responsible for actions when they are a part of a mob." That is an interesting insight, and one in fact that reveals something about human nature, that is why do we behave? For others? Because of rules codified by man? Because in a belief in Eternal Laws, codified and set in place by a Supreme Being? Our own self-identified ethics and morality? AND... does the source of the laws that govern our behavior change change how we behave when placed into a "herd"? The point being who do we think is holding us responsible for breaking the "laws", and does belief dictate our behavior when placed in a mob psychology? I will be interested to read your insights.

Best wishes,
Mrs. Ness

Melanie Henrie

1/21/2014 08:48:58 am

Deaar Mrs. Ness,
I think with this question it thuroughly depends on the person. If the person is deeply religous then maybe they are acting under the belief of a supreme being.
People are strange creatures. They have an unwritten code of conduct that either you know or you don't. The people who break those laws are classified as freaks or nerds. If we think we have broken a law then we might be the one punishing ourselves the most. maybe we get the silent treatment or something from others, but nothing really serious.
Melanie

Ruthann

1/16/2014 09:54:50 am

Herd Mentality Explained By Rick Nauert PHD http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html
A group of studies were conducted where groups of people were recruited to randomly walk around in a certain area. A small number of these people were given more detailed instructions on where to walk. The test subjects were not allowed to communicate with each other. Each of the informed subjects ended up being the head of their own snaking line of people. Many of the subjects hadn’t even been aware they were following someone. More tests were conducted where there were larger amounts of people up to 200 participants. They had varying amounts of informed subjects. The eventual conclusion gained was that only 5% of the populace needs to do a certain action, and the other 95% would unknowingly follow along.
Examining the Mob Mentality By Tamara Avant from South Source. http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx
People tend to be more willing to participate in activities they would not usually do when either in smaller groups or as an individual. Technically we are all susceptible to mob mentality, but there are specific conditions and/ or personality traits that make groups of people more likely to react to that 5% of people committing the action. Some of them might be when living conditions are hard such as after Hurricane Katrina when resources were few and far between people would loot and steal for their survival. Some other conditions might be that all or most participants have a similar purpose, or there is a very large group. Both of these have a large potential for resulting violence. Mob mentality is very much about Deindividuation. People in a mob are much likely to become violent if they believe the result will be the fault of the group, not their fault individually. Another condition that can lead to people being more open to mob mentality is anonymity. If people think their actions can’t be traced back to them they are most likely to behave in a different manner than society believes to be acceptable. Another reason is if they are adolescents who have lived a troubled life and are able to feel a sense of belonging.
During WWII, the Japanese discovered a new way to ensure that no matter what, whenever their planes attacked ships at least one would explode in flames. It is known as the Kamikazes. When Japanese fighter planes ran out of ammo or were cornered, they would crash their planes into enemy boats to ensure that they wouldn’t be taken as a POW. Another method they had was that Japanese agents carried a knife with them, and if the enemy came too close for them to be able to escape they would slit their own stomach. To them these kinds of suicides were an act of loyalty to their country and their families.
Another historical example of mob mentality was 9-11. The pilots flying those planes were made to believe that they were serving some kind of higher purpose. To destroy the infidel or something like that. They also believed in reincarnation. It was this belief which led them to think that they would be “reborn” and would be able to share their riches they would be earning with their family.
I believe that there can be both positive and negative aspects to mob mentality depending on what cause the group is gathering for. However, I personally believe that people are better as individuals. It was an individual who first wrote the Declaration of Independence. Even if it was a group that signed it and helped raise the country upon the foundation this document helped provide. Individual minds are where ideas for creations both beautiful and useful originate from. There are definitely times when large groups are helpful. Such s when a country unites together to beat away attackers, or even a group of friends standing together against a bully. Still, individualism is the way to go!

Mrs. Ness

1/17/2014 03:55:43 am

Dear Ruthann,
Thanks for providing your two articles, I am familiar with both and found them both quite interesting. You chose two historical examples that seem to contradict mob psychology: 1) The Kamikaze pilots, and 2) The terrorists in the 9-11 bombings. Regarding the former at the point in which a Kamikaze pilot chooses to commit suicide, i.e. sacrifice himself and his plane as a human missile, the pilot is alone in the plane. There is no one , no mob, cheering him on. How then do you link his behavior back to a mob mentality? Are they linked in ways that I am missing?

In the latter example, the 9/11 terrorists there were far fewer terrorists on the plane itself than regular citizens on their way to see the world. The impetus for both may well have been a herd mentality, but the connection is not clear. I look forward to reading your additional insights and connections.

Regards,
Mrs. Ness

Ruthann

1/22/2014 03:46:34 am

Mrs. Ness
In regards to your question on how Kamikaze is mob mentality I have to say that even though there was no crowd in the plane with them, they knew that returning to Japan and letting the enemy escape with their lives would lead to them being shamed by their country. Possibly even rejected by their loved ones. So it wasn't really that a crowd urged them on, it was more like a country loomed threateningly over their heads.

Michael Pope

1/18/2014 10:39:08 am

Ruthann,
Great historical example, I researched more about the topic because I just think WWII is amazing and we can learn so much about it. Thank you for bringing it up. What I was really intrigued about though was that I didn't know that the Japanese would actually count their suicide as an act of honor for their families. I would never even think of killing myself. I looked into it and thing =s did get me kind of sick to the stomach. You did an excellent post and I learned a lot from it.

Not Jordan link

1/22/2014 03:28:55 am

Ruthann,
Very good job! I have a little more on WW2 for you about the Americans. Now, if you dig a little deeper into the events right before Pearl Harbor, you would notice something. You would see that America (which basically is just one giant mob) had just barely signed a treaty with Japan. If you think about it, America had acted as one and not even considered Japan as a threat. That gave Japan the ability to attack without any feeling that the Americans were preparing for an attack. So, just a little insight that came off the top of my head.

Jake

1/16/2014 10:25:33 am

Rick Nauert from University of Leeds

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html

This article is about how people follow other people. It said that it takes 5 percent of people that act and the other 95 people follow them. The author had conducted a test for some college students. She had groups of participants walk randomly around a hall. In the group the testers had told a select few a designated path. They told the participants that they had to stay close to each other’s but could not communicate to each other in any way. The author and the other testers had found that the Random people had ended up following the designated people. The random people had followed the designators and they didn’t know it.

Jill Elaine Hughes from University of phoenix

http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html

This report talked about how you would get a bunch of people together and they act totally different than what they would consider the normal. It also talked about how there are peaceful riots and violent riots. She talked about how peaceful riots can turn into violent riots. When the peaceful riots turn into violent riots it can be because an instigator can push someone. It could be the random guy in the in the corner or the main guy in the front.

My historical example is the holocaust. Hitler had hated the jews and he started mass murdering them. The people that had not liked the idea went along with it because that is what everyone else was doing.

Kirsten Grover

1/17/2014 03:30:46 am

Your first article sounds very interesting and I liked your historical example. That was the same example I used because everyone was following Hitler and they were just following him because they did not know what to do. I felt like you could add more to that. I would just like to know what your answer to the response question would be.

Nephi

1/17/2014 03:34:38 am

I liked the first article you did, it was really cool. It's kind of funny that I read the same one. Where's your opinion? Anyway I think your historical example was great. The people were all just worried about what other people would think of them.

Andy Jones

1/17/2014 03:41:25 am

Jake,
I thought it was really cool how only five percent is what it takes to start a riot. 95% is a horribly large percent for people who just follow others. I like your example of the holocaust. That is a very memorable example of mob mentality in our history. In that story it just took one man, Hitler, to start a whole war. He got people to follow him and herd mentality took it from there.

Spencer Laudie

1/21/2014 01:13:49 am

I think it is interesting that they have found a percentage to how many people act and how many people follow. It makes you wonder, "Am I part of the 5% of the people who act for themselves or am I part of the 95% of people who follow the 5%?"

Nephi

1/22/2014 03:41:38 am

sorry for picking on you, but I decided to read your second article, the one at http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html. I think you summarized it really well, I didn't really hear anything that you didn't cover. It is true that people do things they wouldn't do alone because they feel more comfortable or want to fit in.

Brentley Burnham

1/23/2014 12:07:38 pm

Good job Jake! I like how you talked about how it only takes 5% to start a crowd and naturally the other 95% follow. I think that this can be good and bad. If you have positive crowd behavior then it can be good because it only takes 5% of a group of people to start it. If you start having violent or negative crowd behavior then it's bad because it only takes a small percentage to cause lots of damage. The sad thing is most of the time the other 95% don't realize they have been sucked in until it is to late.

Nephi Jacob

1/16/2014 10:55:04 am

"Herd" Mentality Explained, by Rick Nauert.
URL: psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html

I thought this article was very intriguing. What surprised me most was that it only takes five percent of the people in the group or crowd to affect the rest. The other ninety-five percent usually don't even know that they are being influenced. That really just makes you wonder how many times a day you're being "controlled." Scientists say that there are lots of situations where this could actually effect positively, like in certain emergencies. Some scientist looked a little deeper into this an took some tests. In the test, groups of people were told to walk randomly. Selected individuals were directed to walk in a pattern. All the other people started to follow, forming a snakelike pattern. Scientists also tried this with larger groups and found that as the amount of people increases, the number of informed individuals decreases. I don't care who you are, that's cool.

Examining the Mob Mentality, by Megan Donley.
URL: source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx

This article wasn't quite as cool as my other article, but had a lot of great information. Avant describes how or why people do things they wouldn't normally do. An example he gives is when you're at a concert or basketball game, you wouldn't be cheering or clapping as much or as loud if everyone else did't do it along with you. The influence the group has on you increases and decreases depending on the size of the group, same with the likelihood of violence and other things you wouldn't normally do.

Historical Example!!!!!! :)

The only mob example that I can really think of off the top of my head is Martin Luther King jr. (Probably because it was mentioned in an article I read). The way he effected the people around him was in a positive way, instead of the usual negative that are way scary and totally not cool. He believed in making a world where black people were treated as equals, and he was going to do it without violence. More and more people joined his group and his effect on white people just kept growing. Then King started to play kids into his game. Parents did not like this and tried to prevent it. But the kids went anyway because of mob mentality. They probably wouldn't ever went on the children's march if they were themselves, they did it because Martin said they were needed, and they were worried about what their friends would think if they didn't go. If you ask me, the children's march is the main reason why black people are treated as equals.

My opinion :)

Mob mentality is not necessarily a bad thing, it all depends on who the leaders are. If the leaders are kind, considerate, and over all a great person, their group is going to be freakin' awesome, especially if they are encouraging in a way that they help others build self-esteem. If the leaders are selfish, have to have their way, and need to get some help with anger management, they just made a recipe the critics are not going to give five stars. There are lots of people that take advantage of others for their own personal gain. It reminds me of the queen bee groups we discussed in class. Red people gather up a bunch of white people (not referring to race) so that they have power and can get what they want, and sometimes they don't even realize they're doing it because of anger issues (Darth Vader). It can be different combinations of "colors" and still have the same or the exact opposite effect. I just don't believe every mob or group is evil just because all the ones on the news usually are.

(P.S. : sorry if you were bored to death)

Jake Breckenridge

1/17/2014 03:35:28 am

very good job Nephi however i don't agree that the children march was the main reason for the colored to get treated fairly. I think it was a reason along with Rosa Park, Boycotted buses, And I Have A Dream............. I was very impressed that you found a way to make Darth Vader a part of this blog.

Nephi

1/22/2014 03:44:20 am

Thanks for being honest. :)

Kirsten Grover

1/17/2014 03:52:37 am

Nephi to be completely honest I do not think there is a way to be bored while you are writing and putting smiley faces and Darth Vader into this. I liked how you wrote it in a teenage vocabulary setting. That made this easier and more fun (funner) to read. The first article does sound more interesting than the other. Just curious to know you opinion on this, If we had to stop mob mentality because it was ruining the world (or something) how would we stop the mobs, groups, or crowd?

Not Jordan link

1/22/2014 03:18:04 am

Nephi
Good Job! I really enjoyed the thing about how only 5% actually knows why they are fighting and being a mob. I thought that was cool. I also thought it was cool how you mixed Darth Vader with mob mentality. I don't know how you came up with it. But it worked! So Level up for you!

Emmy Nielsen

1/22/2014 03:51:36 am

I loved your analogies and explanations in your opinion. This was really fun to read. I think that Martin Luther King Jr. is probably the best example of positive mob mentality. I liked that you said that mob mentality isn't necessarily bad, but most of the examples we see or hear about are bad so there's kind of a stereotype. Do you think that there's a way to prevent or stop mob mentality?

Amelia Morgan

1/16/2014 11:23:59 am

"Herd Mentality Explained"
By: Rick Nauert PhD
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html
Rick Nauert explains and discusses multiple tests in which people tested in a “crowd” and observed to see if they follow individuals who acted like they know what they are doing, without any communication. Rick also discusses that it only takes 5% of people in a group to influence the group. He tested to see if this behavior was dependent on the 5%’s position in the crowd. This behavior has strong similarities to animals in groups and could help us identify the group leader.

Examining the Mob Mentality
By: Megan Donley
http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx
This article is an interview with Tamara Avant, the psychology program director at South University in Savannah. She discusses how people might get sucked into a mob mentality. The possibilities she discusses are: deindividuation, losing themselves in the crowd by saying “No one knows I did that so I won’t be arrested,” or “Everyone else is doing it.” She says that in a crowd most people tend lose their own inhibitions and adopt those of the group they are in. Mob mentality can be affiliated with alcohol in some cases, especially during sporting events.
There are many examples of mob mentality throughout history. One example that is prominent in my mind occurred at Hauns mill, Missouri, a small and peaceful settlement of Mormon families. An angry group of mobsters rode in and brutally slaughtered innocent men, women and children. One old man came out defenseless and raised his arms up in surrender, but was gunned down almost immediately. Amidst the flurry and panic of the attack, the men and some boys ran and barricaded themselves in a strong log cabin that had not yet been chinked. The mobbers surrounded the cabin, put the muzzles of their guns through the gaps in the walls and shot at the men. The stronghold the Mormons thought would save them instead became their death trap. When the mobsters finished shooting, most of the men in the cabin were either dead or gravely injured. The mobsters then came in and finished the massacre, even killing a 10 year old boy who was hiding in the corner.
Along with groups, individuals can also start a violent mob. There is an event of mob mentality that was started by one man. His name was Adolf Hitler. When Hitler came to power, many German youth joined a youth group created by Hitler, at first to gain the right to pick on others, specifically the Jews, and turn them in to the officers to be severely punished, and then it was required by law.
I believe that people are not better in groups or individually. People may behave better as individuals than as part of a group in most cases. Sometimes though, being part of group can be good, if the group is promoting something wholesome and worthwhile. It can go either way depending on their cause; individuals can do horrendous things or a group can do wonderful things. Several ways we can avoid being affected by “mob mentality” is not to get caught up in the heat of the moment, always think clearly and don’t drink, smoke or use drugs. It is a conscious choice to stay or leave if things turn ugly. Mob mentality is a force that can be used for good and evil purposes, so be wary of it. Always try to keep a clear mind and standards while in a crowd.

Melanie Henrie

1/22/2014 03:00:05 am

Mia have you looked at your zap yet? :)
ps. I totally agree that one of the best ways to not get caught up in mob mentality is to be yourself and no one else.

Spencer Laudie

1/22/2014 03:14:58 am

I read your second article, Examining Mob Mentality. I agree with your in that people get sucked into the crowd behavior and lose their self identity. I also liked how the article list some of the reasons for Mob Mentality. Those included, " when resources are scarce, we are surrounded by like-minded people, and/or when emotions are aroused."

alexis corpron

1/16/2014 11:52:08 am

The effects of mob mentality on crowd control
By. Jill Elaine Hughes-Phoenix Forward: Perspectives
http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html

I found this article on mob mentality and crowd results/behavior very interesting it taught me a lot about those type things. One thing that I learned it that a few peoples actions cause a lot of people to have to guts to join then therefore making a riot or a mob. Most the people in these groups won’t even dare to do the type things on their own. The gathering of people does not always call for mobs or riots there are some people that do handle it calmly and peacefully even though they are angry and mad just like the people in the mobs and riots. Another thing that I learned was most of the mobs start out peaceful but because of one or two peoples actions it becomes violent.
Mob Mentality
Ken Jorgustin
http://modernsurvivalblog.com/security/mob-mentality/

In this article I learned a lot more about why people think what they do is okay and why they do it. In this article one of the main reasons for the behavior in these mobs is that since people see other people doing it they just assume that it is the right thing to do. One thing that I learned and found interesting was that mob mentality because of peer pressure and the fear of getting left out is sometimes fear based. In this article it also says that sometimes a down fall of any part of the government can also lead to mob mentality because they fear that something worse will happen and because they are angry that it happen. It also says that most people think that mob mentality won’t come from a down fall of some sort because people are good but even “good “people can make mistakes.

In 1857 some Utah Mormons discovered a wagon train and for some odd reason they felt that it threatened them. They attacked the wagon train because of their feelings toward them. They did not want to be blamed or take responsibility for the attack so they disguised themselves as Paiute Indians. They stayed this way for five days because after the five days the Mormon militia showed white flags as a truce. When they were being escorted they militia murdered them all. For quite some time they blamed the murders on the Paiute Indians but in the end they did admit to doing it.

In my opinion I think that people act better individually. I believe that they act this way because on their own they can’t blame it on anybody but his/hers self. In a group people could just say I did it because they did it and because of the group some people think that since they are doing it, it is okay for them to do it too. I also think that there can be positive sides of crowd behavior but it is not the most common in crowd behavior. I think that if the crowd behavior was not hurtful or violent at all like how flash mobs used to be then it could be counted as positive. I don’t think that there is a way to prevent all crowd behavior. I think this because people can’t control everything that a person does, for example the owner of the slaves tried hard to control the slaves but it was impossible to control every single thing that they did.

Brianna Hancock

1/21/2014 06:31:59 am

I agree with you partially. I think that at some times it is better to be part of a group. Why do you think that it was the Paiutes that got stuck in the middle of it? I think that it is because they were the weakest people around and didn't know much about them.

alexi corpron

1/23/2014 07:06:10 am

bri
I think that the reason why the Paiutes got stuck is because they were the ones to take in the people that they killed. I also think that the people thought that since most people thought of native Americans as killers so they thought their story was believable.

Spencer Laudie

1/22/2014 03:28:47 am

I read your article found on http://modernsurvivalblog.com/security/mob-mentality I found this interesting and a bit scary. During a time where mob mentality for the bad is huge in a certain area and everyone begins pitching into the things the mob is doing. Will those 'everyone' include the law enforcement? If so who will put a stop to the mob mentality?

alexis corpron

1/23/2014 07:12:28 am

I think that sometimes law enforcement is included in it but in very rare cases. I think that if they were involved then sooner of later someone will realize its wrong and try to convince other people that it is wrong just like in the video The wave. If the teacher were the law enforcement he didn't do anything to stop it but involved himself and it wasn't until a student pointed it out to him that it was wrong.

Brianna

1/22/2014 03:35:57 am

Hey Lexi!
I went back and read your second article. I think that it brought up some very good points. As I've been reading articles it's funny to see how many of them say the exact same things. While I was reading this and many other articles, it failed to mention the other side of things. Why do you think that so many of the articles are against mob mentality? Sure there are bad examples all through out history, but there is also good that has come out of this. I think that the people are just forgetting that groups of people have done bad things as well as good. It's interesting to see another person take on it.

Alexis corpron

1/23/2014 07:18:57 am

I think that the reason why most of the articles are against it because most people don't look into to good sides to anything not just mob mentality before they look at the worst side.

Emmy Nielsen

1/16/2014 12:33:44 pm

Examining the Mob Mentality
Author:Megan Donley, talked to Tamara Avant the Psychology Director at South University.
http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx

She starts by saying that when you're in a group you deindividualize yourslef. She goes on to say that violent behavior is more likely the larger the group is. When in a large group you lose your sense of responsibility because it's not you're fault, it's the mob's. When people (mainly teenagers) feel like they need to fit in with a certain group, they are under more pressure to deindividualize themself. Once again, the larger the group the higher chance of violence, but also violence can be caused when there's a lack of resources, there are many people that think alike, or when there is a common emotion that has been set off.

The effects of mob mentality on crowd control
Author: Jill Elaine Hughes
http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html

Thomas Milner of the police department says that there's a difference when you're I'm a group, or when you're by yourself. Not all mobs are violent and start riots. Most mobs are started by only one or a couple of people. It could be a random person or some kind of ringleader that starts it. Once a mob gets started, it's difficult to stop it. Mob violence is part if a very primal part of human psychology. Some people channel this into sports like boxing or martial arts.

The Mountain Meadow Massacre was in 1857. Mormons in Utah felt threatened by families going though their territory on their way to California. The Mormon Militia called a truce and the travelers accepted it. The people going to California were murdered soon after.

I think most people are better individually. When people are in a mob, they seem to lose their ethics. Even if someone doesn't have very good ethics, they don't have much power without a mob to try to influence. Most crowd behavior is negative, but it kind if depends on your point of view. Let's say a group of peasants are protesting against a king because they think the taxes are too high. If you're the king, the peasants protesting are probably the "bad guys", but if you're a peasant the protestors are the "good guys". Though crowd behavior is negative, good can come out of it.
I think there might be a way to avoid mob mentality other than not letting groups of people assemble. It's very difficult to stop though because it only takes one person (and a group) to get a movement or mob started. Also, once it's started it spreads like wildfire and makes it even harder to stop.

Kirsten Grover

1/17/2014 03:40:48 am

Emmy I liked your articles and your example. I would have liked a little more information about the mountain meadow massacre. I really enjoyed your insight on mob mentality. How do you think we could stop mobs from forming when we already do so many things as a group? We do school as a group and we do sports as a group and many other things we do as a group. Why would you want to stop it all together? Some mobs did good for the world like Martin Luther King Jr. I would love to hear your opinion.

Emmy Nielsen

1/22/2014 03:19:56 am

I think that the people in the group affect if it becomes a mob or not so somehow regulating who can meet probably solves the problem in theory, but who wants to be examined and interviewed just to know who they can associate with? It would probably just lead to more mobs. I didn't mean to say that I wanted to separate everyone, i was just saying that if you take the potential mob out of mob mentality it can't exist. But once again, people don't want every aspect of their life controlled and if no one interacted with each other, nothing could happen. People need to be social so there probably isn't a solution that wouldn't backfire.

Amelia Morgan

1/17/2014 03:54:28 am

great example! I read your first article as one of mine as well. it is a very interesting article, you summarized it well. one question though, in your second article did they use mob mentality to control crowds?

September Cluff

1/22/2014 03:08:20 am

I thought your summaries were very well done. I especially liked the first one, and how you said "When people (mainly teenagers) feel like they need to fit in with a certain group, they are under more pressure to deindividualize themself." This made a lot of sense. People want to fit in, and be part of a group, but when this happens, people can start making bad decisions leading to horrible things. I also agree with your opinion. People work well individually, and sometimes it's hard to keep your standards high, and easy to lose them. Great job!

Brentley Burnham

1/22/2014 03:51:53 am

Wonderful job Emmy! I thought that your idea that anyone can start a mob was really good. I also agree that mobs are easier to start that stop and that it depends on your point of view whether crowds are good or not. I don't agree with your idea that crowds are bad altogether. I think that it depends on the motivation of the crowd, whose leading it, and the people who have joined it. I also think that there are many excellent examples of positive crowd behavior in history.

Ellie Howard

1/16/2014 12:52:49 pm

One of the articles I read was called “Mob mentality can take over protests or even clearance sales”. This article talks about what mob mentality is and what people do when they are unified. In large groups people can often lose their sense of right and wrong, and their self-awareness. Don Forsyth, professor at The Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond, described mob mentality as,”…the idea that the mob seemed to act as if it were a single thing, unified by a shared sense of purpose.” He also said, “Nowadays mob mentality pretty much just means that people do things in crowds and mobs that are stupid,” things they would usually not do or participate in. While most mob mentality or crowd behavior is violent, according to Eitan Schwarz (an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and Northwestern University), however, mob mentality can lead to positive change. Schwarz also said, “There are similar tendencies to gather for doing good, like marathons, walks and concerts for good causes, here we mirror each other. This is a healthy use of mob mentality.”

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=205860
“Mob mentality can take over protests or even clearance sales”
Written by: Lacy Schley
Lacy is currently a research writer at Healthcare Business Insights. She has had many writing and reporting experiences such as working as a science reporter at Medill News Service. She was also a middle school volleyball coach. She went to Northwestern University, Randolph-Macon College, and L.C Bird High School

My second article was called “Examining the Mob Mentality”. In this article it also talked about why people act the way they do in a crowd. People tend to ignore normal restraints and are more likely to lose their sense of individual identity. Provocations of behaviors that a person would not usually participate in if he or she was alone are caused by the group environment. One very intriguing thing I read was that when u are at a sporting event or concert you are yelling and screaming, but if you were the only one doing it would be unlikely you would yell or scream. Another intriguing thing the article said was that the group environment seems to make some behaviors acceptable that otherwise would not have been acceptable. Many people who participate in mob mentality have the mindset that they cannot be held responsible for violent behavior because, “everyone was doing it!” Many also believe that their violent behavior cannot be traced back to them. When people remain anonymous, there is a large group or a diffusion of responsibility is experienced, group violence is most likely to occur.

http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx
“Examining the Mob Mentality”
Written by Megan Donley
Megan currently writes for the South Source. She loves to read and write. She has talked to South University’s faculty and staff. She likes writing for the South source because they care about education.

An example of violent mob mentality is the French Revolution. The revolutionists gave the downtrodden a guillotine for which was used to execute around 50000 people. The Revolutionists also discharged terror by publicly beating people, firing squads, weighting victims and tossing them from boats, parading severed heads through the streets. When trials occurred they were usually a farce. It took about a year for the people of France to realize what murderous fanatic their leader was and with one final mob they ended the problem with one more beheading.
I think that it depends on the person to see if individual of collective behavior is better. For example if someone was a strong, wise individual who could do things on their own, they would be better individually. However, if someone struggles doing things on their own and they need or like to have help, they are a better person collectively. I also think that collective behavior has its down sides. When you are in a group of people your choices and actions are influenced by other people, for good or for bad. If you were to light a car on fire, you would most likely follow through with it because your choices are being influenced by others, but if you were alone then you would probably not follow through because you would have room to think for yourself. I think there are positive sides to crowd behaviors. If multiple people were to scream at a high school football game, it is more likely you would do it in a group thus influencing other to scream with helps cheer you team on. It is very hard to avoid crowd behavior because you want to look cool in front of others or it is the easy thing to do. However it is not impossible. If you are a good person and have good standards it is easier to choose what you will do and not do and not get sucked into what others are d

Ellie Howard

1/16/2014 12:57:06 pm

doing. For example if there are kids swearing at school you can avoid crowd behavior by not joining in. You can also avoid crowd behavior by standing up for someone if they are being bullied. When you stand up to a group of kids who are picking on others you are going against mob mentality. (sorry my post cut off)

Emmy Nielsen

1/17/2014 03:42:59 am

I never thought of sporting events or concerts as mob mentality but I guess they are. I liked your examples of standing up against the mob is a way to avoid mob mentality. I think mob mentality can be stopped if everyone wouldn't join in, but it's hard to make everyone do that.

Brentley Burnham

1/22/2014 03:09:01 am

Good job Ellie! I really liked how you said that crowd behavior is hard to avoid because you are afraid of how you will look in front of other people. I also think it is hard to avoid crowd behavior but for a different reason. This reason is that almost everywhere you are, have been, or will be there is a crowd. A police officer in my neighborhood said something that I think really goes along with this. He said, "We like to think that are family influences us the most but the reality is in your life time the moments when we make the most life changing decisions are when you are a surrounded by your friends, and they influence those decisions more than your family ever will." If you surround yourself with good people then the less likely you are to join a crowd with a bad leader like during the French Revolution.

Alexis corpron

1/23/2014 07:25:17 am

Ellie
I went and read your second article you did perfect on fitting it all into your summery. I love how you also quoted the author in it. I liked that you quoted it because it really was the perfect was to explain what you were trying to portray.

Alexis Corpron

1/17/2014 03:45:20 am

Ellie
I also agree that some positive can come out of mob mentality but its not very often. I also believe people are better when they act on their own. I loved how you said that if you were with a group you might set fire to a car but if you were alone you wouldn't have even thought about it. I think that that just shows how much of an impact peer pressure actually makes. The one thing you said that i disagree with is that it is impossible to avoid crowd behavior. Take the slaves for example even though their owners tried to control them they never really succeeded.

Andy Jones

1/22/2014 03:02:48 am

Ellie,
I really like your article and examples that you used. I sort of agree with you on how it depends on the person to go with mob mentality or stay strong. I think though that most people follow the group in most situations. I totally agree on how people act different during sports games while they are in a crowd. When I go to sports games, i yell a whole bunch of things that i regret or that i wouldn't do if there weren't a crowd around me doing the same thing. Mob mentality can take over anyone with enough influence.

Amelia Morgan

1/22/2014 03:18:39 am

you gave wonderful insight on your second article. i looked it up and read it and you did a good job explaining it.

Kirsten Grover

1/16/2014 01:19:16 pm

The Psychology of Mob Mentality and Violence
Dr. Wendy James, PhD
http://www.drwendyjames.com/the-psychology-of-mob-mentality-and-violence/
This article was about mob mentality and violence. It said that humans act differently when we are in a group. We act however the rest of the group acts. In the article it says that the more people in the crowd or group the more affective what they are doing is. For example if a group is trying to protest against something they are using their anger to affect the others. The more that are being angry the more efficient what they are trying to do is.
Mob Mentality Can Take Over Protests or Even Clearance Sales
Lacy Schley
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=205860
This article talked about what mob mentality is to us now. In the text it said that mob mentality now is just doing stuff in a group. Right now because of our mammalian brains we like to copy or imitate each other. The more people we have doing one thing the more that want to join. Those who want to usually do join and many people in a crowd doing the same thing is what mob mentality looks like. This happens a lot during protests.
An example of mob mentality would be the Holocaust. During the Holocaust the Germans would say they were following orders but what was really happening was they were using common behavior and imitating others. They were becoming inhumane and ruthless killers or abusers. When the Germans in the group first joined they knew what was going. When they left the fight they lost themselves. This even happened to those who did not know what was going on.
I do not think that there is a right or wrong answer to this question because we do a lot of things in groups already like school or sports. Doing things with others for the better is definitely a good thing like Martin Luther King Jr. I do think however when you get to a point when you are doing something wrong like in the Holocaust that is when mob mentality is a bad thing. It could work either way. I think doing everything a little more individualized would help because there would be less people to do the things like burning cars or something for the negative. There would be less people to be able to imitate.
I do not think we can avoid people from going into groups and using the groups for power. It happens at school and at home. An example could be your siblings teaming up to make fun of you. There is no way we can control everyone or just stop changing people by being in groups. We might be able to stop the bigger things from happening like the Holocaust but we can stop our human behavior.

Spencer Laudie

1/17/2014 03:51:27 am

I like how you explained that we as humans like to imitate others. In Mrs. Measom's room she has a "demotivator poster" that says "When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other." It is funny how when people have agency they do act like those around them. That is why mob mentality works for the benefit for some people. Because people will do what you're doing because they want to fit in.

September Cluff

1/22/2014 03:01:26 am

Kirsten, I really liked the examples you gave of mob mentality, and how you explained them. I agree that mob mentality is neither a bad thing, nor good. It simply depends on how you use it, but people do tend to follow others when in a group. Very good explanation.

Brentley Burnham

1/22/2014 03:22:55 am

Great job Kirsten! I really like how you gave the example of siblings gaining up on another sibling. I have four younger siblings and I see that a lot. I never really thought of that as crowd behavior but I can see how that would work. I also like how you said that the bigger the crowd the more powerful their actions are. I think that the reason for that is people feel stronger in bigger groups. They think that their identity is less likely to be found out so they aren't afraid to show their true feelings or to join in.

Nephi

1/22/2014 03:25:21 am

Good job, I think the holocaust is a great example of mob mentality. If you've seen the wave, it proves that. I totally agree with your opinion. Groups can be good and bad and we all can use a little individuality and it comes naturally to join or become part of groups. I just wanted to let you know I got your question but I'm still thinking. Meanwhile I have a question for you. If a friend of yours joined a group you didn't like (a group at school or something more extreme), how would you react?

Kirsten Grover

1/23/2014 12:35:59 pm

Nephi, that is a great question where the answer would be different in the situation. Right now I want to say I am perfect and that I would forgive them and just not hang out with them when they joined that group but the truth is I probably would get very angry. I probably would try to talk them out of it but if that did not work I probably would them that I can't stand that choice or when they talk about it or anything like that. That was a great question and now I am interested in what you would say. What would your answer be to that same question?

Alexis Corpron

1/23/2014 07:40:46 am

Kirsten
I read your first article and I thought that you did a great job at explaining what it said in the article. I also love that you mentioned that the more people that are angry the more that they will accomplish. the only thing to wasn't mentioned was how humans are not the only ones that acted different in groups. Other than that you did a really great job on your summery.

Brentley Burnham

1/23/2014 12:54:41 pm

I read the article the Psychology of Mob Mentality and Violence I thought that you summed up the article really well. One thing I really liked about this article was it gave three theories for crowd behavior. The first theory says that crowd behavior results from hypnotic influences of others. The second one says that it is just the joining together of people and emotions that creates crowd behavior. The third is just a combination of both.

Brentley Burnham

1/23/2014 01:17:42 pm

Here is the web link for my response
http://www.drwendyjames.com/the-psychology-of-mob-mentality-and-violence/

Brentley Burnham

1/16/2014 02:18:06 pm

Chapter : The Mind of Crowds From The Book The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind
By: Gustave Le Bon
http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/lebon/Crowds.pdf

This Chapter was all about how a crowd thinks. The author compares each individual of a crowd to a cell in an organism. Each one does something different but when put together the cells form an organism. What now controls the organism is not each individual cell but the brain or the main control center. When all the cells of the organism are working as one many things can be accomplished. It is the same with humans. When many individuals come together and are driven by a common idea or believe anything can be accomplished whether it be good or bad. First the author talks about the bad side of crowd behavior, he says that very commonly a crowd will result in violence because despite a persons social standing, age, race, etc. they forget their standards and the conscience disappears and they are caught up in the crowd. The good part of crowd behavior is that every so often there is people that are strong enough to turn a violent crowd into a positive one or to start a positive crowd behavior.

The Effects of Mob Mentality on Crowd Control
By: Jill Elaine Hughes Phoenix Forward: Perspective
http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html

This article was about how quickly positive, civilized crowds can be turned into a violent mob. The article said that people even if they are part of a positive crowd can get “caught up in the moment” and do something small and stupid that has a huge effect on the emotion of the crowd. Often this action results in the crowd turing from the civilized approach to the problem and acting irrationally in violence. Another thing that the article addresses is that when people are in a crowd they act in ways they would have never acted if they were alone. These people even if they are normally very rational may become irrational under the influence of the crowd.

I believe that it depends on the situation whether people are better individually or collectively. If people are in a situation where the crowd is a positive one and no one is encouraging violent behavior or is trying to be violent like in during the Children's March. The Children's March was when almost one thousand children in Alabama marched for civil rights. In a situation like this people may act better in the crowd then they would individually because they are afraid of what other people will think is they act violently or in another disrespectful way. On the other hand is violent crowd behavior. People who are part of a violent crowd usually act in a way they would not if they were alone. I believe that they act like this because they are afraid what people think if they do not act up and follow the crowd. One example of this is the French Revolution. During the French Revolution the citizen's of France acted up against the aristocrats. Even though many of these people knew that they were killing innocent people they followed the vast majority and revolted against the government. This crowd behavior happened many times and as a result France went through multiple revolutions. In any violent crowd I think there is at least one person who is aware of the mob mentality even though they do nothing about it. These people are unlike the others in the crowd because they hold the power to change the actions of the mob or crowd for the better. Whether they actually do or not is there choice but if every time there was a person who recognized the mob mentality and used their power to turn the violent crowd into a positive one we would have little or no examples of mob mentality or crowd behavior/violence at all in history and the world might be a better place.

Spencer Laudie

1/21/2014 12:58:55 am

All of the posts I've read so far have given examples of negative mob mentality. You gave an example of a positive one. I like that you did that because not all mob mentality is bad and it seems that most of us are making it out to be mostly bad, but there are many instances where it is used for good in history. Like the one you mentioned, the Children's March, and another one I found, the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, is where the African Americans, after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man, would not use the bus to show that it is because of them that the bus systems were able to function since it was mostly African-Americans who rode the buses.
Great Job Brentley!

Rhiannon

1/22/2014 03:01:36 am

i really liked how you talked about the childrens march. i did research on it because it has always interested me. I love how all the children left school, got arrested and the went back the next day to be arrested again. i think its a great positive example of positive mob mentality:)

Not Jordan Bennion link

1/22/2014 03:12:24 am

Brentley,
I thought those historical examples were both spot on. The French Revolution is probably one of the biggest examples of Mob mentality gone bad in history. All of these peasants were working together to kill the aristocrats that nobody even questioned why.

Spencer Laudie

1/16/2014 03:52:25 pm

Mob Mentality can take over protests or even clearance sales
Lacy Schley-- has written several articles published by a university
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=205860

This article talks about how people will do stupid things when they are in groups. The article addresses when the term ‘mob mentality’ was developed. A French sociologist named Gustave Le Bon made up the idea in the 1800s. I liked Gustave’s quote mentioned in this article when he said how mobs act differently than a single person normally would. “[They] …act as if it were a single thing, unified by a shared sense of purpose.” This article also says that there are good ways to use mob mentality. One of the examples it gave was a walk for charity. When people get together and copy one another for a good cause.

How Riots Work
Molly Edmunds-- Emory College graduate in Creative Writing and Political Science
http://people.howstuffworks.com/riot3.htm

This Article defines Mob Mentality as, “When a group of people has assembled because they're emotional and angry about something” following that the article says that it only takes one person from the group to perform an act of violence for the group to begin being destructive together even if being violent is not in a specific persons nature. The article states that people, when in groups feel that they will not be held responsible for their actions because it was the group as a whole who did the bad things usually associated with ‘mob mental groups’.

One example of ‘mob mentality’ is the LA Riots where the police was treating people unfairly, but the police were getting away with it. Many residents of LA and surrounding cities were angry with this and began rioting. Several days of rioting and destruction followed. On the second day the rioters burned LA and did $1 billion worth of damage. This is definitely an example of ‘mob mentality’ because people gathered together and, as one, fought for a cause.

Are People Better Individually or Collectively? I think it depends on the person. When a good person is in a group with many people who are not good, that person can do bad things. Then that person was worse off being in a group than he or she would have if they had just stayed by themselves. However, this can be the other way around also. If someone who does not always do good things is in a group of good people, the person will probably do good things. Are There Positive Sides to Crowd Behavior? Yes, I believe so. In the first article I read it talked about how crowd behavior can be used for good. If you gather enough people together for a good cause. It can change everyone's mood to be better than it would have been before. Just like you can change one's mood for the worse you can also change it for the better using mob mentality. Is it possible to Avoid Mob Mentality? I don't think so. Unless you are a hermit and don't leave your house. People around you are always influencing you even when they are not trying to. When you get bumped into in the halls at school and, in your head, you get mad at that person who bumped you. They influenced your life, even if they didn't even mean to.

Ashton link

1/17/2014 03:57:32 am

Spencer, I found your historical example very interesting. You provided great detail, but I believe you forgot a few things. The first being that it wasn't just one man who was beaten that sparked the whole thing. A black person was murdered inside of a grocery store and the murderer didn't have to serve any jail time, which sparked more anger into people. Another thing that I believe you left out, is the fact that it wasn't only in LA where riots were happening, they were happening in San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Chicago, and other large cities throughout the United States. You did a fantastic job though.

Ashton

1/22/2014 02:54:30 am

This is what I used to research the topic
http://www.southcentralhistory.com/la-riots.php

Brentley Burnham

1/17/2014 10:02:45 am

Excellent job Spencer! I read part of the article that was written by Gustave Le Bon. It was interesting how he addressed the subject of mob mentality and crowd behavior. I also liked how you pointed out that it only takes one person to set of the the crowd. I also thought your opinion was very thought out.

Brianna Hancock

1/21/2014 06:35:12 am

I like the fact that you looked at all sides of mob mentality and that there bad thing about being an individual as well. I really liked your example. I think that something like that is just crazy and shouldn't have to happen.

Jack Miskin

1/22/2014 03:05:26 am

Spencer, I went in and read your article about how mob mentality can take over protests and clearance sales. I immediately thought of Black Friday and how yo always hear the news stories of how people mercilessly trampled people to death in order to get an item they want, however, this article was mostly on how mobs gt started. It is interesting that people go into fight of flight overdrive, and then choose to fight in a large group. I agree with the article when they say that people will do bd things if they can get away with it.

Alora Colton

1/22/2014 03:13:55 am

Spencer I went in and read your second article. It sounded really interesting and different from the others. I thought that you hit the nail right on the head in summarizing this article. I would like to add a quote from the beginning of the article. "The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility." I love this quote because it specifically addressed what we are talking about. How mob mentality is almost useless, when trying to get something done peacefully.

Ashton Day

1/16/2014 09:54:24 pm

Examining the Mob Mentality
Author: Megan Donely, a Writer for South Source
Article : http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx
Megan Donely talked to Tamara Avent, Psychology program director at South University. She talked about how riots and mobs come into effect. First, it depends on the size of the group. If the group is small, the people in it are afraid to do anything out of the normal, feeling like the evidence can be traced back to them personally. However, when lots of people get into a large group, it becomes easier to just blame other people in the group, or hide in the cover or many people's equal guiltiness. Lots of people getting together becomes dangerous, with people being able to say "Everyone was doing it!" thus being able to take the blame off of any one person in particular, and being able to blame it all on a group. She said people who don't have good family relations are most likely to join a gang, and that people in desperate situations are most likely to loot and rob people. She did say that things don't have to get violent, and there are great examples of that throughout history with Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi. It was a very interesting article and I felt like there were a lot of good points made.

The Effects of Mob Mentality on crowd control
Author: Jill Elain Hughes, Phoenix Forward, Perspectives
Article: http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html

He talks about how mobs don't usually start out as mobs. They usually just start out as a crowd getting together, and one or two people perform a small, violent act on someone else or something. Then other people join in with them or against them and more people join in until we have a whole crowd of people performing violent acts on everyone and everything ripping through a town. I like how he mentions that the government isn't there to try and stop crowds from forming or groups meeting together, they're just there to make sure things don't turn to violence and that everything remains under control.

An instance of mob mentality was The Second Red Scare. There was a lot of success in communist countries throughout the world, and people were saying that the only explanation was that there were communist spies in the United States Government. People starting crying wolf onto each other and everyone was scared America would go communist. The people allowed the government to break into places, check their mail, their drawers, anywhere they could hide something. They bugged telephones, and destroyed lots of private items. It's very interesting though, because everyone was okay with it happening. The people were fine with trying to catch communists, the President didn't care, and the Supreme Court never had to deal with it. The people let the government run wild and it was just a big waste of time and a destructive time for the unlucky people in America.

Nathan L. Worthington

1/17/2014 03:21:49 am

Excellent examples and good wording. I especially liked your historical example at the end. I never even heard of what you described, and I will probably search more into it. I noticed one thing that was missing. I wanted to hear peoples opinions on if mob mentality is always bad. I didn't see that here, but overall an excellent piece of work.

Brooklyn Gotfredson

1/17/2014 03:30:36 am

I really like the articles that you read and they summaries that you gave. I also like the example that you gave.

Rhiannon

1/17/2014 03:36:22 am

I like your first summery how you said that in a small group the evidence can be traced back to them. If you get caught in a big group no one can be charged for whatever they did. in big riots the police cant arrest hundreds of people thats just so much work so their really is safety in numbers. Ive never heard of the second red scare but it sound interesting so i will research it. Great job:)

rhiannon

1/22/2014 03:05:06 am

i went and researched the red scare and i think it was more of the blame game and paranoia than mob mentality but still a good example

Amelia Morgan

1/22/2014 02:56:34 am

wow, i hadn't heard about the red scare before. why were people scared of communists so much they let the government do that?

Amelia Morgan

1/22/2014 03:03:28 am

you did a good job summarizing your second article. However i believe you missed some key points. you didn't mention overt acts and how they effect the mob.

Christian Taylor

1/16/2014 11:09:25 pm

How Riots Work
Molly Edmonds
http://people.howstuffworks.com/riot3.htm

This article had some interesting insights. First,It said that when their is a large group of emotional people gathered together, one act of violence will immediately prompt the rest of the crowd to do the same. It said there has been a lot of research by psychologists and scientists alike. Next, it stated,"Being part of a group can destroy people's inhibitions, making them do things they'd never otherwise do." One thing they said that I thought was very interesting was that In a crowd or mob, people lose their own values and take on the groups values for a moment, which explains why it only takes one person thinking violently and why afterwards there is so much destruction. Then it had a great quip about integrity, saying that often in a large group of people taking action as a mob, people feel invisible and that they won't be held accountable for their actions. This also helps amount to great acts of violence and irrational decisions. It said that basically the two most likely places for riots or mobs to form are football games and prisons. It said that in those places, people are practically being prompted to think as one. Everyones has the same uniform, or team colors, and they all have a common thinking, better conditions or freedom, or a victory. It said sports games are especially likely because alcohol is consumed there. It then said that victims of mobs usually didn't do anything to deserve the damage, but were in the wrong place at the wrong time. And it can't be tied to any one person, its not like they can sue the whole city.

When flash mobs stop being fun
Jill Elaine Hughes
https://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/09/when-flash-mobs-stop-being-fun.html

My second article talked about flash mobs, describing them as a global phenomenon. It defines it as, "Large numbers of people-who often have never met - come together at an agreed-upon time and place to perform anything from orchestrated group dances to conceptual performance art, and sometimes even group pillow fights."
These might be positive examples of mob mentality. It went on to say that many flash mobs are violent, turning into flash mob crimes. These have resulted in burglarizing businesses and murder in broad daylight, using the shock and surprise factor to cause terror or achieve a common goal. It also said that even flash mobs intended to do no harm could get out f hand, such as a 2009 pillow fight that caused $30,000 in public damage.

A historical example is the holocaust. Even when you defend that the population of germany didn't know about the concentration camps, over 24,000 local members were part of the S.S, and ran the concentration camps. Nazi's later justified their crimes by claiming they were just following orders. Hitler had stirred up a mob of a whole country.

I think that there can be some positive sides to mob mentality, such as peaceful flash mobs. I definitely think that a group can be much more effective than one person in anything, for better or for worse. To avoid it, i guess you would just have to separate yourself from the mob and think for yourself.

Jack Miskin

1/17/2014 03:11:20 am

Christian, I really like how you found an article that has examples of good mob mentality. I think it is important to state that not all mobs are violent and dangerous. Nazi Germany is one of the most horrific example I can think of when it comes to historical mob mentality. Also, I agree with your opinion of mob mentality, sometimes it can be good, fun and entertaining, but the can also be violent and dangerous. I liked that you told about the other side of flash mobs in flash mob crimes.

Ike Melanson

1/17/2014 03:41:17 am

Christian,
Nice job man, I liked how you found an article that didn't just talk about the negative sides of mob mentality. I also agree that their are both good sides to mob mentality. I read an article that talks about how a few people in a large group of pedestrians, can help the large group get from one place to the other safety. I think that it is interesting that a large group of people with pillows could cause so much damage.Thanks again.

Jack Miskin

1/22/2014 02:58:31 am

Christian, I also went in and read the article about how flash mobs stopped being fun. They explained how flash mobs were very fun and cool at first, but then someone got a bright idea and decided to start flash mobs that caused destruction, then they came up with flash mob crimes, that was bad, now flash mobs are't considered good things. I found it hilarious that a flash mob pillow fight caused so much destruction.

Andy Jones

1/22/2014 03:35:26 am

Christain,
I really liked how you took something that is normally considered bad and turned it into something good. I don't get how a PILLOW fight could cause 30000 dollars worth of repairs. I mean, they are soft fluffy pillows! I read your article on flash mobs and i thought it was weird how people would do no pants days. Flash mobs can be bad, or sometimes good in my opinion now, thanks to your article and your insights.

Alexis Corpron

1/23/2014 07:58:29 am

I read your first article and I realized that it had a lot of the similar information as one of mine did. I think you did a very good job out lining the article. The article focused a lot on how groups are one of the big factors of mob mentality and in your summery you focused on the group factor too.

Ellie Howard

1/23/2014 10:08:58 am

I read your article about flash mobs, and i think it is interesting that people would turn such a fun and entertaining experience in to violence and crime. Great job explaining the article! I also agree that there can be positive sides to mob mentality, as well as negative sides. Nice work!

Alora Colton

1/16/2014 11:27:29 pm

I find the psychology behind mob mentality very interesting. In the first article that I read was written by Tamara Avant. She is the director of psychology at South University in Savannah. The article is called “Examining mob mentality”. It talked about the concept of deindividuation, which is the actual word she used. This is the concept that in a group, people are not as self aware as they usually are. They think that they can not be punished or caught if they do something bad. This gives people a sense of security in groups. That way people can be violent and not have the repercussions for it.
The second article that I read is called “Herd Mentality explained.” It is written by Rick Naurett who has a PhD in Psychology. This article talked about how when you become part of a group, you don’t want to stand out. So you go with the group. It also states that it takes as little as 5% of a group to start an unintentionally organized group.
A historical example of mob mentality is the Holocaust. Hitler thought that Jews where not good people. He blamed them for everything. Eventually this caught on with the Nazi party. They started to terrorize Jews in small ways. When Hitler started to grow in power he took this idea and many more into the view of the public. People started to trust Hitler and with that, his ideas. Then people started to terrorize Jews, and blamed them for all their problems. This eventually lead to the Holocaust.
I think that mob mentality is an attempt to “fit in.” You don’t want to be different. In Junior High especially you don’t want to stand out. I also think that if you are part of a group you feel more pressured to do something that is against your moral standards. This is because “everyone else is doing it. So it can’t be that bad.” I also believe that there is a security in numbers. If you are in a large group, the harder it is to pin something on you. So unless someone is paying attention no one will know that you are there. This way you are part of a faceless mob and you think that things that aren’t okay are okay. Like the KKK. If no one knows it is you, then you feel like you can do anything that you want.

http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx “Examining Mob Mentality”

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html “Herd examining mob mentality.”

Rhiannon

1/17/2014 03:28:19 am

I liked your summaries and historical examples but my favorite part of your comment was how you compared it to middle school. although we aren't a violent mob we are a mob. we dont want to stand out and be the odd one so we join a group. I like how you said they are pressured because if you only have one friend its not as hard to avoid peer pressure but when their is a group its hard to just leave. great job:)

Brentley Burnham

1/22/2014 03:31:39 am

Wonderful job Alora! I liked how mentioned that it is hard to leave a crowd or mob because you don't want to stand out. I agree with that 100% but I just want to add that I think it is easier to join a crowd then it is to leave it. I think this is because we all want to feel included so we jump into the crowd without any thought. Once we realize that it's wrong we don't want to be the first person to stand out and leave. But lots of people say that when you have the courage to stand out you won't be alone because others feel the same way as you.

Jordan Bennion link

1/16/2014 11:38:56 pm

Our Unknown Enemy: Mob Mentality
Author: Racles Bogdan
Url: http://bqsuvt.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/our-unknown-enemy-mob-mentality/
In this article, it spoke of the anonymity that comes from the action to participate in a mob or riot. Every person who participates loses themselves to become one mind and body. Each person that participates may have their own identity, status and possibly hate toward the mob. But, as our parents ask seemingly everyday, If your friends jumped off a bridge/cliff, would you jump too? This article states that you say no to this question quite a bit. But in reality, we can and do when the time comes, jump off the cliff.
Mob Mentality: How Easy Can You Be Drawn In?
Author: Alexander Dominic Merone
Url: http://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/SIOW/2011/11/mob-mentality-how-easy-can-you-be-drawn-in.html
I read this article and I found some interesting things. He talked about the Hawthorne effect (I did some reasearch) and I discovered that the Hawthorne effect is making someone feel special and important so they work harder. So, in the mob sense, basically everyone feels special to get one goal accomplished. I also discovered this very scary problem with our mob dilemma. I quote from his site
"The published results showed that it only takes 5% of what the scientists called "informed individuals" to influence the direction of a crowd of around 200 people. The remaining 95% follow without even realizing it."
I could not believe this either until I actually thought deeper. If you think about it, every person does this exact thing. You might be on a sports, dance or any other type of team and you are participating in a mob. You do what your instructor tells you (aka: The 5%) and you follow with little to no question. Have you every thought of it that way?
Personal thoughts
I believe mob mentality is and should be a good thing. I believe when you or a group is on one page and can think with one mind. You can accomplish great things. Look at Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. These people were peaceful,and yet they rioted. You are on sports teams and so am I. Now, I am not saying that mob mentality is always good. Sometimes, for example, have you ever heard of the Bakers Union? Let me give you a hint, the worked at Hostess. These people are the reason that Hostess shut down in the first place. Hostess was not doing well and the Bakers union demanded more pay. What happens when you give all the money you should be spending on your business on your employees? You lose the company. So, in conclusion, Mob mentality can be useful, but it can have devastating effects.

Samantha Roberts

1/17/2014 03:36:05 am

When it is used right. I agree it can be useful. Your example was very historic, I did love it though.
I loved the similarities that your essay had to other posts. For example, it only takes 5% of a large group to get the other 95% going. The thought of their minds, in a way, being connected like that reminds me of The Host and gives me the creeps.
Amazing job Jordan! (AKA Giles!)

Not Jordan

1/17/2014 03:39:08 am

My historical example is in my opinion!

Ryan Raff

1/17/2014 03:46:31 am

Jordan, I liked your examples especially the "jumping off a cliff" one. Also, I agree that Mob Mentality should be a positive thing, I just don't think the world has made it a positive thing.

Nephi

1/17/2014 03:58:33 am

I like how in the first paragraph you talked about how parents ask you if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you? Every one always answers no, but when you face the situation, you usually would. A lot of people start drugs and other things that might represent a "cliff" because their friends ask them to and their too afraid to say no. No one would go cliff jumping off a forty foot high cliff if someone else didn't first. One more thing, I don't know how the bakers union is a mob thing.

Kaitlyn Christensen

1/22/2014 03:16:56 am

Jordan,
Amazing submission! I really liked your voice in your writing and your opinion on mob mentality. I agree 100% in that mobs can be useful and have devastating effects, because they certainly can and oftentimes will. When the Baker's union demanded more pay, that triggered a chain reaction in the whole corporation, shutting it down. That just goes to show how going on strike will change a lot of things for the better or the worse.

Kaitlyn Christensen

1/22/2014 03:39:04 am

I looked into the unknown enemy:mob mentality article and found the insights very interesting. The website especially emphasizes the expression "if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?" and that, I think, is the perfect idea of mob mentality, it doesn't matter the size but the idea matters, and people really can learn how to follow the herd even when they know it's wrong.

Brentley Burnham

1/23/2014 12:45:26 pm

I researched your article "Our Unknown Enemy" I liked how you summarized the jumping off the cliff analogy really well. One think I found really interesting that you didn't mention was the mirrors. They said that people acted better when in a room with mirrors. They said that this was because those people were forced to look at themselves and you can't lie to yourself. I think that the world would be better off if we always acted as if we were always looking in a mirror.

Brentley Burnham

1/23/2014 01:20:55 pm

Here is the web link to my response
http://psychologymind.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/our-unknown-enemy-mob-mentality/

Samantha Roberts

1/17/2014 02:50:01 am

The Mob Mentality
By: Tracy E. Barnhart
http://www.corrections.com/articles/19123

Humans are referred to as animals quite a bit. When our scenes or lifestyles or location change, so do our attitudes. Our minds tend to think crazy ideas, and Tracy Barnhart claims that it is as if a wolf is on its own. Individually you can do so little, and humans tend to think that at whatever risk it's a good thing to have accompaniments. All they see are the similarities between themselves and the groups. Together they can accomplish so much, even if it's not the best things to go along with. Most groups are dedicated to accomplishments that require prison as the consequence. It's the trouble with our world today. Why we have terrorists, and gangs, and many other frightening cliques. They destroy our world, and consider the fact that there is no hope for them in particular. They believe that they are alone and cannot do anything without there groups. Most times, they can't, the choices they make only become worse; therefore, so do their lives, and their abilities to live a productive and good life.

Behavioral Finance: Key Concepts- Herd Behavior
By: Albert Phung
http://www.investopedia.com/university/behavioral_finance/behavioral8.asp

This article states of the disastrous problems that keep occurring because of the examples set by larger groups. Some people believe that things are acceptable to do just because they're easy, and their personalities change within the groups, damaging how their brains think. Nobody wants to be an outcast, when beings see their groups that they willingly join, they believe that those particular people know more than them, and are willing to learn.

Samantha Roberts

1/17/2014 03:17:01 am

An example of both events could probably be of the Mormon Pioneers. Mobs were forever after them. Just by one person's thoughts, or objections about them, many were killed and wounded and critisized and tortured.

Brentley Burnham

1/22/2014 03:39:23 am

Good job Samantha! I liked how you gave lots of examples of negative crowds in today's society. I agree with your question of, "Why do they even exist?" I think that these groups wouldn't exist if people had the strength to stand up or just realized they were being manipulated. At least that would be a start to fixing these problems.

rhiannon

1/17/2014 03:23:10 am

I like how in the first article summery you said that their decisions only get worse. i think thats true if you are too involved in the mob then your morals change not just your actions. I also like how you said in the second one that line that said no one wants to be an outcast, I think thats true and they think that the group knows whats best so they dont question it. i think that is very sad how people can manipulate/ be manipulated with out even realizing it. great job:)

Normandy Labrum

1/17/2014 03:24:25 am

Your first article was very interesting just from your summary. Your post was very insightful. I liked how you said, "Nobody wants to be an outcast." I completely agree. Your post lacked a historical reference, but other than that it was intriguing.

Carson Bell

1/17/2014 03:35:14 am

Sam, I really liked the way you explained your article in depth. I thought that your explanation of people being to afraid to be by themselves and that is why gangs, terrorists, etc, can be so terrible, Overall great job :)

Ike Melanson

1/17/2014 02:51:18 am

“Heard” Mentality Explained
By Rick Nauert PHD Senior News Editor
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.htmlå

This article talked about how large crowds are influenced by small amounts of people. They found that it only take 5 percent of the crowd to influence the whole crowd, the other 95 percent just follow along. In the tests, the took a group of people and told only a couple people where to go, the test subjects were not aloud to talk or gesture to each other. They say that with this information, they could control pedestrian flow a lot easier.

The Effects of Mob Mentality on Crowd Control
By Jill Elaine Hughes
http://www.phoenix.edu/forward/perspectives/2011/10/the-effects-of-mob-mentality-on-crowd-control.html

This article talked about a new thing called flash mob crime, It also talked a lot about how violence in crowds and mobs can be predickted. Mob violence starts with an overt act. Overt acts are when somebody pushes or does something physical to somebody else. These often tip the scale and the whole mob gets really angry and starts big fights. The police have specialty trained people who can recognize overt acts when and even before the happen. The article talks about how when you are in a mob, you would do things that you wouldn’t even dream of doing, its because everybody else is doing it.

In May of 1969, one college student was bummed that he could not afford a cool spring vacation trip. He decided to have a big party with his friends. Somehow the newspaper found out about this, and started writing articles on this big party. Then on the day of the party over 3,000 kids from all over the country showed up to the little town of Zap in North Dakota. They of course all got drunk at the local bar and actually emptied out the bar owners beer supply. They were all mad and drunk so they took out all the furniture of the bar and started a big bonfire in Main Square. Then they started raiding houses and business and completely destroyed the whole town. The National Guard had to come in and stop the fights and raids.

In my opinion, people are much better when they are by themselves, and not with anybody else. They can think through decisions that they make, as opposed to beating someone to death just because the people by him are doing it. In a big crowd, 5 percent of the people control the whole crowd; those 5 percent are usually following 2 or 3 people. I think that there is a good side to crowd behavior. For example, pedestrians might be following one person, and then all those people can get to the destination safely. I don’t think that you can avoid crowd behavior. When everybody is screaming and yelling, you cant really think, you just do what the person next to you is doing.

Jack Miskin

1/17/2014 03:33:49 am

Ike, i liked how you kind of delved into the Overt act thing. It was interesting to learn about because i had never heard of those before. It is also amazing how you found out that people are actually trained to spot these acts. The fact that five percent of a population could start a huge riot is astounding, if 5% of the people in a crowd have bad intentions, they can expect to be followed by the other 95% of people there.

Ellie Howard

1/17/2014 03:37:39 am

I find it interesting and cool that the poliece ahs people who are trained to stop overact when adn even before they occur. Taht is perry cool! I also find the story of the college student intruiging. That is a ton of people who came to the party, and it is a great example of violent mob mentality! Great job!!!!!!

Ellie Howard

1/17/2014 03:39:25 am

Sorry forgot to correct my spelling errors

Emmy Nielsen

1/22/2014 02:58:59 am

I think your first article sounds really interesting because of the statistics they were able to come up with. I also really liked your historical example because it shows that mob mentality can happen anywhere. Does that incident have a name? I think there might be a way to stop or prevent mob mentality but you made a good point that with all the chaos its hard to think.

Ike Melanson

1/22/2014 03:05:37 am

My historical example is called Zip to Zap.

Samantha Roberts

1/22/2014 03:14:29 am

Ike,
Great job!
I have to say your historical even caught my attention the most. I have actually read your articles, and enjoyed them. I'm hoping to do some research on your event. It's really crazy that people do that. Most times they have no intentions of doing that until one person makes the move.
It bothers me that some people never listen to themselves most times. Barely any people are wiling to take themselves out of those terrible events.
Good job!

Adi Madden

1/17/2014 02:52:03 am

"Herd" Mentality Explained
Rick Nauert PHD
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html
This article was a very intriguing one. Rick Nauert explained how you only need 5% of a crowd to influence what the other 95% do. The 95% just follow the others without even realizing it. Professor Krause and John Dyer did an experiment where they told a group of people to walk randomly through a hall. They told a few people where to walk to and after a while, without communicating at all, they were all going in one direction.
Examining the Mob Mentality
Megan Donley: Writer for South Source
http://source.southuniversity.edu/examining-the-mob-mentality-31395.aspx
In this article Donley talked with Tamara Avant, a psychology program director, and Savannah. Avant explains how when people are in groups they lose self-awareness. They act differently than they would if they were on their own. She gave an example stating how a person wouldn’t be likely to sing or yell if they were by themselves. Also when people are in a group, they don’t have to take blame because “everyone was doing it.” It automatically isn’t just one person’s, but the whole group’s fault. If everyone blames it on the group and not themselves, whose fault is it? When people join a group they think that they can’t get in trouble because it isn’t their fault, they were just following along.
Historic Example: The French Revolution. The people of France thought that they were being treated poorly and as lesser individuals. They were so upset they turned to violence, thinking that it would solve their problems. Unfortunately, lots of people died because of it. Besides all that, The French Revolution is a fantastic example that tells us some of the unfortunate consequences of mob mentality.
I actually think people work better in groups. I know people can work together to form negative groups (there were even some riots here in Madrid yesterday), but I also know that there can be positive groups too. I think that shy people like me, wouldn’t do certain things on their own. Groups help people like that to come out of their shell and join in the crowd. In a good, helpful situation, some people might not join in right away if they are shy or feel invisible. A group would give them an opportunity to help out, even though they aren't the kind of people to do that.

Ashton

1/17/2014 03:08:24 am

Hey Adi, I really like how you mention the experiment with the kids walking down the hallway. Most of the articles give examples of just people destroying stuff through towns and that really gave me an example I can personally relate to. I can totally see how that 5% of a crowd can influence tons of people. I also like how you mentioned the benefits of groups, with people being able to be social and aren't afraid to do things anymore, which can be good and bad, depending on what they do. Great job.

Brooklyn Gotfredson

1/17/2014 03:09:26 am

I think that it is interesting how it only takes 5% to start and then have 95% follow. I also thought it was interesting that when people are in groups they think that they won't be blamed for something. I also like you're example and how you said that working in groups can be a good thing.

Jake Breckenridge

1/17/2014 03:10:04 am

That was a very good summary however i think that people work better alone. When you work alone you can write down all the ideas that you have without being to shy to tell someone. You also don't think that you have a stupid idea. if some one gives a brilliant idea then you don't want to say anything because you will sound not as smart as the person.

Ellie Howard

1/17/2014 03:15:20 am

Adi you did a great job with your research and post! I find it very intriguing that it only takes 5% to influence the other 95%. I think it that is cray that such a small part of a group can influence the rest of the group. I find that statement very full of truth. Today during the talent show, one person started to clap along to the song and suddenly every one was joining in!!! I also agree with you that creating groups can influence for good. If someone is timid and doesn't like to go out of their comfort zone to talk or communicate with people. Being with a group or having someone along with them can help them to not be so shy. Great job!!!!! :)

Normandy Labrum

1/17/2014 03:16:50 am

Adi,
I like your insight into how shy people come out of their shell in large groups. I completely agree. I liked your historical example, but would have liked a little bit more from it.
We miss you.

Ellie Howard

1/17/2014 03:24:31 am

Adi I really like your examples and and details in your post. I find it very intriguing that it only takes 5% of a group to influence the remaining 95%. But it is true and I'm only just barely realizing it. Today at the talent show someone started to clap along to the music and all of a sudden everyone was joining in. Its crazy that such a small group of people can influence such a big group. I agree with you that mob mentality can be used for good. i think that those who are timid and shy find comfort in having a group with them and not having to do anything alone. Great job Adi!!!!!!:)

Alexis Corpron

1/17/2014 03:34:52 am

I really liked to read what you wrote it was very interesting. I didn't know that it takes 5% of people to do something before the other 95% does it too, I thought that it would have to be a lot more people. In one of my articles it also said that when people go into groups they are more comfortable to do things that they wouldn't even dare to do if they were alone.

Christian Taylor

1/17/2014 03:39:17 am

Good job, Adi. One thing I really thought was interesting was how people wouldnt sing or yell if they are by themselves. In a mob, they wont take the blame, because its not like someone can sue or arrest 200 or more people. I also agree with your opinion. I believe people are much more efficient in a group, for better or worse. Also, I like your unique example of the French revelution, that was a big event that people dont really notice. BTW, have fun in spain.

Nathan L. Worthington

1/17/2014 03:40:55 am

I liked your overall paper, but what especially captured me was what you said in your explanation of what you think of mob mentality.

The "There were even some riots here in Madrid yesterday" part was very good, and I was just wondering how close you were to them and how the fact made you feel.

Ike Melanson

1/22/2014 03:03:44 am

Adi,
I really liked the articles that you used. They give some good examples of mob mentality, like the experiment with the people walking around. It shows that only a couple people can control what a large group does. The French Revolution is also a good example. It all probably started with just a few people wanting their lives to change.

Brianna

1/22/2014 03:24:24 am

Adi!!! I thought that your opinion was great! I think that you bring up some good points in it. I like that you used the french revolution as one of your examples because I completely agree with it.

Olivia Pendrey

1/15/2015 11:48:52 pm

The Kristallnacht night
The Kristallnacht night, or the Night of Broken Glass, is held in Germany, or Deutschland. The Hitler Youth Marching Band went to young John Izbick's family buisness on Kristallnacht and threw bricks at the windows, "Because they're Jewish," And still, even though this happened a long time ago, the mob effect took place. There was at least 30 bystanders who did absolutely nothing, including the police.

Mormons In Missouri
Ever since the Mormons moved in Missouri the Missourians worried that they would lose their political voice because the of the sheer amount of mormons ans how they all vote as a block. The political issue was indeed slavery. The LDS were very against slavery, unlike the Missourians. This outraged them and the mayor sent out an extermination order for the Mormons. The Missourians mobbed up against the LDS and started trying to kill them off, a popular torturing method that was used on the LDS is called Tarred & Feathered. I can't imagine how strong the Mormans were to stand up for what they believe in, even if it meant certain death. Would you rather die and go to Heaven for eternity, or live and go to an eternity of Hell?

Lucy Pratt

1/20/2015 07:32:02 am

I think it is interesting/ sad that people assemble against other people who just believe something different and use violence

Hailey Henline

1/20/2015 07:55:51 am

I personally know that I would rather die and go to Heaven for eternity for defending my religion and other people, but I think that it's ridiculous that people were killed for having their own opinion. It was also that the Missourians grouped everyone together because they thought that all of the Mormons would do the same things and we don't.

Hannah Morgan

1/20/2015 08:39:16 am

I agree, but I know I wouldn't have done that before I watched the bystander affect.

Trey Shumway

1/16/2015 12:14:40 am

I read the about the Kristallnacht in Germany were a Nazi diplomat was killed in France making the Nazi's mad. The Nazi's used this as a resin to attack the Jews in Germany. I saw that the people thought it was ok to rob and kill the Jews just because everyone else was and the government said it was OK.
I also read about the red scare witch talks about the cold war and how many people in the government in the United States were worried that people would turn against the United States. They thought they would help Russia destroy the United States. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy played a huge role in trying to stop Communism in the united states and hunting down and convicting Russian supporters. Many people were scared and more or less joined in on the man hunt for communists because they wanted to help their country and not be left out or thought to be communist.

In both the videos I watched I notices that no mater what you think you just want to fit in. If you don't fit in you are some times mocked or hated. so to avoid that we listen and try to fit in. people like to be different but also want to be the same.

Kaden Hardcastle

1/16/2015 12:19:59 am

Unless one person will step out of the group, and do something else, then nobody else will feel like they should stop doing what the group is doing. Sometimes it just takes that one person it seems

Hannah Morgan

1/20/2015 08:38:22 am

It usually does take just one person. Like in the Bystander affect, the woman wanted to help, but she didn't until the construction worker stepped up. That video made me cry!! Mostly because I knew I would've done the same thing. :-( It is sooo sad how people act and rule their lives nowadays. :-(

Trey Shumway

1/16/2015 12:23:49 am

Continued:
There are both positives and negatives of mob mentality. like with Martin Luther king Jr. mob mentality was good. But with the mobs o Germany during world war II it was bad. If what the mob is doing is good then it is fantastic if it's doing something bad it's terrible. it is easier to stop one bad person, and it is easy for one person to be good or bad so neither are better. mobs and just one person are just about the same level of good and bad. You can avoid mob mentality by think about what you are doing and what are the consistences, and would you do it by your self.

Brenna Frampton

1/20/2015 12:35:55 pm

Okay my computer is having troubles so sorry to disappoint but I am not replying to a comment I am just trying to post my article review.

I read about The French Revolution in the 1800's. The King was having some difficulty with ruling France. He called together a group to help him and advise him. Basically things backfired. The council refused to help until Louis XVI agreed to rewrite the French constitution. This lead to a whole other head of problems, crop failures, food shortages, and eventually mobs. In these few weeks, people had stormed the streets angrily yelling and complaining. This was only the beginning of the French Revolution though, lots of more fighting and contention were to come. It is easy to see how others opinions and influences really created such a crazy environment for everyone. Really, hoards of people banded together moving and acting as one all in rage. I believe that is one of the dangers of mob-mentality. Everyone acts as one, which can be fatal.

I also read about the Burning Man Festival, which started out as just a fun get together on the beach. But now it is a huge event that takes place in the deserts of Nevada. There are ultimately no real rules at this festival so it doesn't take much for one person to do something outrageous. This also shows a side of mob-mentality that isn't as violent, but still as mind-controlling. When a few people have had a little too much fun or get a little to hot, they might decide to strip down to their birthday suits. Once a couple people do it, a few more start to as well. What would you do if thousands of naked people were dancing around the fire and you were the only clothes one? This aspect of mob-mentality shows that people really are willing to do some pretty bizarre stuff just for the sake of fitting in.

People in this world are quite boggling, wouldn't you agree?

Jessa Lethbridge

1/16/2015 07:26:54 am

I read the same article about Kristallnacht that you did, and I totally agree with what you said. I think that people just get into this mindset that being different and straying from the crowd is bad, and you did a good job of saying that

Kaden Hardcastle

1/16/2015 12:17:31 am

Mountain Meadow Massacre
This took place in 1857. There was a wagon train that was heading towards California. For some reason, the Mormons thought the wagon train was a threat, and they attacked it. However they didn't want to be responsible for the attack, so they got help from some Paiute Indians, then disguised themselves as Indians as well. The wagon train defended against the attack for five days, running out of supplies. Finally, the Mormon's held white flags in the air for a truce. The wagon train excepted it gladly. As the emigrants started to come out, they were all slaughtered and buried.

Salem Witch Trials
This series of events started in 1692. All of you know this story. Some girls started acting weird, experiencing pain, having fits, and dancing in the woods. "Witches" were blamed for the the girls being "sick." Women in Salem were accused, and doctors claimed the girls were possessed by the witches. The people in the town started going crazy. In the end, about 20 people were hanged, and one was crushed with stones.

In seeing the films and reading various documents, I realize that one of the reasons that everyone would go along with the herd, no matter how bizarre it was, was that they didn't want to be left out. Everyone wanted to be part of the group, even if it meant they had to do something they would never had done alone. People will almost always follow the groups lead. Nobody would want to be the only person in a group of 1000 not dancing, or the other way around and be the only one dancing. When I watched the elevator video, I was surprised at how much the man wanted to be exactly like everyone else in the elevator. The "group" would be turning in circles and he man followed their lead. When they took off their hats he took off his hat. Its funny that people are desperate enough to fit in that they'll do just about anything

Abby Gray

1/19/2015 01:54:31 am

I think that it is weird that people do such horrible things to be a part of the group. It is like in all of the old wars when people are on the front lines of battle stabbing the other team, yet they don't even know what the other side did wrong. It would just look dishonorable if they didn't rush forward to kill. It is bad to want to fit in.

Michael Worsley

1/16/2015 12:19:19 am

I looked at things like the ASH Test in the Fifties. It was a very funny and interesting test to watch. They basically had people get into an elevator, and watch how when some people made even the slightest of adjustments in their posture, or the way they were looking, the others would all do the same. This is a great example of how Mob Psychology works because it literally shows us exactly how people act when the smallest things happen.
When I watched those clips, I got a laugh. It was kind of funny to watch. Even though I probably would have done the same exact thing, I still found it funny that they behaved in such a weird way.
People in general, can get more work done faster and more efficiently, when they are working in a group. However, in states of hysteria, or other situations like those demonstrated in the videos, people can be just as good on their own. But with The Indifference of men, we find most of our fault from these situations. In a big crowd group, there can be a few positive outcomes to the behavior. Like, at a concert, its great when you get the dynamic of live music and people enjoying it. But in most other situations, I personally, would like to be with a smaller group of people. As our studies show in the videos, it is difficult to avoid Crowd Mentality. But, as the videos also show, If some people stand out of the crowd and do the right thing, others will most likely follow.

Trey Shumway

1/16/2015 06:05:35 am

I completely agree with you. I do think it is hard to avoid mob mentality but if you are going to be effected by mob mentality it might as well be a productive mob. We have to be careful in our life's not to follow mob mentality to do wrong things.

Jessa Lethbridge

1/16/2015 07:24:38 am

I think you put that really well Michael, and I totally agree. I think that you are right in saying that large groups, although can lead to bad, can also do the opposite. Good job

Abigail Peterson

1/16/2015 07:52:47 am

I watched that one too. It was hilarious! When the one guy used his watch as an excuse, that was my favorite. But it was kinda sad that he had to convince himself. I love your explanation of the pros and cons of groups. Good job.

Ellie Hart

1/19/2015 05:01:11 am

I agree also! This was put in great words and I believe that too. I think that groups can go totally in a bad direction but also can go in a positive direction. It all depends on who's going to fall into the trap of peer pressure. This was a great blog, nicely done.

Nobody Important

1/20/2015 08:56:29 am

I concur. But personally, I think that everyone falls under the "trap of peer pressure," as you put it. It just depends on how they reveal the truth.

Beth Bagley

1/20/2015 12:15:48 pm

I agree! i think it is the same way today with people when it comes to trends; when one person (like a celebrity) changes the way they dress, then many people will start to let that influence the way they dress, even if they don't like it.

Brooklyn Kotter

1/20/2015 12:59:22 pm

I liked how you said how you would probably have done the same thing, because I think everyone here would like to think that we would have acted differently then they did in the videos. Honestly none of us will know if we truly would until the opportunity to act presents itself.

Lucy Pratt

1/16/2015 12:22:40 am

The Psychology Behind Mob Mentality
By Caitlin Rearden
Published Nov 25 2014
Summery
In 2014 there was a riot in Ferguson Missouri that was caused by an officer who was "cleared of any wrongdoing" when an unarmed teenager was killed. For a while the public was peaceful expecting "justice to be served" as psychologist Paul Susac put it. He also said what caused the riot was that the public believed justice was not served so people created a mob.
Paul Susac explains the psychology behind group mentality. He says it is part of human nature and when part of a group it is because people believe they are heard when banded together.
In the article Paul Susac said that mob psychology can have positive and negative examples and affects. In this example of mob psychology it had a negative effect. In this article and the other video clips people were following examples other people, in the herd or mob, were setting by either continuing to cause violence, like in Missouri, or just follow the crowd by not helping someone who needed it because that is what everyone else was doing.

The 1849 Astor Place Riot Revealed Splits In Urban Society
By Robert McNamara
Summery
In New York City on May 10, 1849 there was riot where 20 people died and more were injured. The cause of this riot appeared to be two different actors who were “competitors” when it came to acting and getting more fans. One actor was from Britain and his name was William Charles Macready. The other actor was Edwin Forrest and he was from America. After a few encounter with each other they became enemies.
The riot was not about who liked which actor better it was more about status in society’s classes. William Charles Macready preformed in the Astor Opera House for “upper class citizens”, which was what the opera house was designed for. There was stone throwing from the crowd and in return gun firing from the militia.
This example is a little like the Ferguson Missouri riot. It did not have a positive effect. These examples of mob mentality are really sad because noting good has come from any of them.

Trey Shumway

1/16/2015 06:11:39 am

I do agree that their are both good and bad mobs. The other thing that those two articles you read told me was how stupid humans can be. Many people fought and killed each other on error two actors. It just shows how stupid other humans make humans.

Trent Stevenson

1/16/2015 10:20:31 am

Amen

Hannah Morgan

1/20/2015 08:33:40 am

I think all mobs are bad. Their are good GROUPS, or good SOCIETIES, but ALL mobs are BAD. It is a known fact.

Hannah Morgan

1/20/2015 08:34:33 am

Well, most people know it.

Brooklyn Kotter

1/20/2015 12:57:10 pm

May I add that if you look at the definitions for the word mob they aren't all talking about these types of mobs. So you can't necessarily say all mobs are bad.

1. A large and often disorderly crowd.

2. The mass of common people; the populace.

3. A criminal organization, especially the Mafia operating in the United States.

4. An indiscriminate or loosely associated group of things.
( a mob of boats in the harbor. )

5. A flock or herd of animals.

I mean, two of them are kind of bad.

Those flocks/herds probably aren't that bad...

Megan West

1/17/2015 02:30:53 am

I think that when people are in a huge group they do dumb things. In your examples people got hurt and and/or died. When people get in riots or mobs, bad things happen left and right.

Grace Lundwall

1/16/2015 12:24:15 am

The first historical event I studies was the Astor Place Riot in 1849. For previous years, two actors named Macready and Forest were rivals. They did many of the same shows and they both had very large fan bases. One night, when one of them were performing in New York City, the fans all began to start to fight one another. Police men tried to break u the fight, yet 20 people died. My next event that I studied was the Lynch Mob Mentality. The author of this article was talking about how that Americans everywhere and in our government all behave with a mob mentality. The government can say someone is a terrorist and we will all believe them. I think that all of this just shows how insane and reckless people can act in groups or mobs. Because eyes are on the group as a whole, and individuals feel like they have nothing to lose. After reading these articles I then watched two short films on mob mentality. In the one with the elevator, it showed how sometimes it is impossible for us to stand alone and we just follow the group. This can be very easy to do, and sometimes our minds take over and we do not even mean to. In the second clip, it showed in a way the opposite. A girl was being murdered and because no one would stand up, she died. With an easy call, someone could have saved her life. So many things in our world could be made better if individuals weren't afraid to take and individual stand. If someone does, another will follow. And for example that girl's life could've been saved. I think that people behave more calm and reasonable individually. Mobs often lead to bad things and awful things can happen. For example though, think of Martin Luther king. Without him, who knows how our society would be if that didn't happen. And that was a mob. So, I believe that first things can be solved better individually, unless, the mob is going for a good force that can change the world. because mobs can be very violent and things ca. happen that do not need to happen with crowd behavior. I do not think Mobs are avoidable. The have been going on for so long. I think that we all just need to look at the big picture and be more individual.

Abby Gray

1/19/2015 01:48:07 am

I like how you said in the last line to be more individual and look at the big picture. If we had looked at the big picture during the hitler years in Germany, we would have seen that it is wrong to kill people because of religion. But we didn't so we thought that we were just following orders, and hundreds of people were killed.

Ellie Hart

1/19/2015 04:57:24 am

I agree with Abby. I think that plays a huge role in our society. The rules. Us as a society are sometimes blinded by the truth. Just as the people of Germany were when Hitler was commanding some awful orders. I totally agree that of we had really opened our eyes and seen the big picture then that whole situation could have ended and played out a lot differently. This was a very nice insight on Mob Mentality Grace.

Jessa Lethbridge

1/16/2015 07:19:48 am

The article that I read was about Kristallnacht, or night of broken glass, which happened on November 9th and 10th. All of the riots and contentions leading to what happened those nights were because of the murdering of a Nazi diplomat by a Jew in Germany. This lead to other Nazis combining their anger towards the Jews and rioting. They broke into shops and houses of Jews, killing 91 Jews, arresting around 30000, and ruining about 7000 shops. In this event, I believe that due to the anger and hatred held by the Nazis towards the Jews, the murder just tipped them over the edge, causing them to act as a group, without really individual opinion or conscience. Also, I don't think that anywhere near as many people would have acted out in violence had there not been a large group. When you think about it, it is really quite horrible how quickly people can react through anger, and when all that anger is concentrated in one group, the harm that can come from that. Also, the Kristallnacht is a big example of how when people are together in a mob or group, they lose a better sense of judgement, or of how a situation could be handled.
I also watched the Bystander Effect video, and it was quite shocking and slightly horrifying how in situations where someone needed help or was hurt, people would either sit back and watch, or ignore the situation. I think that one reason people do this is they really just don't want to be seen doing something different from the crowd, even if it greatly benefits another. Although many mobs can lead to anger and problems, people losing individuality when becoming part of a mob fueled by resentment or anger, it can also be just what is needed, like in the video. A woman was lying on the ground, most likely passed out. Many people walked past, looking but not acting. Finally, one man stopped to help, and after that, a lady who had before walked past, came back to help, not being alone in it anymore.
I think that there are many pros and cons to mob behavior. One pro to it is that people will do things as a group that they wouldn't do alone, in fear of being seen as different. This can also be a con though, people acting without thinking when a groups hate is fueling the fire. Also, when you have a group of people, people will give in to peer pressure more easily. I believe that you cannot avoid mob mentality or crowd behavior, because it is always going to be an evident characteristic of humans to want to fit in, and just go with the crowd, or people will give in due to pressure, or not thinking it through. I think as long as people have the mindset that they have to fit in, and can't be seen as different, that there will still be the crowd behavior.

Abigail Peterson

1/16/2015 07:49:05 am

I like how you said that people just want to fit in and that it is just human nature. I completely agree. When people are alone they feel left out. And we do not like that feeling as a people.

Jessica Craig

1/20/2015 07:51:23 am

I agree with you on a few things in there. I've also noticed that our class can't decide if we agree with mobs or not.

Hannah Morgan

1/20/2015 08:31:49 am

Haha!! I concur.

Brooke Symkoviak

1/20/2015 01:54:06 pm

I agree. I think that in most cases, mob mentality is bad, because it usually ends in anger and chaos, But it seems like no matter what, people get hurt. Because of this I think it is the best to always be yourself.

Mommy Lethbridge

1/26/2015 09:57:51 am

Good job honey.
I'm so proud of you.
keep u[ the good work.

Abigail Peterson

1/16/2015 07:45:24 am

I read The Lynch Mob Mentality. The point of it was to tell us that even though the government tells us that someone is a terrorist that does not mean that they in fact are a terrorist. One of the pieces of evidence given was about al-Awlaki. He was an Islamic man who said a few things he did not approve of about the United States and the government labeled him as a terrorist, therefore most Americans believe them, because, the government told us so. In mob psychology, a group of people come together to target someone, or something. If the government put your face on the T.V with the word “terrorist” over it, people will believe it because the government, (or in this context, mob leader) said so.
I also read the Astor Place riot. It ‘started’ as a rivalry between two actors, Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready. One was American, the other was British. The fight itself was not over who was better, but what they represented. One of the actors supported the High Class people, and the other did not. There as a fight, and 20 people were killed. One person had to start this. One person alone could not finish it, but he could start it. Once a person has more followers, a person would join to be with a group, to feel special. People joined the mob, even though they might not really care about the situation.
I watched the NSA Elevator Conformity Experiment and Herd Mentality for Dummies w/ a little bit of help from Dr. Seuss. In the first movie, I was shocked to see just how quickly people would turn around. I thought it was hilarious that the man looked at his watch as an excuse to turn a little more. When I thought about it, I realized something to do with mob mentality. Most people will quickly join the group. But a smaller percent, perhaps, will need to do some convincing. They need to convince themselves. While the man was looking at his watch, maybe he was denying the fact that he was turning. He might have thought, ‘oh I am just looking at my watch. That’s all’. In mobs, people are going against morals saying, ‘oh I am just helping. That is all.’ In my second video, he got more in depth about why we want to fit in. Maybe, it pointed out, we just don’t want to get singled out. The bigger the group the better. Mobs might form so that others cannot target them specifically without targeting the group.
Are people better as an individual or not? That is the question. I would say that a group would be better, but only if you are in control of yourself and your standards. Being in a group is a good way to have good ideas and strength. There is a small, small, small upside to the ‘in side’. On one hand, you would be part of a group, but on the other hand is that really what we want?

Zoe Clair

1/19/2015 05:46:58 am

Abigail, you made a really good point with groups being good only when you are "in control of yourself and your standards."

Jessica Craig

1/20/2015 07:54:07 am

I totally agree with you when you said that we believe everything the government says. It's so true!! Think about it. Everything you hear from the government is like the law. Nobody argues or questions. Maybe we should write to the government about that. :)

Hannah Morgan

1/20/2015 08:30:03 am

What a letter that would make!!! I can see it now:

Dear Government,

I would like to bring to your attention that we all believe that your word is law. How do you make us do that? But anyway, please don't take advantage of that. Please post the following on all channels: The government is using an old trick to make us believe that their word is law. Be on your guard, and question everything!

Sincerely,

Willowcreek Middle School Advanced Class Students.

They would get sooooo mad! The return letter:

Dear Willowcreek Middle School Advanced Class Students,

That letter dipleased us. Their will be a new law tomorrow that everything we say is law.

Have a nice day!

The Government.

Dear Government,

We take it all back!

Sincerely,

Willowcreek Middle School Advanced Class Students.

^j^ Let's not make that happen. ^j^

Makayla Pett

1/20/2015 08:12:06 am

I also watched the elevator video, and it never occurred to me that looking at his watch could've been to convince himself he was remaining independent. People don't always want to admit the things that they are doing, so by basically lying to themselves or looking down at their watch, they don't really have to admit anything.

Leslie Day

1/20/2015 11:01:46 am

I thought it was interesting how you said that one person can start a problem, but it takes a lot more to end it. Good point. I think it's kind of a domino effect. Good job!

Abby Gray

1/19/2015 01:41:58 am

Haun's Mill Massacre Missouri:
In this historical instance, the Mormons had moved to Missouri into a town centered on the Haun's mill. On October 30, 1838, the Missouri militia moved into the Mormon Town. A man rode forward calling for peace, but he was ignored. The people fled for the black smith's shop; a log cabin with lots of holes between the logs. The musket shots fell through the wood, killing many. There were three boys, ages eight to ten, and the militia shot at them willingly and killed at least two of them, and wounded the third. This was a horrible thing to do. All of the women and children hid in a nearby ditch and were safe.
The sad thing about this mob violence is that the militia had no orders to do these things. A few days before, Governor Boggs had issued his famous extermination order, but the militia hadn't received the order when they attacked. It was out of sheer will of probably only one of the soldiers and all of the others followed because of herd mentality.
The other article I read was Kristallnacht: Germany. It was about a shop owner and his family and son. The son was named John Izbiki. He and his family were Jews. The people went around all day to the shops and broke the windows. Then they proceeded to throw the broken glass in at the hiding shop workers. His parents were saved because they hid in the store room, but the Hitler Youth were vicious children. Eventually his family was able to make it out of Germany.
The sad part of this story is that the Hitler YOUTH were doing the damage. They were just children. They didn't know what they were doing, they were just following the crowd. It was just herd mentality working on their minds.
These film clips and stories made me sad. It is so sad that the mind becomes so twisted into the minds of others that is cannot think for itself. It is never anyone's intention to go around and murder others, but if the group is doing it, then it seems like the thing to do. If one person stands up, others will follow. We need to keep that in mind and only stand up to do something good that will not kill others.
I think that people are better behaved collectively because they can do more good that way. With a group you have more power to do good. There are definitely good sides to herd mentality. If the herd is doing good things, then it can be very effective. It is when someone stands up to be bad, that things get sketchy. It is very possible to avoid crowd behavior. You just need to stand up and speak for yourself. You don't have to follow the others, it is just that most people choose to do that. If you behave of your own accord, you can avoid crowd behavior. This is possible because the human brain can resist the temptations of others, it just needs practice.

Audrey Spaeth

1/19/2015 10:28:33 am

I like how you talked about peoples intentions. We wonder how people can be so cruel, yet without even realizing it, we do those same things sometimes. Maybe we aren't murdering people left and right, but we still do things that, if you saw someone else do, you would cringe at. It is so easy to fall into herd mentality, but hopefully, we can use that for good.

Kennedy Morris

1/20/2015 06:46:12 am

It is horrible when people go straight to violence. I totally agree with you about how if one person stands up others will follow. I like how you wrote how they made you feel. :-)

Gabe Hall

1/19/2015 03:10:08 am

The French Revolution (1789):
King Louis the XVI forced the Estates General to make a new land tax that would hopefully solve his financial problems. (He needed money) In order to do so, they Estates held a meeting on May 5, 1789. There were 3 estates at the meeting: the First comprised of the clergy, the Second comprised of the nobility and the Third comprised of the middle and lower classes. As the meeting went on they third estate (the middle and lower classes) declared that they were to be the ones that represented the people. They called themselves the "National Assembly" and said that they were going to include the other groups in this new formed group, but made it clear that they would be leaving them behind later. King Louis XVI tried to break them apart, but they said that they would not separate until they had written a new constitution for France. Mobs soon began to fill the streets of Paris because of crop failure and ever increasing tension with the National Assembly. The mobs were afraid that the King would strike back at them with more force than they could handle, so they went to storm Bastille and obtain arms. This attack began a revolution that would eventually lead to the fall of the French Monarchy.
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/frenchrevolution.htm

The Mountain Meadows Massacre:
This was a truly tragic event that occurred during the time of the migration of the Mormons to the west. The Baker-Fancher party is a large group of Mormons that are traveling west to get to Utah. Every night they encircle their wagons to protect themselves. During the encirclement one night, they are attacked. They think it could be natives, but they hear gunshots, so they are not certain. Many men are injured with gun wounds and no one can escape the encirclement because they are surrounded. After a few days, there is a white man that comes and waves a white flag and says that he is from one of the local communities, and if they put down their weapons and leave behind their goods, they are guaranteed safe passage. The party accepts his offer and do as he says. But once they are a quarter mile from the encirclement, the gunshots begin, and every member of the party except the smallest children, are murdered.
http://www.pbs.org/mormons/themes/mountainmeadows.html

Personal Thoughts:
I think that mob psychology definitely had it's role in both situations. People were following the actions of others, and that is why the mob violence was so effective in both cases. I think that we work well individually, but we do work even better in groups. Although so many times, there is bad mentality among a group, when a good mentality is introduced, the group of people can do great things. So yes there is a positive side to mob mentality: if the mentality is good, than the results will be good as well. And finally, I do think that it is possible to avoid group or mob mentality. You just have to think for yourself, do not let yourself be easily persuaded into believing other's thoughts and ideas. You need to have your own intentions, not others.

Bethany Enger

1/20/2015 10:04:57 am

That is so tragic what happend to the Mormons on their little trip. So much mob mentality just to kill some people with different beliefs. I wonder if we are now better than those savages(and I don't mean Natives) that we once were long ago.

Gabe Hall

1/19/2015 03:13:07 am

Abagail, I liked how you said that the actions of people can be manipulated by just one person or group, and that their intentions can become others. Overall well done and I enjoyed reading it!

Gabe Hall

1/19/2015 03:15:28 am

Jessa, I liked how you explained that anger is one of the key things that creates mob mentality. And how you explained what the people involved might have been thinking. Great job it was very interesting!

Hayden Harward

1/19/2015 03:45:05 am

The first article I read was Haun's Mill Massacre. The Mormons had moved into Missouri and on October 30, 1838 the Missouri Militia attacked the Mormon town. There was guy that was riding through and asking for peace but no one payed any attention to him. There were some who went to hide in the blacksmiths shop but the building had lots of holes in it and the bullets went through a killed a bunch of them. There were some women and children that went to hide in a nearby ditch and the militia didn't get to them. The men who did this didn't have any orders to do so. It was just someone who got angry and that mob mentality made everyone else follow.
The second article I read was called Kristallnacht: Germany. It was about a Jewish family that owned a shop. The mob went around and knocked out shop windows and after they knocked out the windows they threw the glass at the hiding shop owners. What makes this even worse was that it was children doing the damage. They were probably too young to even have an opinion on the matter but the mob mentality were making them do things that they probably didn't even know they were doing.
These film clips and videos made me realize how much the mob mentality theory happens. The one that really stuck out to me was the one about The Indifference of Good Men.That people are clearly seeing that there people in need or in pain and they didn't even think about helping them. Our society does't like to stray to far from the crowd. However, mob mentality can be a good thing when its for something good.

Ellie Hart

1/19/2015 04:53:02 am

I found it really interesting when you said the our society doesn't like to stray far from the crown. I really took that into mind. I agree I think that Mob Mentality can be a good thing when it for a positive cause. Our society is based off of the past and what it has created. There were mobs for good and bad things then, there are going to be crowds fighting for good and bad now. Which is important to understand, which your thoughts describe.

Cameron Watts

1/20/2015 08:14:32 am

I Think that it is terrible that we are so caught up if fitting in that we don't help people and people can potentially die from it.

Ellie Hart

1/19/2015 04:45:49 am

The French Revolution: France
This article explains how the French Revolution started and ended. In the late 1700's an invention was made called the guillotine. This object was used to chop your head off. The people of France didn't quite fancy this killing machine and this put them in a frenzy for justice. It introduced wars and killing. Mobs swept the streets often, beatings hear and there and even fire squads.Aristocrats weren't the only haters then. Soon all the people came to realize that their revolutionary leader, King Louis VII was a murderous freak! In the end the french made one more beheading.
The Astor Place Riot
May 10, 1849 is when the bloodiest public disturbances began in Astor Place Opera House in New York City there were few killed and many hurt. Many negative feeling towards the British started in New York with two actor rivalries. An American Shakespeare actor, Edwin Forrest against William C. Macready, a British actor. When Forrest was getting more crowds at his performances this made Macready angry. He came with mobs and showed much violence. They threw stones and injured many and killed few. Macready's party threatened to burn down the opera house.At first, the militia just fired in the air, but as stones continued to be thrown in their direction-they fired a spray of bullets directly into the crowd until they dispersed. This was an Important moment in history.
A lot of the clips demonstrate how most people just go with the flow, even if we don't want to or mean too. Why is it that we want to go with the flow, are we scared of what awaits us when we take a stand? To be judged? I think a lot of is we are scared of what will happen if we do decide to take the stand to stop what is wrong. Another clip shows an individual that stops what he is doing and helps a lady who was hurt. Then another individual stops too. Then another, and another. It continues to show how being that one person with bravery to stand and help, that people will eventually end up following. It is great to realize that we all can be that person.
I think that these articles and clips show what humans do in a mob and alone. I believe that people interacting with a group or actually being apart of the group all depend on the direction of the group. If it is moving in a negative direction it is fueling the fire. Also when you are apart of a group you can be easily caught into peer pressure. I think that when you want to stand for what is right, there's something holding you back. It is thought of being judged, thought as different. Most people just want to fit in and thats a problem, because a very common human nature is to go with the flow. Which isn't bad nor is it good. It all depends on the direction of the flow, is what it all originally comes back to.

Ellie Hart

1/19/2015 04:47:49 am

Mob Mentality happens all the time, but it is our choice if we want to be the person to stop it.

Audrey Spaeth

1/19/2015 10:17:12 am

I like how you talked about the man helping the woman. I think it shows that "mob mentality" can have a positive effect on society also. Mob Mentality isn't all bad. It depends on how we use it.

Nicholas Greger

1/19/2015 02:07:11 pm

The French Revolution, in the beginning, was about changing France. The French wanted representation and equality, but then it evolved and was then suppressed by Robespierre who wanted people against the French regime to be killed. Later, coincidentally, he died from his own creation...

Hayden Harward

1/28/2015 01:09:59 am

I like how you said why we participate in this mob mentality. I agree with what you said about being scared to leave the crowd. For some reason we just don't let ourselves stray too far.

Audrey Spaeth

1/19/2015 04:56:52 am

The first thing I read was about the Kristallnacht that happened about 77 years ago. The article was about a little Jewish boy whose parents owned a haberdashery shop in Berlin. One day, some teenagers from the Hitler Youth marching band came and started throwing weights at the shop windows that were owned by Jews. Once the windows were broken, the teens threw the broken glass into the shops. I thought it was so sad that these teenage kids could be so influenced by Hiltler that they are harming people.
I also watched the film, "The Wave." In this film a teacher, in order to explain to his students why the Germans could just let the Nazis kill innocent people, set up a sort of "mob" or group of students to form "The Wave." Only a few students in the whole school didn't want to join this group, and those few were persecuted because they thought "The Wave" was bad. In the end, the teacher announced that their national leader was Hitler and explained a little about mob mentality. I thought that it was crazy that in the beginning the students wondered how in the world the Germans could just sit around watching the Nazis kill innocent people, then those same students were persecuting the students that didn't like "The Wave."
I think that people most definitely need to be individuals, but I also think that some groups are okay. Your family could be considered a "herd." It is okay to have "groups" of people if those people are helping you to be a better person, while still accepting individualism. We need to learn how to still be individuals in a group. I don't think it would be possible to take away all "herds," "mobs," "groups," or whatever you want to call it. We form them without even realizing it.

Zoe Clair

1/19/2015 05:44:30 am

It is okay too have some groups, its good you made that point.

Cameron Watts

1/20/2015 08:10:03 am

I think it is so sad that we can get so caught up in trying to fit in that we forget about our moral standards and we don't even notice. Why do we care about what other people think so much?

Zoe Clair

1/19/2015 05:42:47 am

I read about the Astor Place Riot in May 10, 1849. William Macready and Edwin Forrest were in a rival with each other. Macready was British and Forrest American. Forrest often took the same role as Macready, just at a different theater. That was 3 years before the riot. Before the riot Forrest again booked roles at different theaters as Macready. Three days before the riot Macready was to perform a play but was postponed due to the rough crowd. Three days later He once again took the stage but the riots outside were waiting. They pelted the militia with bricks and the miltia fired back. More than 20 people were shot, and died. Because of the amount of rioters, they were more wild and felt more powerful. The same is with the video the wave. Almost the whole school had joined the wave causing the one person to stand up to be prosecuted. People tried to attack her and get her to stop and just go with it. It made me extremely mad that they were all blinded by the false unity of the wave. If they would have thought about why she was standing up maybe they wouldn't have been so prideful. It is not better to be individual or in a group, but a mixture of both. When you can be an individual in a crowd of other individuals banded together for a common goal its better. When the "crowd Behavior" is calm and organized, it is good. It is possible to avoid mob mentality by making sure the group keeps the goal in mind and stays in the group only if they are not too rough.

Kennedy Morris

1/20/2015 06:41:50 am

I agree, I wish that people wouldn't go straight to violence.

Lucy Pratt

1/20/2015 07:28:26 am

It is so sad when people are distracted by what other people are doing that they don't see how the group is acting as a whole.

Makayla Pett

1/20/2015 08:05:12 am

You make an excellent point about how crowd behavior can be positive. It really is just about the intentions of the group and the ideas that are leading the group. Also an amazing point about keeping individuality in a group

Bethany Enger

1/20/2015 09:58:46 am

Macready? As in the burger Mac? Hey! Your Mac(is)ready!! Anyhow, loved your article! Isn't annoying when people stand up to what is right and just get shot down?

Leslie Day

1/20/2015 11:05:25 am

You're right about the crowd vs alone. We need a good balance between the two. We should all be unique together.

Nicholas Greger

1/19/2015 02:04:06 pm

McCarthyism In America

During the Cold War, there was a fear that the Communism Party would take over the world. One of the key advocates for the anti-communism movement was Senator Joe McCarthy.The 'witch hunt' accused people who were either “a Pink” or “a Red”. A Pink was a communist sympathizer and a Red was a communist - accused to be one. "Many hard-working citizens had loss their jobs because they were labeled as "Communists". While many fired college professors returned to their jobs in universities, public school teachers could not. Those who retained their jobs realized that their career has been destroyed. Many, like Owen Lattimore, failed to convince everyone that they were in fact innocent. McCarthyism also had a huge effect on the psychological aspect of life. Innocent people had to go through the trauma of being prosecuted by their own country. Relationships were destroyed because one could never know who to trust or would turn you in. Finally, McCarthyism stifled progress and individual expression. The witch-hunting of the 1950's forced many leftists to go underground. It discouraged people from proposing reforms because doing so would mean persecution by the government." [1].

Mob mentality sometimes is bad. Humans, genetically, follow the leader. An example of this is Yawning in a large room. When one person yawns, everyone else yawns. This is a mild example of mob mentality. Another example of mob mentality is running on the track. You are supposed to go one way, but then you and a large number of people follow you, eventually everyone will follow your direction without questioning why.

The Videos not at all surprise me. It's just evolution. We are genitally formulated to follow the leader and not question "why?". News article after news article show one of our fundamental flaws as animals, we simply follow the leader.. As I have stated earlier with McCarthyism is people simply followed and believed what they were told with the fear of being assaulted. If you stood against what the House of un-American Activities Committee said, you were labeled as a communist or a “pink”. Another example is Nazism in Germany during the 1935's. Hitler rose to power because of Herd Mentality and used his advantage against his fellow people. The United States used mob mentality in Vietnam saying that “they” were all bad and we should all rid communists of the world. We also did that with the Korean War. The mentality of Us vs. Them filled all of the events I have stated, and some events today. The famous quote of “Either you are with us, either you love freedom and nations which embrace freedom, or your with the enemy. There's no in between.” was an example of herd mentality, and black and white reasoning. Sometimes you just don't know why “they” are bad and why "they" are somehow are less human and equal than you are. Sometimes you just follow the crowd because everyone else is doing it.

Lauren Melville

1/20/2015 02:50:58 pm

I liked how you mentioned yawning.The action, and why we do it when others do, is still a partial mystery, but I had never really connected it and crowd mentalities. To me, this also sparks a question of why people yawn when anyone at all does. If a follow-the-leader approach is taken to this, then would yawns made by people of a higher status make others yawn easier?

Hailey Henline

1/19/2015 09:37:18 pm

I read Hauns Mill Massacre. Around 1838, there were Mormons and Missourians living in northern Missouri, and they didn't get along. Missourians believed that Mormons would fight to end slavery, that the non-Mormons would lose their voice in the government, and that they were “stealing” them into another religion. The Missourians wanted to drive the Mormons from the state.
A militia led by Colonel William Jennings rode into the community and fired into the blacksmith shop were most of the men were hiding. After the attack, the survivors were shot dead along with three little boys no older than ten years old.
The Missourians thought that the Mormons would all think the same way and do the same things, that they would act like a herd, and they were killed because of that.
I was repulsed that the Missourians just killed countless Mormons for pretty much no reason, and they killed children because they would become Mormons. In The Wave, I was surprised that everyone was going along with The Wave and didn't think individually, but they were just like what happened with Hitler and the Germans.
It depends on the situation, but I think that mostly people are better individually. There are some positive sides to crowd behavior. If someone is in a performance, everyone starts to clap; they might not have liked the performance, but they clap because everyone else clapped. It makes the performer feel good. If someone is being bullied and one person stands up for them, then, more people will stand up for them.
I don’t think a lot of people can avoid crowd behavior or mob mentality if you are constantly surrounded by people part of that crowd unless you are really stubborn. If you surround yourself with other people who don’t want to be a part of the crowd, then, it makes it easier for you because you have someone to stand with you.

Kennedy Morris

1/20/2015 06:39:45 am

I read about the french Revolution, It started because the taxes were raised. Because of the lower income people were starting to starve, so they blamed the rich. This caused mobs to attack resulting in the french Revolution. King Louis XVI and Monsier de Corny were 2 of the people involved. I also read about Kristallnact. It was when mobs attacked Jews in Germany, because of their religion. Hitler was involved.

I watched the bystander effect. It was sad because even if someone is in pain or needs help no one helps them. They just walk right by them following the crowd's example. People die or suffer because of this. I also watched the elevator experiment it was kind of silly how he wanted to face the same direction as everyone else. He wanted to be part of the group.

Mob mentality can be good and bad. I think that people think better individually, because they aren't as distracted or worried about what others will think. There are good sides to crowd behavior, because if a few people care about something and are willing to stand up for it other people that wouldn't have said anything have a better chance of speaking up. It is possible to stay out of mob situations. You could stay away from them completely or don't do what everyone else is doing. You could help someone that needs it.

Hannah Morgan

1/20/2015 07:56:23 am

I'm glad you watched the bystander affect. Isn't it just so sad? It made me cry. Literally. I cried the whole time, and a little bit afterward. I loved it when you said, " I think that people think better individually, because they aren't as distracted or worried about what others will think. There are good sides to crowd behavior, because if a few people care about something and are willing to stand up for it other people that wouldn't have said anything have a better chance of speaking up." That was a really good part of your post!!! ^j^

Jessica Craig

1/20/2015 07:48:52 am

I read about the French revolution, during the 1700s. King Louis XVI needed money, so he taxed the French citizens. The citizens didn't have enough money for other things; they blamed the rich people. They joined together and formed mobs to overthrow the king and the rich, who they blamed. It's hard for me to say if mob mentality is good, bad, or somewhere in between. I think that mobs can, and have, achieved many things: some good and some bad. France would not have gained its freedom if there were not any mobs. On the other hand, many people's lives would have been spared if it weren't for mobs. In most cases, I would say that mobs are not a good thing. There are other ways to sort problems out.

Hannah Morgan

1/20/2015 07:53:43 am

Personally, I agree with you in some ways. But, in my opinion, mobs are always bad. There can be groups, but mobs give you that bad feeling, and the mobs are the ones that are attacking. Groups can be good or bad. There is a big difference between Groups and mobs. Otherwise though, your post was great! I especially loved the part when you said; " It's hard for me to say if mob mentality is good, bad, or somewhere in between. I think that mobs can, and have, achieved many things". ^j^

Ashley Elwood

2/11/2015 07:03:47 am

I agree that some mobs can be good and that they effects that they cause are good in some cases such as this time, and they French did what they had to so they could be free but that was not necessarily the best way to do it as you say at the end.

Hannah Morgan link

1/20/2015 07:49:32 am

I read; "Kristallnacht anniversary still haunting for child refugee from Nazi mob." In the "night of broken glass," a young boy named John Izbicki watched as the mob threw bricks through his families shop window. Earlier that day, they had been warned by a stranger that the event would happen. Although they did not believe him, they, just in case, moved their window goods to the backroom. That night when the mob came, Izbicki's parents were trapped in the back room when the window came crashing down. Afterwards, the family had a happy reunion.
One of the clips I watched, was the bystander affect. It was so sad!! It makes it all the more sadder because I know that I wouldn't stop to help either. Before now, my rule was if I don't know them and no one else is helping them, I ignore them. They aren't my problem, they aren't important to me. Now that I see how that rule is everyone's rule, it makes me cry. I seriously cried during that video. No one offered help, no one even took a second glance. Someone was murdered right in front of them, and they didn't care. They didn't even call the police! To think that mankind is really that prideful and stupid, hurts! It hurts even more because I would do the same thing. I would walk by the person dying on the sidewalk. I would ignore the person being stabbed to death, because it isn't my problem. It would bother me, and it would torture me for the rest of my life, knowing that I caused the death of a fellow citizen. And it would be all my fault.
Mankind needs to learn that we need to be different. We need to care. I'm crying out my soul for these people, in the video, and the ones I didn't help. Mankind is ignorant, but I just think it is because they are scared. They don't want to get yelled at, and they don't want to get involved because once you are involved, than you can't turn back or leave. And it's sickening.
Personally, I think people are better collectively. In the bystander affect, the people helped only after someone else helped. That is a positive side to crowd behavior. Other positive sides include planting trees, or donating. Individually, it doesn't make too much of a difference. But as a group, it makes a huge difference. You can avoid bad crowd behavior, or mob mentality, simply by standing for what you think is right. You would be surprised how many people are thinking the same thing you are. Just stand up and speak your mind!

Hailey Henline

1/20/2015 08:05:41 am

That is so true. I'm sorry to say that I would probably just ignore someone if they were hurt on the ground, but if they were being murdered in front of me, then, I know that I would at least call the police. People don't want to do what everyone else isn't doing. They don't like being individual. They don't want to do something that no one else is doing without someone else to do it with. There are a lot of people the think the same thing that you do, and we just need to say what we think instead of just standing back and waiting for someone else to do it first.

Alec Harmon

1/20/2015 12:33:10 pm

Hannah, you are so totally right! So many people would just walk by those people, and many wouldn't even notice them because they were late for work, or something less important than what they are witnessing. Perhaps one of the greatest reasons that people would ignore them is because they would fear what society would do to them, such as reduce their social respectability, they wouldn't want to be seen with someone that is "below" them, and that just leads us right back to your point of being prideful. If people would just watch out for each other, none of that would ever happen. It's funny how us human beings just sit around and wait for things to change to our liking, because we are the ones that are afraid to do it because we want to be known for how high and mighty we are.

Makayla Pett

1/20/2015 07:57:30 am

The red scare was a time of fear due to perceived threats by communists, often called "reds" for their allegiance to the Soviet flag.It intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s. People in the U.S believed that communists were horrible and dangerous because they had been told so by people with authority, and followed the group. Joseph R. McCarthy obtained power through the anticommunist crusade by charging those who disagreed with his political views. Because everyone was against communism, people agreed with what was going on to fit in with the group.
In some of the videos people acted in certain ways due to the way others acted around them. In the Elevator Conformity Experiment, people were pressured to face a certain way in the elevator. A group of people faced the others turned with them. I was amazed at how easily people followed the actions of the group in this situation. Each time they would eventually act with the group. In The Bystander Effect: The Indifference of Good Men, people were seen in need of help and others walked by thinking someone else would take care of it. The needs of those people would not be met because everyone followed the crowd and assumed someone else would take care of it. When they saw someone step up and help, others would join in and help. It seemed shocking to me that so many people would do nothing to help one someone had a huge need for help. When someone else acted first, people suddenly felt fine with helping. They all waited for someone else to act first instead of acting first themselves.
I believe that people are better collectively. When people come together and act, they can accomplish much more. One individual can do lots, but one of the most influential things someone can do is inspire others to act as well. In a group, different ideas can be compiled to allow more to happen. An example of this could be a construction crew. If one person tried to build a skyscraper all on their own, it would take ages. With a construction crew, you can accomplish a better quality and a faster result. Crowd behavior can also be positive. A crowd could come together to support a positive cause and help people in need. If someone was being bullied right in front of a large group of people, the crowd could come together in support of the person being bullied. It all depends on the action of the group. If they ignore the problem or confront it as a unit. Mob mentality is possible to avoid, you just have to stick to your own beliefs. You can't control other peoples' actions, but you can control your own. If you stay away from the group, others may realize they can keep their own personal opinions.

Cameron Watts

1/20/2015 08:02:33 am

The first historical event I read about was Kristallnacht, which occurred on the ninth and tenth of November, 1936. The reason for this tragedy was because a Nazi diplomat was supposedly killed by a young Jew. The Nazis then went out and smashed the windows of shops owned by Jews and vandalized their shops. There were at least 91 Jews murdered and more that 70,000 arrested. It was disturbing to me that the Nazis would cause that much damage because their diplomat was allegedly killed by a jewish boy. They weren't even sure that it was a Jewish boy. I think that it is possible to avoid mob mentality if everyone stays focused and is working for a genuinely good cause. I do think that people get more done when working in groups as long as they keep their goal in mind and just be themselves

Alec Harmon

1/20/2015 12:39:02 pm

I think that the Nazi's wanted someone to blame for their problems, so they decided to blame everything on the Jews, even the death of a Nazi. I think this is exactly what Hitler wanted, to blame the Jews of doing terrible things. This made it easier for him to explain his "abnormal" (and by abnormal I mean psychologically disturbed) behavior in executing the Jews.

Bethany Enger

1/20/2015 09:51:53 am

On the topic of mob mentality, I want you to contemplate about situations where you have gone with whatever everyone else was saying. Got that? Good. Now try to picture a time when you stood out from everyone else. To further explore the subject, I was given some articles to read. The articles that I read were Kristallnacht: Germany and the Mormons in Missouri stories. In the Missouri document, I got to see what it was like for the Mormons in that time. The time in particular was 1838. Now, one Mormon, by the name of Jacob Haun, had bought around 40 acres for the continually growing LDS people to grow and thrive in. Sadly, they would never get that long of a chance to prosper and adjust to it. To the Missourians, the Mormons were seen as a threat to their everyday life, they wanted to see them be punished and persecuted. During this time, slavery was the big issue. The choice was to ban slavery or keep practicing it. Missourians loved to practice this cruel act, and Mormons, them being in huge numbers and all, would get in the way of their desires. As the conflicts grew with no end, things become a bit sketchy for the Mormons in Missouri. As for Lilburn Boggs, the governor of Missoui at the time, created the Extermination Order and the army most likely did not heard of the act when they left to start the massive fight, but like that would affect them in any way since they were already planning on killing the Mormons. Now you see, this is where we have some of the mob mentality going on. It is simply because of the fact that people are becoming aware that other powerful people do not like the LDS church. For example, I'm very sure the govenor of Missouri, Mr. Boggs, was not thinking about trying to create peace among his territory, he is just simply trying to keep his power. That's all what man kind wants, power and the ability to manipulate others. Since the most violent people are the Missourians, they appear the bigger threat to all those who are in a political place. They want to look good and blend in, so of course they want the Mormons gone.
Now on to the next article that I had the pleasure of reading was the Kristallnacht, which actually means, "The night of broken glass." That should be a major hint as to where this is going. In Germany, around the years of World War II, not only was Hitler fighting practically the rest of the world, but inside Germany as well. The Nazi people, along with the rest of Germany, wanted someone to blame for the teriible state they were in. As Hitler rose up to power, he proclaimed that the Jews were to blame. When John Izbicki was just a small boy aroung 5 years old, he saw things we would never want our own children to see. The role that mob mentality was playing here was the people who were persecuting the Jews, mainly because the Nazi, who were the craziest power obsessed sociopaths of their time, were basically scaring everyday Germans to kill off the source of the problems. Indimidation sounds just like Hitler, doesn't it? Just go with the flow and you will not get in trouble is what I am sure they told themselves as poor John lost his voice from screaming at the many shattering windows and his shattering mind.
As for the videos I watched, I am truely stunned. My first clip was the Elevator Experiment. It's a sweet, light hearted view about mob mentality compared to my articles. The next was The Wave, which I must say is slightly disturbing to me. The fact that people can be convinced, with a big enough croud, to do pretty much what they please. I believe people are morally better because if they are string enough to get out of the flow, be original, I believe they are one step closer to being fantastic. Being original is much more noticable than being one of those in the crowd. Usually when people create big herds of like minded individuals, it's entirely their choice on whether they are there for good or to cause chaos. A good mob is something I am yet to hear about. I do not believe it is possible for everyone to avoid mob mentality because it's just human nature to want to try to fit in, for better or for worse. Someone out their shares the same opinion, and from there, you can convince more to join your cause. Overall, I hope my words will sit with you as you think about whether or not you are strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to correct yourself, and brave enough to be yourself.

Brooklyn Kotter

1/20/2015 12:44:34 pm

I really liked your hook, it got my attention and was interesting. I also liked your strong ending.

Beth Bagley

1/20/2015 12:08:34 pm

I studied the Beginning of the French Revolution, and the Astor Place riots.
In the French Revolution (1789), the King needed money, so he started to tax the people more and more money. Some of the representatives of the lower and middle class decided that the fact this new tax price would really only affect the lower and middle class, and it wasn’t fair. They would disband if a new constitution was written. To add to the mess, the crops failed, resulting in more starving people, which leads to angry people. Mobs and rebels started to become more and more of a problem. Neither King Louis VXI nor the mob wanted to back down. Soon the mob would then break into a prison and unleash many prisoners. They also sold a whole supply of corn and gave it to corn sellers. Many violent acts continued and so did the French Revolution.
As for the Astor Place riot, I will be completely honest and say that it was a lot like a bullying situation you might find at school (except it was more violent). At first, there was an actor rivalry, two competing actors (Macready and Forrest) that couldn’t respect each other. Then they started to torment each other, and soon they tried to ruin each other’s career. Mobs started to egg the actors, and finally a militia broke out on May 10, 1849 and 20 people were killed by police in attempt to control the crowd.
In the first film clip, it was on the Bystander Effect, I think this relates to the principles of sheep and math. In math 0 times any number will result in 0; the number that changes this is anything between 1 and 0. When you get that first .1 of someone who cares (about violence), and they act on that, then like sheep, people who have the “0.1” will also act on it. So whether being in a mob mentality for good or evil, you need someone, a leader, who will act on their gut. Now, this principle applies whether it is about good or evil, so if a militia breaks out because one person started it, it will grow, but so will a Good Samaritan act as well.
In the second film clip, I watched the Hollywood Blacklist. This really struck me as more disgusting then about leadership in mobs. The US government took famous people, asked them about their political beliefs, and then put them in jail for believing the “wrong thing”. I feel strongly that even if people believe in communism, or any other political party, no matter how wrong it is, this is the land of the free, and they should not be punished or lose a job because of it.

Alec Harmon

1/20/2015 12:24:37 pm

Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. As Hitler grew in power, he began to convince all of his followers that Jews were an abomination of the world, and when the historical activities that led to this night occurred, it was easy for all of Hitlers followers to do terrible things, destroy personal property, destroy stores, businesses, and factories, and kill people. It's ironic that the meaning of this night "the night of broken glass" is what people called it, because literally it's when the Jews lost all courage, support, rights, and privliges, of their country, it literally shattered into fragments. Those fragments became small groups of people that despised Hitler, and helped the Jews. It would be very easy for this kind of thing to happen again, especially if an order came from a high ranking government official.

The article "Fears and Reactions to Terrorism" help explain what I was previously trying to explain above. This article talks about how if the government says that someone is a terrorist, the people will believe it because it is someone that they trust, someone that they said will be a representative of the whole people. Once enough people believe this, any outside opinion will be quickly cast out because everybody wants to be on top, or part of groups, or something that can accomplish more as a group, rather than single individuals.

I thing that collectively people can be greater, but not when one person is giving commands as this can lead to major problems, just like I explained in the two paragraphs above. There is some dispute about which is better, collective people (groups), or individuals, but I believe that as long as...
A. There's not a very large group.
B. There's not a high ranking person.
C. There is people that can work together.
D. There's no judging.
E. There's people with morals...
That a group would be better than an individual, which in the requirements that I listed, would be a positive effect in herd mentality, as this would become the new norm.
I don't think that it would ever be possible for a person to not be exposed to herd mentality, because it's just going to happen with any type of government that you set up, and most groups with a dignified leader that makes the decisions for everyone else.

Leslie Day

1/20/2015 12:27:40 pm

I studied the Hauns Mill Massacre in Missouri, and the more recent reactions to terrorism.
Hauns Mill Massacre: In Missouri 18351838, there was tension between Missourians and Mormons. They had different morals, concerns, and different ideas of how things should be. This is a recipe for disaster throughout History. Tension began to build, and a conflict was inevitable.
Infamous Governor Boggs put out an extermination order for the Saints, but according to historians, the massacre would have occurred before the militia got word of the order. Colonel William Jennings led the militia into the community on October 30. One of the leaders of the Mormon community, David Evans, asked that the militia men be peaceful, but his effort were fruitless. By the end of it all, there had been seventeen Mormon fatalities, one fatality from a non-member who intervened, and thirteen injuries. Only three militia men were injured, and none died. This shows that mob mentality can lead to extreme violence.

Around 2010, the Government decided that al-Awlaki and several others were terrorists, yet they had no proof. It's common knowledge that one is innocent until proven guilty. Well, the government officials and others who followed their examples said that these supposed terrorists should be killed without a trial because they were terrorists, so they had no rights. This would be understandable, in my opinion, if the person in question had been proven, without a doubt, that they were plotting against our country. But all we know about what al-Awlaki did is that he disagreed with some of the US's decisions. al-Awlaki is even an American born citizen, but he is discriminated for being Islamic and using his RIGHT, as stated in the Bill of Rights, to express his opinion. People are mindlessly agreeing with the governments assessment of these "terrorists" simply because that is the popular opinion. We need to form our own ideas and go off of them. Everyone has a different thought process, and if everyone automatically agrees with the government, (or another group in a position of power) we can't take advantage of that fact. We need to get better at avoiding negative mob mentality an be individuals. We can make better choices when we take a bunch of different, but honest, points of view into consideration and THEN make our decision.
I watched several different videos, but my favorites were the elevator experiment and the Indifference of Good Men. The elevator experiment showed our natural instinct to join the crowd, even in the little, seemingly non-important things. The second one showed how very few people are willing to take a stand. there are way too many bystanders and not enough leaders.
I don't think that we can entirely avoid mob mentality. It's just part of human nature. One thing we can do to lessen how much it affects us is to have a little bit of skepticism. If you question the motives that the "mob" has and are cautious, I think that you can safely be a positive part of the group. Mobs can be dangerous, but if everyone thinks things through thoroughly and has good motives/goals, "mob mentality is great. It can enhance the capabilities of the group and bring unity. So, if done correctly, groups are better than one person acting alone.

Lauren Melville

1/20/2015 03:00:11 pm

I had never thought about the government specifically being a source for herd mentality. This almost makes sense though, if you take it from a different angle. In the wild, it is the leader's decision to attack or retreat. They're the leader, so, they must be making a good choice, right? In this case, wrong. I agree with you, Leslie. We need to take in several points of view before choosing what happens, especially if it is to someone else.

Kylie Takahashi

1/20/2015 12:32:54 pm

I read Kristallnacht anniversary still haunting for child refugee from Nazi mobs. It was about what happened after a young Jew supposedly killed a Nazi diplomat. That was the reason for the Kristallnacht. At least 30,000 Jews were arrested, 91 murdered, and over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed or damaged. Also a Hitler Youth marching band came and started throwing bricks at Izbicki's parents' business. It amazes me that the Nazi would do so much damage, and kill so many people, all because one Nazi diplomat was killed. The other one was the Ferguson, Missouri one. After an officer was cleared of the shooting, things got crazy. On Monday night stores were looted, violence was rampant, and fires were started. In the article Susac says that group mentality starts with everyone's individual experiences. I think that people shouldn't do something just because others are doing it. If you see something wrong help, don't just walkaway like everyone else. You should just be yourselves. Being yourself is being the best you can be.

Brooke Symkoviak

1/20/2015 01:49:40 pm

I liked how you said that being the best is the best you can be, because it is totally true. You dont want to be like everyone else, because that becomes boring.

Grace Lundwall

1/28/2015 01:08:16 am

I also think that it is really important that you be yourself and have your own values. I really like what you said.

Brenna Frampton

1/20/2015 12:38:26 pm

Okay I posted this as a reply to someone's comment so I'm going to try this again, disregard my other post if you happen to see it.

I read about The French Revolution in the 1800's. The King was having some difficulty with ruling France. He called together a group to help him and advise him. Basically things backfired. The council refused to help until Louis XVI agreed to rewrite the French constitution. This lead to a whole other head of problems, crop failures, food shortages, and eventually mobs. In these few weeks, people had stormed the streets angrily yelling and complaining. This was only the beginning of the French Revolution though, lots of more fighting and contention were to come. It is easy to see how others opinions and influences really created such a crazy environment for everyone. Really, hoards of people banded together moving and acting as one all in rage. I believe that is one of the dangers of mob-mentality. Everyone acts as one, which can be fatal.

I also read about the Burning Man Festival, which started out as just a fun get together on the beach. But now it is a huge event that takes place in the deserts of Nevada. There are ultimately no real rules at this festival so it doesn't take much for one person to do something outrageous. This also shows a side of mob-mentality that isn't as violent, but still as mind-controlling. When a few people have had a little too much fun or get a little to hot, they might decide to strip down to their birthday suits. Once a couple people do it, a few more start to as well. What would you do if thousands of naked people were dancing around the fire and you were the only clothes one? This aspect of mob-mentality shows that people really are willing to do some pretty bizarre stuff just for the sake of fitting in.

People in this world are quite boggling, wouldn't you agree?

Brooklyn Kotter

1/20/2015 12:43:02 pm

I read about the 1849 Astor Place Riot. It involved a famous British actor, Williams Charles Macready, and a famous American actor, Edwin Forrest. They were both very popular and had a large number of fans. Their rivalry ran deep and began many years before. Macready went around America performing and Forrest basically followed him. Their contest divided Americans. Upper-class New Yorkers favored Macready, lower-class liked Forrest more. On March 7th, many of Edwin Forrest's fans came to Macready's performance. They booed and threw eggs. The performance was rescheduled for May 10th. As Macready appeared on stage, rioters gathered outside. More than 20 rioters were killed with many injured. The article even says, "Handbills denouncing Maccready and his fans as British subjects imposing their values on Americans..." When some people got that train of thought others joined in and created this mob.
I also read The Lynch Mob Mentality which talked about how we all get the same thoughts the government gives out. They label people as traitors or terrorists and everyone automatically agrees. You can ask where's your proof all you want but all you can say is because you got handed this information and you must comply.
I thought the elevator experiment was really interesting. When I think of it now I'm sure I wouldn't have turned around. I would have been confused and wonder why, but I don't think I would have done so. It was kind of cool to see how quickly they adjusted to what everyone else was doing and joined in.
The Bystander Effect: The Indifference of Good men was interesting too, especially the one where there is a man who "leaves the herd" and helps the other man, then there is a woman who finally joins him. I like to think I would help, and I'm sure others do too but when we are in that situation would be truly act?
The Wave is a really amazing experiment, I was surprised no one cared. Even when the more main girl was talking to her parents and at first they were worried but they mentioned " If others aren't doing anything, why should we?" It started out as a silly experiment for the class but the students grew almost crazy about it.
I think people can be better as a group and individuals. If you are fighting for the right, yes, it would be better to stand up as a whole. There are positive sides to mob mentality. For instance, the whole thing with Bystanders. If enough people start to be Upstanders, other people will join in and not allow bullying to happen. People are afraid to stand up and do what's right because they are too scared to be different. I think to avoid mob mentality we need to, first, stop worrying about what others think of us. I think that is a main point to mob mentality, not wanting to be made fun of for not following the crowd. If we can stop that way of thinking, then a lot of that mob mentality would be lost.

Jake Shepherd

1/20/2015 01:41:45 pm

I read about the French Revolution that happened in 1789.
King Louis XV needed money, so he was forced to raise the taxes. The three classes got together and met to discuss these taxes. The third and lowest class declared themselves a National Assembly that was controlled by the people. The king tried to shut them down, but they said that they wouldn't until they had written a new constitution for France. Tensions increased between these classes and crops started failing. Mobs began to fill the streets. Rumors spread that the king would get rid of the mobs with force. Then, on July 14, 1989, the mob attacked the Bastille to try to get arms. After this attack, the entire nation went downhill from there, including the monarchy. Two days before this happened, 100 Germans and 300 Swiss all marched into France. People began to come and then, when there were a lot of them, they began to throw rocks at the Germans, who attacked, but forced to retreat because of the advantage of the people and the rocks. One German was killed. People began to arm themselves with any sort of weapon they could find. The next day, people wanted the king to arm people and go and wipe them out. The king, however, refuses all propositions. The mob is then joined by French guards. They also go to the prison and get corn, which they take to the corn market to trade for arms. The French guards then train them with weapons. The city committee decides to restrain the mob to 48,000 people. On the 14, the day the Bastille was attacked, the committee had one of their members, Monsieur de Corny, go to Hotel des Invalides and get arms for the Garde Bourgeoise. He was followed by the mob though, and made it so that he couldn't get the arms. He told the people to retire, before doing so himself. The people stole the arms meant for the committee. Monsieur de Corny, along with five others, were sent to ask for arms from the governor of Bastille, Monsieur de Launai. Before the six men got there though, the mob got there. The six men immediately placed a flag of truce on the ground, which was answered by another flag of truce. They demanded to see the governor but a discharge killed four people who were near the deputies. The deputies retired and the people attacked the Bastille, and took control of it. No one knows how they got it. They took all of the arms and let the prisoners out. Any of the garrison who were not killed were captured, and beheaded. Around the same time, Monsieur de Flesselles was also beheaded for treason. The king would still do nothing about it. But later in the evening, Duke de Liancourt forced his way into the kings bedroom, and made the king listen to all of the disasters that had happened that day. The king was impressed. The demolition of the Bastille started and the Swiss join the people as well. The alarm at Versailles increases instead of decreasing. They believed that 150,000 were coming to kill the royal family and all of those connected to them. The aristocrats said they weren't though, so the troops were ordered off. On July 16, 1989, two days after most of this happened, every minister resigned. Many people fled who were connected to high people like governors or even the king, but we don't know where. The king went to Paris, accompanied by guards. About 60,000 armed people lined the streets where the king was going saying, 'vive la nation.' However, no one heard anyone say 'vive Ie roy.' The king arrived at Hotel de ville where he was greeted by Monsieur Bailly. The king was presented with the popular cockade in a hat. The king was unable to speak, so Monsieur Bailly made an answer for him, which he told the audience watching. The popular cry then heard was 'vive le roy et la nation.'
I think it is crazy how the people were all caught up in this and how everyone was so mad that they started beheading people. I was shocked when I read that the people attacked the Bastille, and the Germans, because they had a large group with them to do it with. I think that if you are the leader of something, people are better collectively, but overall, they are better individually. People should be able to have their own opinions and do what they want instead of go along with what everyone else is doing. There are positive sides to crowd behavior though, if you are the leader. Everyone does what lousy without question and only a few try to stop it. It was like the movie I watched, The Wave. The high school students were part of a group and thought that they were better than everyone else who wasn't part of the group. I do think it is possible to avoid such behavior, although I do think it will happen many more times. People just need to be brave and stand out from one another. They need to think for themselves, instead of just go along with everyone else. Everyone was given a mind of their own, and they should be able to use it as only their own, and not someone else's.

Brooke Symkoviak

1/20/2015 01:43:22 pm

One of the historical events that I studied was the Kristallnacht. The Kristallnacht was the night of broken glass. A group of Hitler youth came through and destroyed many Jewish businesses. A young boy watched from his balcony as his parents shop got destroyed. There were many bystanders, including police, standing around, that did nothing to stop them. This went on for about a half hour. Nobody did anything to stop the Hitler youth from destroying the shop. Mob mentality was shown by the bystanders doing nothing to help. Nobody wanted to be the one to get involved and stop it. I was surprised in every article and movie that I read or saw at how people can just ignore the horrible things going on around them. They just stood there and watched or carried on with their day like nothing was going on around them. I think that people are better individually rather than collectivly, because they can think for themselves rather than following what other other people do becausse they are scared of being judged. There can be good sides to crowd behavior, but only if the crowd is making the right decisions.

Hayden Harward

1/28/2015 01:01:52 am

I like how you addressed that there can be good sides to a crowd, because I agree that when a large group of people get together to do something good, they can do great things.

Grace Lundwall

1/28/2015 01:04:16 am

I think that it is also really awful that this happened. I think that it's crazy those people didn't at least call the police or try and talk to the little boy. I am wondering what everyone would've done differently in this situation if they knew what they were doing. i think it's really sad and awful.

Ashley Elwood

2/11/2015 06:58:28 am

I like how you talk about how there were a lot of people there that didn't do anything when shops were being destroyed and they all stayed there and how you talk about people not wanting to be judged for doing the right thing.

Lauren Melville

1/20/2015 02:40:14 pm

Honestly, the ideas running through my head about mob mentality and the like are many in number, and very diverse. I'll do my best to summarize.

Firstly, I read the Kristallnacht article and have a few thoughts on that. Basically, the article talks about John Izbicki, who lived in Germany in the Nazi's time. He especially remembers and is scarred by Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, when many windows were broken on Jew's shops and homes. His experience especially was when the windows of his family business were assaulted by bricks and weights. The Hitler Youth even started throwing the broken shards into the shop, where he knew his parents still were. Even though they emerged unharmed, the event still was fresh and painful in his mind even 75 years later.

The worst part is is that the police and all the onlookers did nothing, even if some cried or whistled in disapproval. I can understand not wanting to throw yourself in the way of flying glass and butcher's weights, but the fact that no-one did anything but watch is just infuriating to anyone.

Another article I watched/read was one about the riots that followed after the shooting of Micheal Brown. Although the protesters were peaceful for a very long time, their anger couldn't hold. There were many lootings, fires, and much violence that night. Though there probably should have been less fire and rampaging, the rioter's reasoning, depending on how you look at it, can be valid. This was a minor group being opposed by discrimination and oppression, of course they felt that something needed to be done. The promise of safety in numbers let them feel they could do more, though.

Although it took more of a financial side to herd mentality, the word of the day clip was about this subject. It's a fact that people want to do what everyone else is doing. Most people want to be wrong and with everyone else than right and alone. I think that this is because in a sense, they feel that they are in the right when they are in a group. Everyone seem to have the default mindset that if everyone else is doing it, whatever "it" may be, it is okay.

As for The Wave, a movie about why it was so easy for people to side with the Nazis or else say nothing ill against them, this was a very thought provoking movie. The Wave, as in the group itself, was motivated by a sense of community. When they thought that they were safe together, they were able to subconsciously assume that what they were doing was okay, and that they were better than their peers who weren't in the Wave. Then better than those that weren't completely loyal to the Wave. They probably learned the one of the most important lessons their lives the day of the revealing rally.

The reason that we side with one group and persecute the other or fight against said persecution on the other side, or that we buy what everyone else is buying and join the gapeseeds surrounding violence, is emotion. Negative, common-held emotion.

The onlookers of Kristallnacht were all too afraid to stand up. Many people judge themselves based on their peers and want to blend in. The members of the Wave and the Nazi's had power in numbers and wanted more power. The rioters after Micheal brown's shootings wanted the majority to have less power over them.

Are people better collectively or individually? I think that better decisions are made when we each have time to think about them for ourselves. When someone acts suddenly, on the impulse of someone else or their own anger, bad things happen. You know you've seen when someone was frustrated and made things worse for themselves because they moved too quickly or thoughtlessly.
Once those individual thoughts have been established, like thinkers can work collectively towards their goal.

This would be an example of a positive side to crowd behavior, when people work together for something they have their own reason to believe is a good cause. Some things that comes to mind with this are Civil Right movements. I find little if no valid argument that Mahatma Ghandi or MLK Jr. caused group actions that had a negative effect on society, their actions are always thought of positively. Could this be considered mob mentality?

If crowd behavior is people coming together for good or bad, then there is no avoiding it completely. People are bound to have an opinion, and there is most likely someone else in the world with their same views. However, if we somehow had a way for everyone to make a decision before jumping to a rash one, then the negative effect of these could certainly go down.

Sean McGalliard

2/3/2015 01:12:48 am

For my mob mentality research, I read the article on Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht was the result of an alleged German born Polish Jew killing a German diplomat, Ernst vom Rath. In the riot that cam afterward, 91 Jews were killed, 30,000 were arrested, and 7,000 Jewish owned businesses were destroyed or damaged on the 9th and 10th of November 1938. There were some people who were opposed to the mobs and riots, but they were in the minority.
The main thing that surprises me about the film clips and the articles is that in all of the clips, the only people who tried to stand up against the herd mentality were in the minority, if there were any at all. In one of the articles, a person died because everyone just went on by while he bled to death after being stabbed. One person even went over to him, lifted up the jacket, and saw the blood, but just stood back up and walked on by. Four hours from when he had been stabbed, and many people had passed by, the ambulance came, but he had died. I might sometimes understand herd mentality when it is just someone being made fun of, but when someone is dying because of it, I just can't understand herd mentality at all.

Ashley Elwood

2/11/2015 06:55:31 am

I read about two actors that both played in Shakespeare plays. When they were touring America and England separate of each other both had fans that were crazy and hated the other actor. When the one they hated preformed people would by tickets just to throw rotten fruits and vegetables and things like that at them. They got so worked up over something as simple as what actor played Hamlet in a play, so they wanted to physically attack the actor that took time and energy to perform for them, even when they were yelled at and booed and even assaulted. This is an example of mob mentality because people would group together and bully someone who was simply making money and providing for themselves that happened to be the same way as someone else and in those people’s opinions wasn’t as good as the other one. They singled out the actor and yelled at them saying the other one was the best and that can be a bad image for an actor, if their fans act like that then they aren't a good role model and people wouldn't want to watch his shows. The actors continued their careers making the best of the situation with the fans. The people watching the show demonstrated a lot of mob psychology by the way they acted, raging around and being completely disrespectful toward another person.

Calvin F link

1/16/2021 10:22:50 pm

Inteeresting thoughts

POOB M

1/10/2023 07:30:05 am

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1/10/2023 07:31:19 am

I agree with POOB

poob m

1/10/2023 07:32:10 am

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BOOP W

1/10/2023 07:34:06 am

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Assignment:

Individually research the topic of Mob Mentality and the Psychology of Crowd Behavior:

Read the article entitled "The Psychology of Mob Mentality & Violence", written by Dr. Wendy James and quoted on the the left. .
Under the Historical Examples Tab on the left research at least two historical evidences and examples of mob mentality.
Watch a minimum of two of the films/ documentaries available under the Salem Witch Trials Documentaries and Films Tab. Be sure to post that you completed the assignment and indicate the films you watched.
Write and post on the website under the title "Mob Psychology, My opinion and Insights" on the left) A) brief summary of the historical evidence you studied. Be sure to include: When the event(s) occurred, what happened, who were some of the key individuals involved and how mob psychology was exhibited in the events you studied. B) Discuss your reaction to the historical examples and film clips you studied and lastly C) Respond to the blog posted below.