What is the name of the crowd. Abstract: General characteristics of the crowd

The concept of the crowd in psychology. How it is formed and what properties it has. Features of the behavior of the crowd and the individual in it. Management methods.

The content of the article:

Crowd psychology is a separate branch of psychology that studies the behavioral reactions of groups of people and an individual in their composition. History knows many examples of how dangerous and unpredictable a crowd can be, both in relation to the political system and in relation to individual people. And the art of managing large masses is considered the highest aerobatics among politicians.

The concept of the crowd in psychology

The classic crowd in social psychology is the accumulation of people during military exercises, natural disasters, protests, mass spectacles, or transport ups and downs.

Each of us at least once in his life watched the behavior of the crowd or was a member of it. Both in the first and in the second case, it is impossible not to notice the “crowd effect”. It lies in the fact that people who fall into it are “infected” with a general mood and behavioral reactions. Often even to the detriment of their desires and principles. A person literally joins the crowd, becoming one with it.

Depending on the moods reigning inside her, she can be very unpredictable and dangerous in terms of destruction and trauma. Therefore, it is very difficult to control such crowds of people.

The nature of the formation of the crowd allows us to determine its composition, which includes:

• The instigators (the core of the crowd) are people whose task is to form a crowd, set it up correctly and use it for certain purposes.
• Crowd members are people who have joined it and actively participate in its actions. At the same time, both suggestible people and people with a heightened sense of justice (sympathy), as well as ordinary inhabitants or idle wanderers, can fall under the influence of a large crowd of people. The latter do not show particularly active participation in the movements of the crowd, but at the same time they contribute to the mass character. The most dangerous are people who are attracted to the crowd only because of the opportunity to throw out their aggression and negative energy.

Interesting! The very term "crowd" became part of social psychology precisely in such a turbulent period of mass revolutionary unrest of the people of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Therefore, at first it had a very limited definition of poorly organized actions of the proletariat against the exploiters.

Mechanism and stages of crowd formation

The main stages of crowd formation:

1. Crowd core formation. Despite the fact that spontaneity is a distinctive feature of the crowd, it is still unable to form without some core, center. Such a core can be people (instigators) who are fully aware of their actions and pursue certain goals, or an incident (event). Then ordinary human curiosity comes into play, which attracts more and more people to the core. People of different ages, principles, temperaments. Having become interested in what is happening, a person merges with the crowd in order to satisfy his interest. At the same time, each new “infusion” of emotions warms up the already created emotional charge. That is, the mechanism already mentioned above is triggered - a circular reaction. Such "fouling" of the center of the crowd occurs spontaneously, like an avalanche.
2. whirling process. Emotional tension builds up inside the formed crowd. Against its background, an exacerbation of susceptibility to information begins. Due to the ongoing circular reaction, excitation also grows - the cycle closes. People show a collective readiness to immediately respond to any incoming information.
3. The emergence of a new object of attention. It is conversations, rumors and gossip, warmed up by the heat of feelings, that replace the original cause - the core of the formation of the crowd. In its place comes an image created by the participants of the "gathering" themselves. It is acceptable to all, unites, focuses and captures the senses. It gives orientation and direction to action.
4. Activating individuals through arousal. The ever-growing tension within the crowd needs to be released. This can be achieved through additional stimulation of its participants by suggestion, warming up the imagination in relation to the chosen object of attention. Such actions lead to the fact that people begin to take concrete actions. Not always safe and logical. The leader or the same instigators who can use the crowd for certain purposes can throw a spark into the fire.

Important! An already formed crowd can become a very dangerous weapon in the hands of aggressive people. The consequences of the “work” of such a crowd can be destructive and uncontrollable. Stopping such an "element" is extremely difficult.

The main types of crowds in psychology

The main types of crowds in psychology on the basis of controllability:

• Spontaneous. Its formation and manifestations are not associated with any type of organization and management.
• Guided. It is formed and directed (from the very beginning or later on by the development of events) by the leader, that is, by a specific person.

1. Occasional. At the heart of its education is curiosity for a certain incident, an event that arose spontaneously, unexpectedly. It can be an accident, an accident, a fire, a fight, a natural disaster, etc.
2. Conventional. It is formed due to interest in a certain mass event (sports event, spectacle, etc.). Moreover, this event is not of a spontaneous nature: it is pre-announced, that is, known and expected. Such a crowd is relatively manageable, since it is able to act within the framework of norms of behavior. However, such submission is temporary, and the very framework of behavior can be quite vague.
3. Expressive. According to the mechanism of formation, it is very similar to the conventional one, that is, people in it are united by a common attitude towards a particular event or incident (outrage, protest, condemnation, joy, enthusiasm). It has a subspecies called "ecstatic crowd". This is an extreme degree, when the emotional attitude to the event develops into a general ecstasy. Most often this happens during carnivals, religious rituals, concerts, when the rhythmically growing infection brings the crowd to a general trance, euphoria.
4. Active. It is formed on the basis of an emotional community, ready for specific actions or already producing them.

• Aggressive. The participants in such a gathering of people are united by aggression directed at a specific object. This may be a manifestation of hatred towards a certain person (lynching) or a certain movement, structure (political, religious). The result of such a "gathering" most often are acts of vandalism, beatings.
• Panic. In this case, people are united by mass panic moods, forcing them to flee from danger. Moreover, panic can be both justified, with real danger, and imaginary, when the danger is imaginary.
• Possessive. The "glue" of such a crowd is a chaotic struggle for certain material values. Food and goods (hype during discounts or shortages, destruction of warehouses), money (in case of bankruptcy of banks), places in public transport can serve as such objects of conflict. This type of behavior of people in a crowd can manifest itself during terrorist attacks, major disasters, natural disasters.
• Rebel. In the crowd of this subspecies, people are united by a common feeling of dissatisfaction with the work of the authorities, the government. If timely and competently intervene in the elements of such a crowd, it can be turned into a powerful weapon of political struggle.

Psychological properties of the crowd

Psychological properties of the crowd in the cognitive sphere:

1. Incapacity for consciousness. The human crowd does not accept logic and reason - it lives by emotions. And it is the latter who lead it. Not every person alone with himself can hear and obey his mind, but, succumbing to the herd instinct of the crowd, loses this ability completely. Thus, in a human crowd, unconscious qualities take precedence over conscious ones.
2. Stimulation of the imagination. All members of the crowd are infected not only by common emotions, but also by images. An extremely heightened susceptibility to impressions enlivens any information that comes to the crowd. Due to the same effect of collective imagination, the events taking place in the zone of action of the crowd can be significantly distorted. Including because of how exactly these events are “served”.
3. Creative thinking. For large spontaneous gatherings of people, figurative thinking, simplified to the limit, is characteristic. Therefore, they do not distinguish between objective and subjective information, do not perceive complex ideas, do not argue or reason. Everything that "lives" in the crowd is imposed on it. She does not accept discussions, does not consider options or nuances. Only two options are possible here: the idea is either accepted in its pure form, or not accepted at all. Moreover, preference is given to illusions and delusions, rather than truth and reality.
4. Conservatism. The crowd is extremely attached to traditions, therefore they do not accept any innovations and deviations to the side.
5. High suggestibility and infectiousness. Another property inherent in the crowd - increased susceptibility to suggestion. Therefore, it is easy for her to inspire the necessary image, the idea with which all its participants are infected.

• Emotionality. The behavioral properties of the crowd are characterized by emotional resonance. It is expressed in the fact that the constant exchange of emotions among the participants gradually brings the general emotional state of the crowd to the limit, which is already difficult to consciously control.
• High sensibility. The lack of responsibility for one's actions in a duet with hypersensitivity generates extremely strong impulses that have one direction vector. That is, they are accepted by all members of the crowd. Regardless of the "color" of these impulses - they are generous or cruel, heroic or cowardly. Simple feelings prevail here, but in extremes. At the same time, they are so strong that not only reason and personal interests win, but also the instinct of self-preservation.
• Extremism. The crowd is a destructive phenomenon. It releases from a person hidden in the depths of the soul and restrained passions, including destruction. This also pushes her to respond with rage to any obstacle (even in speech form) in her path.
• Irresponsibility. This phenomenon makes a large crowd of people extremely prone to cruelty, especially under the influence of instigators.
• Weakness of motivation. Despite all the passion with which the crowd perceives ideas or events, its interest is unstable and does not last long. Therefore, persistent will and prudence are not characteristic of her.

In the moral realm the psychological properties of a spontaneous accumulation of people are manifested by a demonstration of lofty feelings (loyalty, a sense of justice, selflessness, etc.) and religiosity. The latter is especially important because it also implies unquestioning obedience, intolerance and the need for propaganda.

You can not ignore the influence of the crowd on each of its participants, as a result of which he acquires anonymity, "facelessness", the ability to surrender to his instincts. He falls into the power of the environment, including due to high suggestibility and awareness of the irresistible force of numbers. He is ready to sacrifice his principles and personal interests in favor of the interest of the crowd. All this reinforces the feeling of impunity and the tendency to aggression and arbitrariness. At the same time, a person loses his individuality, becoming part of the general mass, degrading behaviorally and intellectually.

Crowd Control Methods

The result of such a "cocktail" can be very tragic events. Therefore, the psychology of the crowd highlights several factors that are dangerous in terms of panic. These include: superstition, illusion and prejudice. All these phenomena are inherent in many of us even in a state of isolation from society, but in a crowd they are amplified many times over. Therefore, they are capable of leading to mass psychosis.

Despite the fact that the crowd is initially spontaneous and uncontrollable, in the end it still strives for submission. At the same time, the leader to whom she will listen can be chosen spontaneously or take power into her own hands. And for her, such nuances are completely unimportant - she will obey any of them. Obey instinctively, blindly and unquestioningly. The crowd does not accept a weak government, but bows before a strong one. She is ready to endure even tough management. Moreover, it is the despotic power that is the most effective lever for crowd control.

Skills and abilities that a crowd leader should have:

1. Ideology. The main task of the "leader of the pack" is to create an idea and put it "to the masses". It doesn't matter which one. Therefore, most often, mentally unbalanced people, whose beliefs and goals cannot be challenged or refuted, are most often knocked out on a pedestal. Even in the case of complete absurdity or absurdity.
2. Activity. There is another feature that distinguishes the "heroes" from the rest of the crowd - action. They don't think, they act. And more often there are leaders whose willpower and vigor is of a transient nature. Much less often the crowd is controlled by people in whom these qualities are constantly present.
3. Charm. Another quality without which it is impossible to lead the crowd is charm. It can be based on admiration or fear, personal charm or special psychological techniques, success or experience in a certain area close to the interest of the crowd. In any case, she must listen to her leader and listen.
4. Knowledge of crowd control. Most people who are at the top of the crowd, intuitively understand that you need to take several sequential steps. First, you should infiltrate it and understand how it “breathes”, merge with it and convince you that you breathe the same air with it, and then add “fire” to it in the form of images that excite it. Ideally, in order to control the crowd, you need to know the features of its formation and basic properties.
5. Using Strong Expressions. The crowd understands and accepts only force, so you should talk to it in strong, direct, loud phrases. Exaggerations, repetitions, harsh statements are simply necessary here. Moreover, the more the statement is repeated in the same word form, the more firmly it cuts into the minds of the listeners and is already perceived as an indisputable truth.

The most effective methods to inactivate the crowd are:

• Distracting the attention of crowds to other goals, events, ideas. Such disunity of interests leads to disunity in the crowd as well. She is falling apart.
• "Decapitation" of the crowd. The capture or isolation of the leader deprives the crowd of the idea that united it. And if another leader does not immediately come to his place, it will turn into a simple gathering of people. Unstable and unconnected.
• Awakening the mind of the crowd members. The main task is to remind the crowd members of a sense of responsibility, to throw off the veil of suggestion and anonymity. This can be done in several ways. For example, announce that a video is being filmed of what is happening or specifically address the participants by last name, first name and patronymic (you can choose the most common data in the area).

Crowd

The crowd is chaotic, although not without some organization. The organizing factor can be a common object of attention, a tradition, an event. Crowd members are often in a similar emotional state. The crowd is described by a number of parameters and characteristics, such as the number of people gathered, the direction and speed of movement, the psychological state, and others. The crowd is the subject of research in social psychology, which in particular introduces the classification of crowds according to a number of features. In some cases, the crowd can be a danger to others (for example, rioters) and to themselves (in case of panic). Crowds play a significant role in the story.

Studying the crowd

History

Such phenomena as riots, uprisings, revolutions, migration of peoples, wars and other phenomena associated with the participation of a large number of people are being studied.

Sociology

The main task is to predict the behavior of the crowd. This does not take into account the differences between individual members of the crowd, the phenomena are considered as average.

Psychology

The goal is to explain the mechanisms that bring a person into a state where a person is influenced by the crowd.

famous crowds

• Crush on Trubnaya Square during the funeral of Joseph Stalin

see also

Links

Literature

• Koryavtsev P. M. Introduction to the issues of cold dynamics. St. Petersburg: 2004-2006.
• Kovelman A. B. The birth of the crowd: from the Old to the New Testament // Odysseus. Man in history. 1993. The image of the "other" in culture. M., 1994, p. 123-137

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

• Papua
• Philip Opuntsky

See what "Crowd" is in other dictionaries:

crowd- an accumulation of people who are deprived of a clearly perceived commonality of goals and organization, but are interconnected by the similarity of their emotional state and a common center of attention. The main mechanisms for the formation of T. and the development of its specific qualities are considered ... ... Great Psychological Encyclopedia

crowd- n., f., use. very often Morphology: (no) what? crowds, why? crowd, (see) what? crowd what? crowd, about what? about the crowd; pl. what? crowds, (no) what? crowds, why? crowds, (see) what? crowds, what? crowds about what? about crowds 1. A crowd is a large ... Dictionary of Dmitriev

CROWD- When a hundred people stand next to each other, everyone loses his mind and gets some other one. Friedrich Nietzsche The morals of the people in times of trouble are often bad, but the morality of the crowd is strict, even when this crowd has all the vices. Talleyrand Face… … Consolidated encyclopedia of aphorisms

crowd- Assemblage, gathering, horde, gathering, mob, gang, people; people, common people, mob, mass, plebs, street. The actor is entirely dependent on the mass that is called in prose, and even in poetry. Gray crowd. The street is hard to climb in the mental sense. ... ... Synonym dictionary

crowd- crowd, Ukrainian cheer up, blr. crowd, other Russian tulpa, art. glory. tlpa χορός (Supr.), Bolg. tulpa, Czech. tlupa crowd, group, slvts. tlupa, Czech here. tlum crowd, Pol. tɫum - the same. Praslav. *tъlra or *tlra is related to lit. talpa… … Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by Max Fasmer

We are born and live in society. We strive for our own kind and need to communicate with other people just as we need food, fresh air, a roof over our heads. From the moment we were born, we are surrounded by people and are part of various groups. But there is a kind of community in which a person loses himself and turns from a rational, thinking individual into a part of the elements. This community is a crowd. The most unorganized, spontaneous and dangerous social group.

Most likely, the crowd is the oldest type of collection of people, and the closest analogies to it will be a herd and a flock.

Mass demonstrations of people, which are spontaneous and often destructive, are not uncommon in the history of civilization. "Crucify him!" shouted the crowd at Golgotha. "Burn the witches!" - fanatics raged around the fires of the Inquisition. "Yes, long live the emperor!" - enthusiastically shouted people, welcoming the new cruel ruler and tyrant. These are quite common phenomena, they are still there, only the external surroundings have changed, but the essence has remained the same.

Even in ancient times, methods of controlling this unbridled element were developed, and they were successfully used by political and religious figures. But the study of the crowd as a specific socio-psychological phenomenon began in the 19th century, when humanity in its development came to the realization of the danger of this phenomenon. The book "Psychology of the Masses" by the French sociologist and psychologist Gustave Le Bon not only laid the foundation for the study of spontaneous human communities, but also became the beginning of such a branch of psychological science as social psychology.

Psychological characteristics of the crowd

The crowd refers to spontaneous large groups. Unlike the other two types of such groups - the masses and the public - the crowd is based on. People who are part of this community do not have conscious common goals, but there is something that attracts their attention: information, spectacle, enemy, danger, object of worship.

The high level of emotionality and exaltation characteristic of the crowd leads to two major effects.

Psychic Contagion Phenomenon

This ancient mental mechanism is characteristic of all social animals and even birds. Have you ever seen how instantly and for no apparent reason a flock of sparrows takes off? It worked the effect of mental infection.

In the animal world and in the most ancient communities of human ancestors, mental infection performed a very important function: the unification and joint actions of individuals helped to escape from sudden danger. In primitive societies, as a rule, the collective mind is stronger and more effective than the individual mind. The manifestation of this phenomenon can be expressed by the phrase: "Everyone ran, and I ran."

It would seem that a person has long gained independence and the ability to think and make decisions regardless of society. But in a crowd, under the influence of emotions, he loses this ability. A person is "infected" with other people's feelings and passes them on to others, thereby enhancing the overall exaltation. And the stronger the hurricane of emotions (fear, hatred, delight) rages, the more difficult it is not to fall under their influence. I think everyone saw how football fans rage in the stands, how fans of musical groups rage, how people at a rally or protest rally shout slogans with hatred.

Their behavior seems strange, ridiculous, frightening, if you watch the crowd from a decent distance or on a TV screen. But once in the crowd itself, a person quickly falls under the influence of its emotions and special mood. People are infected not only with feelings, but also with the energy of the mass, they feel the power and permissiveness that overwhelm them and are ready to sweep away all enemies or give their lives for their idols.

Any person in the crowd becomes bolder, more aggressive and reckless, he can do things that he would never have dared to do outside the crowd, violate the norms and prohibitions learned from childhood. I saw young female fans rip off their bras and throw them at their idols on stage. How they tore the T-shirt of one of the singers to shreds. Are they capable of this outside the crowd?

Even worse is the infection with hatred, when people are ready to tear apart anyone who seems to be an enemy to them (or who they point to), and such cases have been repeatedly described. And in a state of panic fear, the crowd sweeps away everything in its path and can trample even children and the elderly.

Loss of rational control

This second effect is related to the first. A powerful surge of emotions, which is supported and fueled by the crowd, causes a blockade of the rational level of consciousness. A person ceases to control his behavior and manage it. There comes what psychologists call an altered state of consciousness or clouding of consciousness. People literally lose their minds, become part of an elemental organism, which is controlled by collective emotions.

In part, this mental phenomenon resembles the state of passion that a person experiences during a strong and sudden emotional shock. But in this case, he, as a rule, saves his life or the life of his loved ones. But the emotional outburst generated by the crowd is not only meaningless, but also very dangerous. After all, the “roof blows” not for one person, but for several hundred.

How a crowd forms

The crowd is considered a spontaneous group, but there is always a reason for its formation, and often people who deliberately gather, "turn on", provoke the crowd. The instigators usually expect to use the energy of this element for their own purposes. Sometimes it works out, but not always. The crowd is easy to create and warm up, but it is very difficult to control this element.

Who is the crowd

This spontaneous group consists of several "layers" of people who differ in their psychological characteristics.

• The instigators are the core of the crowd, their actions are often conscious and purposeful.
• The next "layer" is the most suggestible people who quickly "turn on" and do not notice how they lose control over their behavior, obeying the mood broadcast by the instigators. "Suggestible" are usually emotional, and often exalted people, it is they who create that emotional atmosphere that embraces everyone who finds themselves in the crowd.
• Random and just curious people. Initially, they are neutral and even negative towards the mood of the crowd, but do not notice how they fall under the influence of the phenomenon of mental infection.
• "Hooligans" are the most dangerous part of the crowd. These include asocial, aggressive individuals who join the crowd for the sake of "entertainment", the desire to fight with impunity, smash, satisfy their sadistic inclinations. It is their actions and emotions that most often turn a simply emotional mass of people into a brutal crowd.

There are not always clearly defined instigators in the crowd. Sometimes the role of a unifying factor is played by some event that causes a surge of emotions: the performance of popular singers, the loss (winning) of your team in sports competitions, a natural disaster or a man-made disaster. In this case, overly emotional people with an unbalanced psyche act as the core of the crowd, who do not know how to restrain their emotions and turn on the rest.

Stages of the emergence of the crowd

If the crowd is spontaneous, and the people in it are not connected with each other, then its occurrence always has a reason. It may be some event or a conscious purpose of a group of people, but at the heart of the formation of the crowd is always what attracts the attention of the human mass. The very process of the emergence and development of the crowd is also subject to clear psychological laws and goes through certain stages.

1. Core formation. This stage can take place in two forms: conscious (the core is those who purposefully gathered the crowd) and spontaneous (the core is emotionally unbalanced people).
2. The information stage, which in psychology is called whirling. People who have joined the crowd out of curiosity or under the influence of the "herd feeling" begin to quickly absorb information, fueled by feelings, and at the same time transmit it to others. Information in the crowd is always saturated with emotions, so there is an increase in excitement and readiness for action.
3. Leap of attention. This stage is characterized by awareness of the object of general attention and often its change. That is, people's attention is redirected. In the case of conscious actions of a group of people, what is beneficial to them, for example, a common enemy, gets into the spotlight.
4. crowd activation. The growth of emotionality and excitement requires its release, and there comes a moment when the crowd simply cannot restrain itself and begins active actions, often of an extremely aggressive and even wild nature. If the instigators do not organize the activity of the crowd in time, then this element will become uncontrollable for them as well.

These 4 stages are not always clearly defined. A crowd can form and flare up like a stack of dry hay, especially if people have been excited by some events and before the moment of consolidation or they are in danger.

Types of crowds

Attempts to make a comprehensive classification of crowds have been made repeatedly since the work of Le Bon. But so far there is no such classification. The fact is that the same crowd contains many different signs and characteristics. Can be at the same time:

• aggressive and fleeing;
• conventional (united by common interest) and expressive.

Therefore, there are several classification options for different reasons.

By degree of activity

There are 2 types of crowds on this basis: passive and active.

• Passive crowds are characterized by a low level of emotionality and excitement. Of all the psychological signs, only mass character is inherent in this species, and in the full sense of the word, such gatherings of people are not crowds. These include, for example, people sightseeing, meeting, seeing off and waiting for a train at the station, transport crowds in the subway, etc. But in the event of some emotional event, these crowds quickly cease to be passive.
• An active crowd is in a state of emotional arousal, therefore, a readiness for joint action is formed in it.

By the nature of emotionality

The crowd is always full of emotions, but they are of a different nature, which affects the characteristics of the actions of this spontaneous group:

• An enthusiastic or ecstatic crowd unites people on the basis of positive emotions that are caused by a common spectacle (concert, festival) or a common action (religious rites and cults, carnivals, etc.).
• The panic crowd arises under the influence of a strong sense of fear, which develops into panic. This emotional state leads to a rapid loss of rational control. Controlling a panicked crowd is almost impossible.
• An aggressive crowd is characterized by a high degree of mental stress and negative emotions: hatred, despair, frustration. The emergence of aggression is always associated with some kind of stimulus, for example, hearing, information stuffing, that is, a phenomenon that causes general indignation.

According to the degree of spontaneity

Although the crowd belongs to spontaneous large groups, the degree of this spontaneity can be different.

• Organized crowd. This species was described by G. Lebon using the example of mass demonstrations of workers at rallies and strikes. It is distinguished by a purposeful organization and controls, and often even a clear plan of action. It is compiled by the instigators and involved in the implementation of their supporters from among the crowd.
• Leading crowd. More often it is formed spontaneously, but thanks to a person or a group of people with leadership abilities, it takes on the signs of an organized one.

There are other grounds on which crowds can be classified, but these are the most basic and generally accepted.

How to manage a crowd

Politicians, religious figures and simply ambitious people often seek to use the crowd for their own purposes. It must be admitted that despite the obvious immorality of such a desire, the presence of a leader in the crowd somewhat reduces its danger.

Managing this element is both simple and difficult at the same time:

• On the one hand, the crowd is somewhat similar to a herd and is always ready to follow the leader.
• On the other hand, this leader must stand out from the crowd, attract the attention of people, and have bright charisma. And this is not easy to do against the backdrop of raging emotions.

Political technologists and social psychologists know several ways to attract attention in a crowd:

• Demonstration of strength and power. Having lost themselves in the crowd, people instinctively look for a strong leader, a leader - someone who can oppose himself to the masses, who will lead him. Given the primitive nature of the community, sometimes it is enough to become taller than the crowd, brighter, louder, that is, more noticeable.
• expressiveness of speech. Emotionally saturated and loud appeal to the crowd is also able to attract attention, so the leaders use different methods of amplifying the sound (currently technical).
• "Clockwork" character of the performance. The crowd, saturated with emotions, is not ready to listen to lengthy speeches and evaluate objective arguments. The elemental masses are affected by short, repetitive slogans that not only carry information, but form an emotional background. With the help of these slogans, the crowd is first set up in a certain way, and then programmed for specific actions.

It is more difficult to take control of the crowd to a person "from the outside". As already mentioned, people in the crowd lose their own, lose control over themselves, and in order for this not to happen, the individual must have tremendous willpower and ability to emotional pressure.

You can subdue the crowd again through attracting attention. The methods can be different, up to shots in the air, on which people involuntarily turn around. Alas, it happens that the instigators do not shoot into the air if they fail to shake up a too passive crowd. And spilled blood dramatically increases the level of people.

The phenomenon of the crowd has been studied for a long time, but at present social psychologists admit to their insufficient competence. In fact, society, as in the Middle Ages, and in the 21st century does not know reliable means of crowd control. And the point here is not only in the low level of knowledge of the subject, but also in the process of evolution of mass demonstrations.

Crowd

An accumulation of people deprived of a clearly perceived commonality of goals and organization, but interconnected by a similarity of emotional state and a common center of attention. The main mechanisms for the formation of T. and the development of its specific qualities are considered circular (increasing mutually directed emotional), as well as. There are four main types of T.:

1) occasional T., bound by curiosity about an unexpected incident (traffic accident, etc.);

2) conventional t., bound by an interest in some pre-announced mass entertainment (for example, certain types of sports, etc.) and ready, often only temporarily, to follow more or less diffuse norms of behavior;

3) expressive T., jointly expressing a general attitude to an event (joy, enthusiasm, indignation, protest, etc.), its extreme form is represented by ecstatic T., which, as a result of mutual rhythmically growing infection, reaches a state of general ecstasy (as in some ry mass religious rituals, carnivals, rock music concerts, etc.);

4) acting T., which, in turn, includes the following subspecies: a) aggressive T. (see), united by blind hatred for a certain object (lynching, beating of religious, political opponents, etc.);

b) panicked T., spontaneously escaping from a real or imaginary source of danger (see): c) acquisitive T., entering into disordered direct for the possession of any valuables (money, places in outgoing transport, etc.); d) insurrectionary politics, in which people are bound by a common just indignation at the actions of the authorities, it often constitutes an attribute of revolutionary upheavals, and the timely introduction of an organizing principle into it can elevate a spontaneous mass uprising to a conscious act of political struggle. The absence of clear goals, the absence or diffuseness of the structure give rise to the most important property of T. - its easy convertibility from one species (subspecies) to another. Such transformations often occur spontaneously, however, knowledge of their typical patterns and mechanisms makes it possible to deliberately manipulate the behavior of T. for adventurous purposes, and on the other hand, to consciously prevent and stop her especially dangerous actions.

Brief psychological dictionary. - Rostov-on-Don: PHOENIX. L.A. Karpenko, A.V. Petrovsky, M. G. Yaroshevsky. 1998 .

Crowd

A structureless accumulation of people, deprived of a clearly perceived commonality of goals, but mutually connected by the similarity of their emotional state and a common object of attention. The main mechanisms for the formation of the crowd and the development of its specific qualities are the circular reaction (growing mutually directed emotional infection), as well as rumors.

There are four main types;

1 ) an occasional crowd - bound by curiosity for an unexpected incident (traffic accident, etc.);

2 ) the crowd is a conventional crowd - bound by an interest in some pre-announced mass entertainment (sports, etc.) and ready, often only temporarily, to follow fairly diffuse norms of behavior;

3 ) expressive crowd - jointly expressing a general attitude to a certain event (joy, enthusiasm, indignation, protest, etc.); its extreme form is an ecstatic crowd, reaching a state of general ecstasy from mutual, rhythmically growing infection - as at some mass religious rituals, carnivals, rock music concerts, etc.;

4 ) crowd acting - contains subspecies:

a) an aggressive crowd - united by blind hatred for a certain object (lynching, beating of religious, political opponents, etc.);

With ) the crowd is acquisitive - entering into an unordered direct conflict for the possession of certain values ​​\u200b\u200b(money, places in outgoing transport, etc.);

d ) a rebel crowd - where people are connected by a common just indignation at the actions of the authorities; it often forms the basis of revolutionary upheavals, and the timely introduction of an organizing principle into it is capable of elevating spontaneous mass action to a conscious action of political struggle.

The absence of clear goals, the absence or diffuseness of the structure give rise to practically the most important property of the crowd - its easy convertibility from one species (subspecies) to another. Such transformations are often spontaneous, but knowledge of their laws and mechanisms allows one to deliberately manipulate the behavior of the crowd for adventurous purposes, or to consciously prevent and stop its dangerous actions.

Dictionary of practical psychologist. - M.: AST, Harvest. S. Yu. Golovin. 1998 .

Crowd

   CROWD (With. 593)

The first capital works, which can be called socio-psychological, appeared at the turn of the 20th - 20th centuries. First of all, they should include the work of the French psychologist, sociologist and historian Gustave Lebon "Psychology of the Crowd" (1895; in 1898 translated into Russian under the title "Psychology of Peoples and Masses", new edition - St. Petersburg, 1995), and also the works of his compatriot Gabriel Tarde, devoted to the psychology of social relations. To this day, these books are read with constant interest, which cannot be said about the cumbersome "Psychology of Peoples" by Wilhelm Wundt. In these books, as well as in "Social Psychology" by W. McDougall (which is recognized by many as the first proper socio-psychological work), ideas were developed concerning the psychology of large groups - "peoples and masses". In socio-psychological research, this problem subsequently receded into the background, although remarkable works on the psychology of large groups appeared later. The “Psychology of the Masses and Fascism” by W. Reich (1933; Russian translation - 1997), as well as the “Age of Crowds” by S. Moskovichi (1981; Russian translation - 1996) can be considered as brilliant examples, which, by the way, is largely based on to the performances of Lebon and Tarde. Moscovici concretizes the psychology of the masses in a whole system of ideas, among which the following are especially significant: Psychologically, a crowd is not a cluster of people in one place, but a human aggregate that has a mental community.

1. The individual exists consciously, and the mass, the crowd - unconsciously, since consciousness is individual, and the unconscious is collective.

2. Crowds are conservative despite their revolutionary mode of action. They end up restoring what they first overthrew, because for them, as for all those in a state of hypnosis, the past is much more significant than the present.

3. The masses, the crowds need the support of the leader, who captivates them with his hypnotizing authority, and not with the arguments of reason and not with submission to force.

4. Propaganda (or) have an irrational basis. This overcomes the obstacles that stand in the way of action. Since in most cases our actions are the result of beliefs, a critical mind, lack of conviction and passion interfere with actions. Such interference can be eliminated by hypnotic, propagandistic suggestion, and therefore propaganda addressed to the masses must use an energetic and figurative language of allegories with simple and imperative formulations.

5. In order to control the masses (party, class, nation, etc.), politics must be based on some higher idea (revolution, Motherland, etc.), which is introduced and nurtured in the minds of people. As a result of such suggestion, it turns into collective images and actions.

Summarizing all these important ideas of mass psychology coming from Le Bon, Moscovici emphasizes that they express certain ideas about human nature - hidden while we are alone, and declaring themselves when we are together. In other words, the fundamental fact is this: “Taken individually, each of us is ultimately intelligent; taken together, in a crowd, during a political rally, even in a circle of friends, we are all ready for the latest folly. Moreover, the crowd, the mass is understood as a social animal that has broken the chain, as an indomitable and blind force that is able to overcome any obstacles, move mountains or destroy the creations of centuries. For Moscovici, it is very important that the differences between people are erased in the crowd and people splash out their passions and dreams in often cruel actions - from base to heroic and romantic, from frenzied delight to martyrdom. Such masses play a particularly important role precisely in the 20th century (as a result of industrialization, urbanization, etc.). Therefore, according to Moscovici, the psychology of the masses, along with political economy, is one of the two sciences about man, the ideas of which made up history, since they specifically pointed to the main events of our era - to “massification”, or “massovization”.

Thus, (the crowd) is based primarily on the sharp opposition of the individual outside the crowd to him, who is in the crowd. Only in the second case does collectivity exist (a collective soul, in Le Bon's terminology) or even sociality.

A century ago, in his Psychology of Crowds, Le Bon wrote: “The main characteristic feature of our era is precisely the replacement of the conscious activity of individuals by the unconscious activity of the crowd”. The latter is almost exclusively controlled by the unconscious, that is, according to Le Bon, its actions are subject to the influence of the spinal cord rather than the brain.

The cited conclusion was made even before the emergence and development of Freud's psychoanalysis, which revealed the enormous role of the unconscious in the life of any "separately taken" human individual, and also in the life of society, civilization, crowds, etc. This means that, according to the general criterion of the unconscious, it is hardly possible to oppose each other the individual and the crowd. The same difficulty persists when such an opposition is carried out according to the criterion of sociality (if the latter is attributed only to the crowd, and not to an individual human individual).

However, it must be taken into account that in the psychology of the masses the crowd is understood very broadly. This is not only a spontaneous, unorganized accumulation of people, but also a structured, more or less organized association of individuals. For example, Le Bon has already proposed the following classification of crowds, the starting point of which is a "simple gathering" of people. First of all, it's a crowd heterogeneous: a) anonymous (street, etc.); b) non-anonymous (trial by jury, parliamentary meetings, etc.). And secondly, the crowd uniform: a) sects (political, religious, etc.); b) castes (military, workers, clergy, etc.); c) classes (bourgeoisie, peasantry, etc.). And according to Tarde, in addition to anarchic, amorphous, natural, etc. crowds, there are also organized, disciplined, artificial crowds (for example, political parties, state structures, organizations such as churches, armies, etc.). It was the artificial crowds that subsequently attracted the greatest attention of Z. Freud.

Analyzing these and other "transformed" forms of the crowd in depth, Muscovites, following Tarde, emphasize one more and, perhaps, the most significant transformation of the crowd ... into the public. If initially a crowd is an accumulation of people in one closed space at the same time, then the public is a scattered crowd. Thanks to the means of mass communication, there is no longer a need to organize meetings of people who would inform each other. These means penetrate into every house and turn every person into a member of a new mass. Millions of such people are part of a new type of crowd. Remaining each at home, newspaper readers, radio listeners, TV viewers, users of electronic networks exist all together as a specific community of people, as a special kind of crowd.

In the field of psychoanalysis, the problems of large groups were elucidated in Freud's later works, primarily in the book Psychology of the Masses and the Analysis of the Human Self. In describing group behavior and, above all, intergroup aggression, Freud borrowed a lot from Le Bon and McDougall. Freely admitting his own gaps in the empirical study of the problem, Freud readily accepted the main ideas of both authors regarding the aggressive aspects of crowd behavior, but gave them a complete psychological, more precisely, psychoanalytic interpretation. In Le Bon's work, Freud was especially impressed by the "brilliantly executed picture" of how, under the influence of the crowd, individuals discover their basic instinctive nature, how unconscious impulses suppressed for the time being are manifested in the crowd, how a thin layer of civilized behavior is torn apart and individuals demonstrate their true, barbaric and primitive beginning . At the same time, the starting point (and then the fundamental conclusion) of Freud's analysis of interpersonal relations and the psychology of the masses was his position that in the study of various phenomena of culture and psychology of groups, no patterns are found that differ from those that are revealed in the study of the individual.

Turning to the study of various social communities, Freud specifically identified two of their supporting types: the crowd (an unorganized conglomerate, a gathering of people) and the mass (a crowd organized in a special way, in which there is some commonality of individuals with each other, expressed in their common interest in some object, homogeneous feelings and the ability to influence each other). Freud considered the presence in the community of a libidinal attachment to the leader (leader) and the same attachment between the individuals that make it up as an essential distinguishing feature of the mass. At the same time, it was assumed that just such a community is a "psychological mass". Being aware of the existence of various masses and even distinguishing two main types of them: natural masses (self-organizing) and artificial masses (formed and existing with some external violence), Freud at the same time noted the similarity between the mass and the primitive horde and proposed an understanding of the mass as continuation and, in a certain sense, re-creation of the primitive horde.

Exploring the differences and identity of the masses and the horde, he came to the conclusion that conscious individuality is suppressed in them, the thoughts and feelings of people acquire a certain uniformity and are oriented in the same directions, and in general they are dominated by collective motives with a high degree of unconsciousness, impulsiveness and efficiency. Insisting on the existence of a libidinal structure and constitution of the mass, Freud especially noted the role of attachment to the leader, with the disappearance of which the mass disintegrates.

In the psychoanalytic psychology of groups, the foundations of which were laid by Z. Freud himself, a certain attention is paid to the role of various negative feelings and factors in the social relations of people. In particular, Freud came to the conclusion that, for example, hatred towards some object can also unite individuals, like positive feelings, and envy can act as a source of ideas of equality and other pseudo-humanistic ideals.

Popular psychological encyclopedia. - M.: Eksmo. S.S. Stepanov. 2005 .

Crowd

In addition to the obvious definition (large gathering of people), the term has a special meaning in the study of youth. Here he denotes a large, loosely organized group that can give the adolescent a sense of identity based on the apereotype of the group before he has developed a sense of his own ideation.

Psychology. AND I. Dictionary-reference book / Per. from English. K. S. Tkachenko. - M.: FAIR-PRESS. Mike Cordwell. 2000 .

See what "crowd" is in other dictionaries:

Crowd- in China, the Crowd (other Greek ... Wikipedia

crowd- n., f., use. very often Morphology: (no) what? crowds, why? crowd, (see) what? crowd what? crowd, about what? about the crowd; pl. what? crowds, (no) what? crowds, why? crowds, (see) what? crowds, what? crowds about what? about crowds 1. A crowd is a large ... Dictionary of Dmitriev

a large group of people largely devoid of structure, united by an emotional mood or an object of attention, but at the same time, as a rule, not united by clearly understood common intentions and plans, and even more so by a single goal and clear ideas of how it can be achieved. In modern psychology of large groups, there is the following, in fact, generally accepted classification - a typology of various types of crowds as a specific community of people: occasional, conventional, expressive, acting. If we talk about an occasional crowd, then the decisive factor in the formation of this type of community is a certain “opportunity”, a case in connection with which people come together in the logic of outside observers, united by an unexpected reason for curiosity, interest and desire to learn about some social phenomenon. more than those who are beyond the line of eyewitnesses of the events know. As for the conventional crowd, this type of community arises in connection with some information about some upcoming mass event (for example, a key football match, a pre-announced concert, etc.). In fact, this community, for a short time of its existence, implements its life activity according to the scheme of a rather unsettled convention regarding equally rigidly undefined norms of behavior, due to the very general ideas about the rules according to which it is customary to behave for people who are participants in events that have a specific social specificity. Under the expressive crowd, they traditionally imagine such a large group, which is characterized by the fact that it shows a common, in fact, a single attitude towards some event, phenomenon, and at the peak of expression of this attitude turns into an ecstatic crowd, that is, a crowd that is in a state of mass ecstasy (such a state often occurs in conditions of rhythmically supported excitement - concerts, for example, by "hard rock" ensembles, mass religious rituals, mass sessions of supposedly healing hypnosis, etc.). Finally, there is the active crowd, the distinctive feature of which is some kind of joint action, a kind of active and at the same time unbridled impulse, a common activity clearly shown by its members. At the same time, those researchers who attempted to give a meaningfully exhaustive typology of various types of crowds emphasized that “the acting crowd ... in turn, includes the following subspecies - a) an aggressive crowd united by blind hatred for some object (lynching, beating of religious , political opponents, etc. d.); b) a panicked crowd spontaneously fleeing from a real or imagined source of danger; c) an acquisitive crowd entering into an unordered direct conflict for the possession of any valuables (money, places in the outgoing transport, etc.); d) an insurgent crowd, in which people are bound by a common just indignation at the actions of the authorities, it often constitutes an attribute of revolutionary upheavals, and the timely introduction of an organizing principle into it can elevate a spontaneous mass uprising to a conscious act of political struggle ”(A. P. Nazaretyan, Yu. A . Shirkovin). In addition to the fact that, in fact, the lack of structure of such a type of community as a crowd, and, as a rule, a sufficient blurring of the initial goals of such an association of people, lead to an easy change in the types of crowds, it is impossible not to notice that the above and at the same time practically the generally accepted classification of crowd types is obviously imperfect. First of all, such a conclusion is based on the fact that there is no single classification basis here, and therefore, for example, a conventional and acting crowd can be both an expressive crowd, and, say, an occasional crowd can be a panic crowd at the same time (one of the varieties of the acting crowd). ) etc.

The French researcher G. Lebon identified a number of patterns that are characteristic of almost any crowd and determine the behavior of its members.

First of all, the effect of depersonalization and weakening of ego control is clearly observed in the crowd: “... whatever the individuals that make it up, whatever their lifestyle, occupation, their character or mind, their transformation into a crowd is enough to so that they form a kind of collective soul that makes them feel, think and act completely differently than each of them individually would think, act and feel. ...

It is easy to see how an isolated individual differs from an individual in a crowd, but it is much more difficult to determine the reasons for this difference. In order to at least somewhat explain these reasons to ourselves, we must recall one of the provisions of modern psychology, namely, that the phenomena of the unconscious play an outstanding role not only in organic life, but also in the functions of the mind. Our conscious actions flow from the substratum of the unconscious, which is created especially by the influences of heredity. In this substratum there are innumerable hereditary remnants that constitute the actual souls of the race. ...

These general qualities of character, controlled by the unconscious and existing almost equally in the majority of the normal individuals of the race, join together in the crowd. In the collective soul, the intellectual faculties of the individuals, and consequently their individuality, disappear; ...and unconscious qualities take over.

It is precisely this combination of mediocre qualities in a crowd that explains to us why a crowd can never perform actions that require a lofty mind. Decisions concerning common interests taken by an assembly of even famous people in the field of various specialties, after all, differ little from the decisions taken by an assembly of fools, since in both cases not any outstanding qualities are combined, but only ordinary ones found in everyone. In a crowd, only stupidity can accumulate, not intelligence.

Despite the fact that G. Le Bon interprets the problem of the individual and collective unconscious in a very simplified way and his views are strongly influenced by biological determinism, in general, his conclusions about both the almost inevitable depersonalization and depersonalization of the individual in the crowd, and the destructiveness of the crowd as a whole are completely fair. Moreover, as the practice of organizational psychology shows, in particular, even highly structured large groups of professionals, strictly speaking, not a crowd, often turn out to be completely ineffective in solving problems that require a creative and innovative approach. It is no coincidence that the techniques of practical socio-psychological work with such communities, as a rule, are based on their defragmentation according to one principle or another, followed by the search for a solution in small groups formed in this way.

G. Le Bon also clearly identified a number of socio-psychological mechanisms that mediate the behavior of an individual in a crowd: “The appearance of these new special features that are characteristic of a crowd and, moreover, not found in individual individuals that make up it, is due to various reasons. The first of these is that the individual in a crowd acquires, by virtue of sheer numbers, a consciousness of irresistible force, and this consciousness permits him to yield to instincts which he never gives free rein to when he is alone. In a crowd, he is less inclined to curb these instincts, because the crowd is anonymous and does not bear responsibility. In fact, we are talking about deindividualization, which in modern social psychology is usually understood as the loss of fear before an external assessment and, at a minimum, a decrease in the level of self-consciousness. Numerous studies have shown that the degree of deindividuation is strongly correlated with anonymity, due in part to the size of the crowd. So, for example, “after analyzing 21 cases where someone threatened to jump off a skyscraper or bridge in the presence of a crowd, Leon Mann found that when the crowd was small and lit by daylight, as a rule, attempts to provoke suicide were not made. But when the size of the crowd or the darkness of the night ensured anonymity, people usually teased the suicide by mocking him in every possible way. Brian Mullen reports similar effects in vigilante gangs: the larger the gang, the more its members lose their sense of self-awareness and the more readily agree to commit atrocities such as burning, mauling or dismembering the victim. For each of the examples given ... it is characteristic that the fear of evaluation drops sharply. Since “everyone did this,” they explain their behavior by the current situation, and not by their own free choice.

The second reason that G. Lebon points out is “contagiousness or infection - also contributes to the formation of special properties in the crowd and determines their direction ... In the crowd, every feeling, every action is contagious, and, moreover, to such an extent that the individual very easily brings sacrifice their personal interests to the collective interest. In modern social psychology, social infection is understood as "... the process of transferring an emotional state from one individual to another at the psycho-physiological level of contact, in addition to or in addition to semantic interaction itself." At the same time, “...infection often leads to the disintegration of formal and informal normative-role structures and the degeneration of an organized interacting group into one or another type of crowd”3. A classic example of this kind is the transformation into a crowd under the influence of panic of such a tightly organized group as a military unit. The mechanism of infection is actively used in the framework of the so-called "dirty political technologies" during mass events, when groups of dummy provocateurs deliberately push the crowd to take certain actions, from chanting certain slogans to mass pogroms.

The third, most important, from the point of view of G. Le Bon, the reason, “... causing the appearance in individuals in a crowd of such special properties that may not be found in them in an isolated position, is susceptibility to suggestion. ... He is no longer aware of his actions, and, as in a hypnotized person, some abilities disappear, while others reach an extreme degree of tension. Under the influence of suggestion, such a subject will perform certain actions with uncontrollable swiftness; in the crowd, this irresistible impetuosity manifests itself with even greater force, since the influence of suggestion, the same for all, increases through reciprocity. This effect "in its purest form" is often observed and purposefully used in the practice of religious sects, all kinds of "healers", "miracle workers", "psychics", etc.

G. Lebon especially emphasized the inclination towards intolerance and authoritarianism characteristic of the crowd. From his point of view, “only simple and extreme feelings are known to the crowd; any opinion, idea or belief inspired by it, the crowd accepts or rejects entirely and treats them either as absolute truths, or as equally absolute errors. ... The crowd expresses the same authoritarianism in its judgments as it does intolerance. The individual can bear contradiction and contestation, but the crowd never bears them. In public meetings, the slightest objection from any speaker immediately provokes furious cries and violent curses in the crowd, followed by actions and expulsion of the speaker, if he insists on his own. Although G. Lebon uses the word "authority", it is quite obvious that in psychological terms, we are talking about authoritarianism.

It should be added to this that, for all its inherent unpredictability, the crowd, due to all the above features, is inclined almost exclusively to destructive and destructive actions. As you know, the reason for the riots and pogroms that took place in the center of Moscow in the summer of 2002 was the loss of the Russian team in a match with the Japanese team at the World Cup. However, it is hard to imagine that with a favorable outcome of this match for the Russian team, a drunken crowd of shaven-headed “patriots” would arrange a merry carnival to celebrate, after which they would peacefully go home. It can almost certainly be argued that riots would have taken place anyway, although perhaps not in such a militant form. The history of various eras and societies convincingly testifies that any attempts to flirt with the crowd and use it to achieve political, ideological and other goals almost inevitably lead to tragic and often irreversible consequences. Bringing this idea to the consciousness of the subjects of social management at all levels is the direct professional duty of a practical social psychologist.

At the same time, since a crowd of one type or another is an objective factor in the life of modern society, the problems of interaction with it and influencing it in no way can be ignored in socio-psychological practice.

A practical social psychologist who is professionally focused on working with the crowd, firstly, must psychologically correctly determine the type of the crowd, its orientation, the degree of activity, potential or already nominated leaders, and secondly, must own and be able to implement the most effective technologies for constructive manipulation in work with spontaneously emerging large communities of people.

the main subject of spontaneous behavior; contact, outwardly unorganized community, characterized by a high degree of conformity of its constituent individuals, acting extremely emotionally and unanimously. Types of crowd: 1) casual, 2) expressive, 3) "conventional", 4) acting crowd. (D.V. Olshansky, p.426)