crowd psychology

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the study and description of how individual psychology, behaviour, and decision-making are transformed when people are part of a large group or crowd, examining the mechanisms through which collective emotional states emerge and propagate, individual judgement is overridden by social influence, and behaviours become possible in crowds that would not occur in individuals acting alone; crowd psychology as a formal field originates with Gustave Le Bon's The Crowd published in 1895, which described crowds as primitive, emotional, and susceptible to suggestion from charismatic leaders — a characterisation influential in twentieth century understandings of fascism and mass politics; subsequent researchers including Elias Canetti and more recently Stephen Reicher and Clifford Stott have critiqued Le Bon's dismissive view, arguing that crowd behaviour reflects the specific identities and norms of crowd members and that crowds are capable of sophisticated, purposive, and even prosocial behaviour when understood in their social context