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. This research may help to explain why so many riots occur in prison and at sporting events. In these situations, there is already a heightened sense of group solidarity -- everyone is wearing the same thing either a jumpsuit or team colors and has the same goal in the case of prisoners, freedom or better living conditions in the jail might be the goal, while sports fans are obviously hoping for a win or disappointed in a loss.
When you consider the fact that alcohol is consumed at sports events, the atmosphere seems even more ripe for a mob to become disruptive. The longer a riot continues, however, the harder it may be to find people who remember why everyone assembled in the first place.
While participants feel their actions are justified, they may not be able to articulate the specific act that motivated the riot, and often as a result, damage is done to property or people that can't even be tied to the riot's trigger. Some people will show up simply to loot the damaged businesses and homes. Many of the victims of riot violence did nothing to deserve their fate other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A simple web search will reveal that people have begun discussing the possibility that many in our society are now addicted to likes.
By extension, our desire to be accepted can impact our ability to be objective in the face of online bullying. In fact, it may contribute to our willingness to join the mob. This collection of naysayers may be completely well-intentioned, but could be making decisions and forming opinions based on irrational thought. Even if people see social media bullying unfolding, they may not step in.
The term bystander effect was coined following the horrific murder of Kitty Genovese in New York City. Many people heard the young woman being stabbed to death, but no one called the police. When people have formed an opinion about something, it can be very hard for them to change their minds. Our own personal biases, feelings and even life circumstances can have a major impact on how we process information. For example, we come in contact with sick people all the time and could be infected with something before symptoms appear.
Evidence now shows that some of the people who participated in the Capitol insurrection traveled to Washington, D. Some individuals, though, must have surely made the trip to D. It was entirely despicable, yet potentially preventable, as there were warnings beforehand that there could have been violence and the response by the federal government—or the lack thereof in terms of preparation and public safety allocation—was to do nothing.
For the latter group, they are probably upset that their more positive protest will go unheard and unseen. In a sense then, the peaceful protesters were hijacked by the group who had more nefarious, destructive intentions. Law enforcement officers have one job, and that is to keep the peace and keep people safe while enforcing the law. In some other ways, they may have conflicting views—as they may agree with the protesters and so have positive sentiments toward them—but still may have to prevent some of their actions.
What we saw in Washington, D. So, crowd behavior is one thing, but excessive crowds with destructive behavior needs to be met with much more security than what was seen at the Capitol.
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