“Herd instinct. Why do people follow the lead of others. " What is herd instinct Herd instinct in humans definition

Shusharina Vitalina

Download:

Preview:

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Municipal educational autonomous institution

secondary school number 1

Research work

THE HERD INSTINCT AND ITS ROLE IN THE SOCIALIZATION OF ADOLESCENTS

Work completed:

Shusharina Vitalina, student 9A

Class

Head: Koz'yakova T.A.,

History and Social Science Teacher

Raichikhinsk

2018 year

Introduction …………………………………………………………………
Main part………………………………………………………….
Definition of the concepts "instinct", "herd instinct" …………
"Auto sync" or "Law of 5 percent" ……………….
Practical part ……………………………………………………
How herd feelings affect adolescents and young adults. Social experiment
Reasons for the manifestation of herd behavior in adolescents ………………….
Socialization of adolescents …………………………………………
How much are you in the “herd”? (diagnostics)……………………….
Conclusion…………………………………………………………….
Output……………………………………………………………….
Bibliography…………………………………………………… Applications
Appendix 1. Cards for conducting an experiment to determine Feelings of the herd in adolescents ………………………… ..
Appendix 2. Questionnaire “How strong is the herd instinct in you?” …… Appendix 3. Diagnostic results among students 8-10th Classes ……………………………………………………… Appendix 4. Percentage on the level of herd instinct Among students in grades 8-10 ……………………………. Appendix 5. Distribution among students by grade by level Herd instinct ………………………………………….	16-17

1. INTRODUCTION

In October 2010, a plane crashed in Africa, which was flying from the capital of the Congo, Kinshasa, to the town of Bandundu. The crash occurred during the landing approach. In this case, twenty passengers and two pilots were killed. Only one passenger survived and was immediately taken to the hospital. The cause of the crash remained a mystery, since the plane was modern, technically sound, and the pilots had the necessary qualifications. However, after interviewing the surviving passenger, the picture became clear. What he said shocked everyone. One of the passengers hid a crocodile in a bag and secretly carried it into the cabin. When the plane was approaching for landing, the crocodile somehow got out of the bag. The flight attendant ran into the cockpit in panic, the passengers also panicked and ran after her. The aircraft's center of gravity shifted to the nose, and it began to fall. The pilots asked the passengers to return to their seats, but it was too late. The plane went into a tailspin and hit the ground at full speed. And the crocodile survived because it was in the rear of the plane.

Do you think the plane crashed because of a crocodile? No, it was due to panic. In fact, the crocodile was small and in the worst case could bite someone, but no one thought about it. Everyone copied the actions of others, guided by the rule: everyone runs - that means you need to run, succumbing to the so-called herd instinct.

Everyone knows that people have a kind of “herd instinct”. This phenomenon covers many aspects of human life. Leading positions are taken by religion, politics and advertising. Especially strong "herd instinct" is manifested in adolescence. What is the reason for this, why is the crowd always able to influence the personality and destroy the individual? How does this effect work? I tried to find answers to these questions in my work.

The object of my research - herd instinct and its manifestations.

Research objectives:

Find out how the herd instinct affects the personality formation and socialization of a modern teenager;

Show that the herd instinct can and should be fought;

Identify available ways to deal with it.

Tasks:

1. Study and analyze scientific data and data from Internet resources on socialization and herd instinct.

2. To carry out diagnostics among pupils of grades 8-10 to determine the level of their herd instinct formation.

3. Process the results and arrange them in the form of diagrams and comparative tables.

4. Experimentally and practically prove the relevance of the auto synchronization effect or the "5 percent" law.

Research methods:

Search and sociological survey, experimental method.

Hypothesis:

The herd instinct accompanies a person throughout his life. But to fight against herd instinct and suggestibility is necessary for the development of a unique set of individual personality traits, and, consequently, a healthy society.

Scientific noveltyThis work consists in the fact that I studied the herd instinct using the example of a closed society and concluded that the problems with the socialization of adolescents are global for our society and they should be solved urgently.

Practical significance:the data of this study can be used in social studies lessons and can help high school students think about the advantages of their individuality and successful socialization.

1. MAIN PART

Try to answer the question: Do you consider yourself independent from anything? If yes, then I can disappoint you, your addiction is already laid down at the level of instincts.

2.1. Definition of the concepts "instinct", "herd instinct"

Instinct - This is a set of innate tendencies and aspirations, expressed in the form of complex automatic behavior.

Herd instinct- the need observed in many animal species to live in large structured groups (herd, flock, horde).

According to W. Trotter (English social psychologist and surgeon) - a person's desire to join certain groups and social groups, their leaders and imitate their behavior.

1. "Auto sync" or the 5 percent law

If in a peacefully grazing herd of horses, frighten 5% of the individuals and “let them run away,” then the rest of the herd will scatter; even if 5% of fireflies accidentally flare up simultaneously, then there will be a flash of the whole meadow. This feature also manifests itself in humans.

In order to avoid accusations of hidden advertising, I will give an example without references to the manufacturer and the brand. One well-known company was preparing to "throw" a new smartphone on sale. When the commercials died down, the exact date of the appearance of the novelty on the shelves was named. And on that day, people left their homes and saw huge queues at the mobile phone shops. When asked what, in fact, they were going to sell, people in line twirled their fingers at their temples. "Wow! Smartphone X, of course! " On the same day, smartphones were swept off the shelves clean. The people who formed the line were not buyers, but hired "advertising stands". Their task was simple: to stand in line and say what they are selling. The rest remained with the herd instinct. And it worked perfectly.

Now let's go back to the opening episode of the plane crash in Congo. Of the twenty-nine people on board the plane, only one passenger survived. The rest succumbed to panic and died.

All these actions can be explained by the conceptauto sync... This phenomenon was first noticed in ancient Egypt.The bottom line is this - if in some community 5% of percent perform a certain action at the same time, the rest of the majority begins to repeat.(The theory can also be calledDOTU - General enough control theory).

In this case, the herd instinct is automatically triggered, and on a subconscious level, a person begins to do what 5% of the demonstrators do. Even if we did not like the performance of any speaker or artist, we automatically applaud them because of the applause from the audience. This phenomenon covers many aspects of human life.

1. PRACTICAL PART

1. How herding affects adolescents and young adults

To find out how the sense of herdness affects them, I conducted a social experiment with students in grades 9-10.

I invited 5 teenagers to the classroom and showed them two cards. The first card has three lines of different lengths - line 1, line 2 and line 3, on the second card there is one line. (Appendix No. 1). The guys were asked to namethe number of the longest line. However, one of the students did not know that the others had been warned in advance and called the wrong line number. That is, they were asked to answer incorrectly. As a result, the subject, yielding to the opinion of the crowd, also named the number incorrectly.

There is nothing unusual in the behavior of this young man: out of 5 young people who took this test, three answered incorrectly. They repeated over and over what their comrades said. They just didn't have the courage to say, “The band is wrong. I can't explain why, but all these guys are confused. " Only two people found the strength and opposed the group.

This is a prime example of what peer pressure does to insecure people, which most teenagers are.

This experiment revealed another interesting quality. If at least one of the warned students named the line correctly, the likelihood that the examined student will do what he considers correct would increase significantly. This would mean that he has a friend who will stand on his side in spite of the team. Then he himself would also have added courage. But when a teenager is all alone, it is very difficult for him to defend his opinion. This raises many questions and problems. Both the children themselves and the "adult" parents. It is necessary for everyone to understand that people themselves develop the herd instinct, obeying the opinion of the crowd. This often applies not only to children, but also to "adult" parents.

Why is the pressure of majority opinion so powerful during growing up? Why are teenagers so afraid of being rejected by the collective? Why do they do what their peers tell them? Why is it difficult for them to be independent?

1. Reasons for the manifestation of herd in adolescents

In adolescence, we often feel insecure, we do not like ourselves, we are very afraid of ridicule and the fact that our friends will reject us. Our problems seem to us already too serious to be aggravated by disagreement with the majority. And we dress like everyone else, talk like everyone else, and all our ideas become like everyone else's. We are afraid to raise our hand when we know the correct answer, or to express our own opinion. We try to be as "safe" as possible.

All of these behaviors have something in common.: They are generated by a sense of insecurity. I'm talking about the fear of being rejected by the collective, the fear of not getting an invitation to a party, the fear of not liking, failing ... Great pressure drives us into identical cells and turns us from human beings into robots.

We all know, that the bad habits of adolescents are a serious problem in modern society. Alcoholism, tobacco smoking, drug addiction most often occur when a non-smoker and non-drinker lacks the strength and will to tell friends who offer to try it for the first time, "No!" or "No way!" And many do this, knowing exactly what disastrous consequences can be. "As everybody!" - which later many regret.

Let's remember a feature film director Rolana Bykova "Scarecrow" about the sixth grader Lena Bessoltseva. The guys decided to skip class and go tocinema ... As punishment for absenteeism, the children are canceled a trip to Moscow during the autumn holidays, for which everyone has been preparing for a very long time and anxiously. The guys decide to find and punish the culprit, and Lena takes the blame upon herself, as a result of which she becomes an outcast. All students boycott her, mock her at every opportunity and even severely beat her several times. This is a vivid example of the manifestation of herd behavior among adolescents.

In general, we can conclude that a herd person, and even more so in adolescence or early adolescence, is possessed by two subconscious fears: to be expelled from the herd or to be the last in the herd.

1. Socialization of adolescents

The socialization of adolescents is one of the most important issues of our time. It is in adolescence that there is a desire to distinguish oneself from others, there is a critical attitude towards society, norms of behavior, that is, it enters into its rightsstage of individualization, self-determination "The world, and I" and this stage is characterized as intermediate socialization, since in the character and worldview of a teenager is still very unstable.

"With whom you are?" - this is the most important question for a teenager. The fact that you can be on your own, in the mind of a teenager who is still powerfully controlled by the herd instinct, does not fit. Another, then you are our enemy. And then the conclusion comes: wear cool clothes, chew cool gum, have a phone like everyone else, and you will be quite successful in this society, the main thing is to consume everything that the members of this collective are. This is most clearly manifested in adolescence, when socialization is carried out in communication and activity. In this age period, the basics of building relationships with society are comprehended and often adolescents communicate only with those who share their opinions and hobbies. It is necessary to emphasize the enormous importance of the process of education both in the family and in school in the struggle against the formation of the herd instinct. It is this purposeful process of personality formation in certain social conditions that will help adolescents assimilate successful social experience, acquire personal qualities necessary for further self-realization in life. It is upbringing that creates a platform for the formation of stable personality traits from 18 to 25 years old, when stable conceptual socialization comes into its own.

Socialization is the assimilation of various social roles, as well as the assimilation of ethical and cultural values ​​and norms, which begins in early childhood and continues into old age. The success of the socialization process depends on three main factors:

1. Understanding what the environment expects from you in accordance with the rules of society.

2. Changes in behavior in response to these expectations.

3. Conformity, i.e. desire and desire to follow social norms and rules.

Already in the very term "conformism" I noticed a similarity with the herd instinct. Does this mean that the one who will follow all its rules and will not try to disrupt the usual course of things will more successfully enter society?

1. How much are you in the "herd?"

The question arises: "It turns out that the one who has the most highly developed herd instinct is the best socialized person?"

In order to find out, I carried out a diagnosis: how strong the herd instinct is in adolescence and early adolescence, namely in students of grades 8-10. (Appendix No. 2, 3)

My research has shown that herd instinct at the normal (average) level showed only 21,1% of the students surveyed. (Appendix No. 4). These people in most cases follow the crowd (leaders), but if this strongly contradicts their desires and principles, then they can show individuality..

These are the future law-abiding and prosperous members of society. These teenagers will become the middle class in the future and will lead a calm and measured life.

It should be noted that dependence on someone else's opinion is noticeably weakening in high school:40% in 8th grade and 16.7% in 10th grade.(Appendix No. 5). This can be explained by different stages of socialization: for example,Grade 8 is the stage of individualization, Grade 9, which is in the reformation period -integration stage, and 10th grade - the stage of adaptation in a new team. It is in the 9th grade that adolescents have courage, qualities appear that distinguish them from the crowd, since the time comes to show themselves. At this moment, the adolescents I surveyed show individual personality traits.

In the 9th grade, most people are ready to follow the team, i.e. conformists. They are in a close-knit team, within which a friendly atmosphere prevails. Therefore, people with a strong herd instinct do not see the point in isolating themselves from others, or trying to prove themselves. They have integrated successfully.

But at the same time, grades 9 and 10 show the same results of the manifestation of a strong herd instinct at the time of selection.

It should be emphasized that in the 10th grade there are most people with a weak herd instinct. And this is due to the fact that in a new environment, everyone is kept apart. It is still difficult for them to identify the leaders and the “herd”.

In general, the socialization that takes place in high school is very important. During this period of life, a person decides many significant issues that will determine his fate in the future. It is now becoming clear who will be able to get settled in life, and who will never take their place in society.

As a result, the survey showed that most adolescents have a herd instinct at an average level, which means they successfully socialize, find a normal job, start a family and become prosperous members of society.

But those who fell into the percentage of people with a strong herd instinct (32.4%) (Appendix No. 5) are in the “risk zone”. They are influenced most of all, and not only positive, but also negative. These teenagers are already following the team, absolutely not thinking about themselves, their safety, their interests. At the same time, they can be active, constantly in the know, fashionable, but only to please someone. These people are great consumers, and they make most of their profits from them. Moreover, they consume not what they need, but what is presented as a product that helps maintain their social status.

But both the first and second groups of people will do what everyone else does, what everyone else does, in order to, if not raise, then at least maintain their social status. After all, a modern teenager is extremely dependent on public opinion.

It should be noted that modern psychology offersmany ways to combat herd instinct* . Each person can correct it, mastering certain knowledge:

It is necessary to maintain calmness and peace of mind in any life situation. If we are aroused or emotionally overexcited, we are a target for manipulators. Calm is the main weapon against them;

Emotive (sensitive) and exalted characters have a high level of herd instinct. It is necessary to clearly understand the strengths and weaknesses of your personality and work on them;

Impulsivity is the engine of the herd instinct. This personality quality appears even before a person has time to think about his actions and which he very much regrets in the future. Put "restraints" on such actions;

Constant analysis of your behavior will allow you to include a reasonable (intellectual) level of your behavior, will give you freedom of choice, and, therefore, will allow you to consciously control the course of your life;

You don't have to be a rebel and go against the crowd. But how important it is to make people understand that you have a clear life position and personal preferences;

You need to love yourself, respect yourself, with dignity, and maybe as a dose of medicine, take criticism from others. Remember: "Don't beat a dead dog." If you are criticized, then you are significant;

Work constantly on your self-esteem, its adequacy;

Do interesting things;

Include humor! It is this quality that makes a person interesting and the “soul of the company”;

Communicate with different people, respect them and their opinions, even if you completely disagree with them;

Put your interests, the interests of your family above all else, without turning it into egocentrism.

This behavior will prevent the herd instinct from getting over you in controlling your behavior.

Do not place too high demands on the teenager, either at home or at school;

Give everyone enough attention;

Always have information about your child's environment;

Do not demand from him to be the first in everything, this often leads to nervous breakdowns;

Respect the personality of your child or student, teach him this by your own example;

Teach a teenager to regulate his behavior, to exclude aggression in communication, since it is she who will complicate his whole future life with conflicts.

All this will allow the child in adolescence to form the correct behavioral reactions and will not allow him to go to the extreme variants of the norm.

This will help him in the process of socialization to make the right choice, forming his own "I - concept."

1. CONCLUSION

In fact, a huge moral pressure from society is exerted on the still forming and fragile psyche of adolescents. As a result, their consciousness, thoughts and actions are 90% determined by the thoughts and actions of other people, and they prefer to be like everyone else, follow everyone, and not have their own clear position in life and not defend their interests.

1. Output

In the course of my work, I found out that the herd instinct continuously accompanies adolescents on a given segment of their life path. We are guided by it in our actions and desires, actions and thoughts.

But, knowing this amazing world, gaining a variety of knowledge, analyzing literally an avalanche-like stream of information about a person at different age periods of his life, problems that arise, including in adolescence, we come to the conclusion that there are no unsolvable problems, especially, when there is a family, experienced school mentors.THE CHOICE IS ALWAYS!

Now we are bye we are afraid to do it, but we are already ready to choose, taking into account all the nuances indicated in this work!

After all, soon we will become full-fledged members of society. We already understand that we will choose not just things or products, we will choose our future and the future of our country!

To paraphrase a well-known political slogan, I want to finish my work by addressing adolescent students with the words: “Choose the right one or you’ll lose!”

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. The herd feeling -www.pulsar.net .
2. N.Ferstner. Herd feeling.www.paeoffice.ru .
3. Dmitry Galamoga. What is herd feeling. -www.TopAuthor.ru .
4. George Akerlof and Robert Schiller. The herd or 5 percent law.
5. Dmitry Zhilin. "Crowd syndrome or herd feeling." www.Tatiana Korchma.rf.
6. Accident in Congo in Bandundu. www. Ru.wikipedia.org.

Annex 1

Fig. 1 Cards for an experiment to determine the sense of herdiness in adolescents

Appendix 2

"How strong is the herd instinct in you?"

A) yes B) no

2. Everyone is running, will you run?

A) yes

B) no, I will stand in my place

C) I'll try to find out what's going on

3. You bought a new, expensive, fancy phone. Why?

A) because many people have such a phone and it is cool

B) it has a lot of functions

C) the old one broke

4. You will stop wearing clothes if a few people you know laugh at

Her?

C) I will wear this thing less often

5. Do you feel normal in the crowd?

A) yes, it's more comfortable this way

B) no, I'm more comfortable alone

C) I am neutral

6. If you are rebuked for something you are about to do, will you change your

Behavior or will you continue it on purpose?

A) I will not change

B) depends on the form in which it is said

C) if the reproach is fair, then I will change

7. Do you think it is foolish to continue to insist on your own when

Is everyone around you claiming something different?

A) yes B) no

8. Correctly say that life itself requires obeying those who need it?

A) no, I will not obey anyone

B) right, we must obey the smarter and more experienced

People. It's better for me this way

9. I agree that other people have a great influence on my thoughts and

Deeds

A) yes, these people help me make a decision

B) no, I myself think and know what to do

C) i don't know

Appendix 3

Questions	8 cl	9a cl	9b cl	10 cl
You have an independent work. You studied the topic, but your friends have the correct answers. Will you use the answers? Yes
No
Everybody's running, will you run?
Yes
no i will stand in my place
I'll try to find out what's going on
You bought a new, expensive, fancy phone. Why?
because many people have such a phone and it's cool
it has a lot of functions
old broke
no, I'm not interested in the opinions of others
yes i don't want to be laughed at
I will wear this thing less often
Will you stop wearing clothes if a few people you know make fun of them?
no, I'm not interested in the opinions of others
yes i don't want to be laughed at
I will wear this thing less often
If you are reproached for something you are about to do: change your behavior or will you continue it on purpose?
I will not change
depends on the form in which it is said
if the reproach is fair, then I will change
Do you think it is foolish to continue to insist on your own, when everyone around you assert something else?
Yes
No
Is it right to say that life itself requires obeying those who need it?
no i won't obey anyone
right, we must submit to smarter and more experienced people. It's better for me this way
I agree that other people have a great influence on my thoughts and actions.
yes, these people help me make a decision
no, I myself think and know what to do				26,7%
normal		33,3%
strong
Total		100%
Grade 9a
weak		30,4%
normal		21,8%
strong		47,8%
Total		100%
9b class
weak		62,0%
normal		19,0%
strong		19,0%
Total		100%
Grade 10
weak
normal		8,3%
strong		16,7%
Total		100%
Overall result
weak		46,5%
normal		21,1%
strong		32,4%
Total		100%

Table 2. Percentage by the level of herd

Instinct among students in grades 8-10

Appendix 5

Diagram 1 Comparison of distribution by herd level

Instinct among students by grade

Diagram 2 Distribution of students in grades 8-10 by level

Instinct as a percentage

In 1909, the second and final part of his work "The herd instinct and its influence on the psychology of civilized man" was published in the journal Sociological Review. Trotter discussed his concept of social herdness in more detail in the book "Herd Instincts in War and Peace", written by him in 1916 at the height of the First World War.

In the book, Trotter believed that looking for the causes and derivatives of the herd instinct is pointless, since it is primary and insoluble. To the primary, basic instincts, he attributed the instincts of self-preservation, nutrition, sexual and herd. The first three, according to Trotter, are primitive and are accompanied by a sense of satisfaction if successful. The herd instinct, as Trotter writes, causes “an obvious obligation to act the other way around”: a person is ready not to worry about self-preservation, lack food and show resistance to carnal impulses, obeying a different imperative. Simply put, in a crowd, a person obeys an instinct that may conflict with his personal gain.

Wolves, sheep and bees

In his book, Trotter tried to explain psychologically the unreasonable behavior of the masses that led to the grandiose carnage on the battlefields of the World War. To do this, he put forward "a psychological hypothesis to explain the peculiarities of the German national character, manifested at the present time." According to Trotter, herd instinct manifests itself in three different forms: aggressive, protective and socialized, exemplified in nature by the wolf, sheep and bee, respectively.

"When studying the mind of England in the spirit of a biological psychologist, it is necessary to have in mind the society of the bee, just as when studying the German mind it was necessary to have in mind the society of the wolf," writes Trotter. In his opinion, the herd instinct in the British "socialized herd" (socialized herd) has followed the path of the bee hive, where each individual contributes to the overall survival. In Germany, it is expressed in an aggressive form, represented in nature by a pack of wolves and a flock of sheep.

His book "The Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War" is available in English on the Internet, anyone can read it, there are many more interesting things in the same spirit. But another thing is more interesting: how quickly, while still a newborn, the new science of social psychology found application in politics and ideology, displacing social Darwinism from there with its crude and straightforward postulate of the survival of the fittest.

Reproduction of instincts

Instincts in the science of human psychology appeared in the 18th century in the works of French encyclopedists and were borrowed by them from biology. At the beginning of the 19th century, Lamarck finally formulated the concept of instinct in animals "as an inclination caused by sensations on the basis of needs arising from their needs and compelling them to perform actions without any participation of thought, without any participation of will."

At first, transferring actions performed without any participation of thought and will to a person required a certain courage from the scientist. But after Darwin, the situation became mirrored. The great Darwin himself wrote that instincts appeared as a result of evolution, and who was the crown of evolution according to Darwin? That is precisely the person who was reasonable, and he was, and now it was risky for the scientist to deny the instinctive behavior of a person.

Further more, if earlier instincts existed only in theory and all evidence of their reality was indirect, then Ivan Pavlov experimentally proved their existence, however, calling them "complex unconditioned reflexes." It took half a century for scientists to again begin to doubt the existence of human action "without any participation of thought, without any participation of will." In the meantime, psychologists only tried to separate the inherited elements of behavior from those acquired in early childhood.

Different scientists have had a different number of such inherited instincts. American psychiatrist Abraham Brill believed that “everything in life can be reduced to two fundamental instincts: hunger and love; they rule the world. " The British neurosurgeon Wilfrid Trotter, as we have seen, has four. His compatriot physiologist William McDougall, the author of the first textbook on social psychology, had seven at first, then (as the textbook was republished) there were 11, and then 18. Other scientists had 20, 30, 40 and more.

Scientists simply selected the appropriate instinct in the animal for each type of human activity or social institution. For example, they believed that economic relations grew out of the instinct for food, the family is built on a rationalized sexual instinct, war is based on the instinct of struggle, the state is based on the instincts of herd and fear. An overview of them can be found in the works of Dmitry Gorbatov, professor at St. Petersburg University. Continuing this series, it is not difficult to find instincts for any phenomenon in life: from participation in the green movement to non-traditional orientation.

There are no instincts in the USSR

Compared to others, the herd instinct enjoyed special attention in the Russian psychological school, which in this regard even was in the lead at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. A bad feeling was ripening in Russian society, and it did not deceive: in the near future, the country had to go through three wars, two revolutions and general turmoil. Life itself demanded answers to the questions: how does the crowd influence the personality, and the personality affects the crowd? Is it obligatory for the crowd to be addicted to crime? How not to become a victim of it? Can a crowd be controlled?

The populist theorist Nikolai Mikhailovsky viewed the crowd as "a pliable mass, ready to follow 'the hero' wherever it may be, and painfully and tensely shifting from foot to foot in anticipation of his appearance." At the same time, the role of the “hero” was assigned to the situational leader - the one who captivates by example, is the first to “break the ice”, taking one step, which others involuntarily expect, in order to blindly follow him. This hero is not at all a "great man", on the contrary, the most ordinary "man of the crowd", and therefore her forces, feelings, instincts, desires are concentrated in him. The hypnotic model of crowd communication developed by Mikhailovsky turned out to be quite promising. In Western social psychology, it has developed in the form of "slowly spreading psychological contagion", which precedes outbursts of collective rage.

Criminal law professor Vladimir Sluchevsky has formulated the concept of "the beginning of the beast" as an explanation why a person is able to change in a crowd to the point of oblivion of moral guidelines. "Who only in his thoughts ... did not commit serious crimes, or at least did not want the occurrence of such events, for the implementation of which he would never dare to put a hand!" - he wrote. In the crowd, this property, for insignificant reasons, leads to extreme cruelty and destructive activity. In Western psychology of the masses, similar ideas were developed by the sociologist and criminologist Spicion Siegele, who considered the crowd "a substrate in which the microbe of evil develops very easily, while the microbe of good almost always dies without finding suitable living conditions."

Zoologist Vladimir Wagner proposed simpler and more materialistic reasons for crowd behavior. According to his theory, the physical impact of some individuals on others, expressed in touches and collisions, movements in front of the eyes, noise when moving, is transformed into nervous excitement in a person in a crowd. This excitement, in turn, through the herd instinct of imitating the individuals who first responded to a critical change in the situation, leads to unpredictable crowd behavior.

It is clear that such theories could not take root and develop in the Soviet Union. In 1976, Professor of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Pyotr Halperin, wrote: “The question is whether instincts are compatible with the social organization of human life, with the social nature of man, with a moral assessment of behavior and responsibility for actions. And the crux of the matter is that they are incompatible. "

Scientists wishing to refute this were not found in Soviet psychological science, probably, another basic instinct - self-preservation - worked for them.

Shepherds of the virtual herd

For more than a hundred years, the science of the herd reflex has gone through a lot. In the 1920s and 1930s, when behaviorism came into vogue, it almost ended, but was revived again with the emergence of ethology. However, there is no need to fear that it will one day go out of fashion and be pushed to the sidelines of social psychology. The ability to control the herd reflex for politics and trade looks painfully tempting.

The second of the areas of application of knowledge about the herd reflex - in the markets for goods and services - began to develop rapidly in the post-war years. True, with regard to politics and trade, today there are no special breakthroughs in the psychology of the herd reflex, although psychologists are doing their best. It seems that all the particular mechanisms of the behavior of the crowd and the person in it have already been studied, but this does not bring them closer to understanding what is happening to them.

The maximum that political strategists and marketers can now achieve in practice is to form a short-term conditioned reflex of drooling in the consumer for a particular product or a particular candidate in the elections, as in Pavlov's experiments. Or, on the contrary, a reflex rejection of the first and second, as in other experiments of the same Pavlov. The fine tuning of Trotter's socialized herd has not yet worked out, the human herd, not in theory, but in its carnal hypostasis, remains for science something like the thinking jelly of Solaris from the science fiction novel by Stanislav Lem, who, in response to any attempt to study it, extracts it from the subconscious scientist phantoms and invites you to study them.

More promising are the studies of the virtual herds that have recently appeared on the Internet. Here the success of their management is more impressive, and, perhaps, it is here that social psychology will find a universal algorithm for managing the herd instinct.

Sergey Petukhov

admin

The term “herd sentiment” is not scientific. This is a figurative expression. People use it to characterize the behavior of those around them when they behave like animals in a herd. What is the herd feeling? What does the 5% law say and what are the features of crowd psychology?

Crowd psychology or what is herd feeling?

Science knows the concept of "crowd psychology". It explains what the herd feeling is and how it manifests itself, namely:

A crowd of people is more aggressive than a single person;
The crowd is easily amenable to emotion and suggestion;
The crowd is incapable of assessing the situation with a "cold" mind;
The crowd does not reason or ask questions;
The crowd is malleable, it is easy to push it to a mass event (riot, rally, protest, criticism, condemnation);
The crowd does not accept individuality;
The crowd acts at the behest of the leader, without thinking or weighing its own actions.

This is inexplicable, but sometimes intellectually developed people are exposed to the "herd feeling". This is exaggerated as follows: once at a protest, a person together with those around him chants slogans, and when left alone he thinks and understands that his own “I” does not want to protest, condemn and demand changes.

Or seeing a crowd of people running in an unknown direction, a person joins them, not understanding why. Subconsciously, he thinks that since everyone is running, then I need to. In this state, people are able to find themselves in a completely unfamiliar area, and then "bite their elbows", thinking how to get home.

Manifestations of herd feelings are well remembered by people who found themselves in queues in the USSR. A person stood for hours for a thing that, in general, he did not need. This was done because "the people around take it, so I need it too."

Submission to the energy of the crowd is a direct path to failure, loss of time, false aspirations and even illness. The scheme of the development of the disease is simple, especially elderly people are susceptible to this. Someone tells an elderly man that the main thieves are sitting in the state authorities. An elderly person does not have the opportunity to be convinced of this personally, and he blindly believes the speaking "well-wisher". As a result, a person thinks about it with growing negativity. Having succumbed to suggestion, he is nervous, he is overwhelmed with anger, and negative emotions may well lead to a heart attack.

Alcoholism is also an example of the manifestation of herd feelings. Why does a devotee become a drinker when he is in the company of alcoholic drinkers? The reason is clear: when others drink, it is difficult to resist, the energy of the drinker absorbs individual beliefs. People also become smokers and drug addicts "for the company".

The herd feeling and the five percent law

In psychology, there is the concept of "auto-synchronization". It manifests itself as follows: if 5% of members of the society perform a specific action, the rest of the members will also repeat it. If you scare 5% of the horses in the field, the whole herd will break loose. If 5% of the pigeons fly up, the whole flock will rise up.

This is typical for a society of people. Scientists from England conducted an experiment. Several people were invited into a large room. Of these, 5% received the task to move along a specific trajectory, the rest were told that it was possible to move in any direction. As a result of the experiment, all the people in the room unconsciously moved along a given trajectory. Everyone can confirm the theory of five percent. After attending a concert with a group of friends, start clapping at the moment you see fit. The whole room will repeat after you over time.

Launching auto-sync is possible in a team where people are not aware of their own actions, do not think about the purpose and reason. If the level of self-control is low, there is no need to tell everyone what to do - 5% of people in society will start this process.

The five percent law is actively used by marketers. By launching a rumor that soon there will be no specific type of product on the shelves. 5% of people will believe this and rush to buy up the estimated deficit. By their own behavior, they will launch a massive panic and in the next couple of days there really will be no goods left.

What are the benefits of herd feeling?

Man is a social being. Life without other people is unnatural for a person. Despite the fact that humans have moved far from animals in the process of evolution, in matters relating to collective consciousness, we are no different from primates. One such phenomenon is herd sentiment.

The common idea of ​​herd feeling is negative, which is also in general a manifestation of the herd instinct. People tend not to have their own opinion, but to completely trust the statements of an authoritative person or group of persons. People generally don't require confirmation or justification. This feature is actively manipulated by the media, marketers, politicians and public figures.

Once upon a time, psychologists said that herding was not good, people believed it without thinking about the evidence. People take advantage of the convenient opportunity to repeat other people's thoughts, although the manifestations of herd feelings are not unambiguous.

What are the advantages of the herd instinct? Of course, an aggressive crowd of people, when everyone around them acts as a single organism, without thinking or asking questions, is rather an extreme manifestation of the herd instinct. But there is still a positive component in the herd feeling. Let's say that the overwhelming majority of adequate people will not go on a road that is dangerous if they have been warned about it. The herd feeling in such cases saves life and helps to perform beneficial actions.

In order not to fall for the energy of the crowd and become a victim of the herd feeling, you need to learn and remain calm in critical situations. The crowd can both save and destroy. By showing awareness and "coldness" of the mind, you can avoid many negative influences from the outside.

March 14, 2014 11:14 am

In addition to the instincts listed in the book, consider another, the so-called “herd instinct”. We will understand by it inexplicable human desire(gregarious animal too) join your herd.

In fact, we explained in the book "" that this desire stems only from, because it is in the herd that it is most reliable for an individual to preserve his gene. And the herd instinct does not bring anything fundamentally new to us.

However, recently faced with the following definition of herd instinct on Wikipedia:

Herd instinct- This is the mechanism underlying the instinct of self-preservation, applicable equally to both humans and animals.

The herd instinct shows how people or animals in a group can act collectively, without centralized leadership. As V. Trotter noted, in his work “The Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War”, it is senseless to look for the causes and derivatives of the herd instinct, since it is primary and cannot be resolved.

I realized that we need to analyze this issue in more detail.

First of all, relying only on, we will show our complete disagreement with all the provisions of this definition.

• First, as shown in, there is no independent instinct for self-preservation. There is only a consequence of the same name from the Law (or Instinct) of Gene Conservation.

• Secondly, it is NOT pointless to look for the causes and derivatives of the herd instinct, since it is just NOT primary.

Let us recall along the way how primary and secondary statements (or instincts) differ. If statement B follows from statement A, and statement A does not follow from statement B, then statement A will be called primary, and statement B secondary or a consequence of A.

If herd instinct were primary, how would the regular herd decay be explained? Especially the constant expulsion from the herd of young males that have entered reproductive age or, on the contrary, elderly males?

And they are explained very simply, through

• Young adult males begin to pose a threat to the genetic purity of the offspring of the harem of the dominant, but not yet old and strong male.

• The expelled young males leave the herd and begin to look for an opportunity to form their herd not from the herd instinct, but with the sole purpose of preserving their gene.

"Why are old males expelled?" -you ask. For almost the same reason.

• Usually this is an aged dominant male who has lost a tournament battle for his harem to a new young male challenger, but has not yet lost his reproductive power and therefore must be constantly monitored. In addition, the old male very soon turns into a burden and an extra mouth, unable to independently obtain food for himself. The end of such old lonely males is always sad.

As you can see, no herd instinct works and everything depends on !

And now a mischievous reader should ask: "Why then do they not expel aged females who are not capable of procreation?" The answer is simple again.

• Elderly females, as a rule, are excellent nannies and are often simply necessary for the care and education of the offspring of the dominant male, i.e. the reason is always the same:!

Nevertheless, we will continue to use the term Herd Instinct, remembering to ourselves, however, that it is a simple consequence.

The situation described above can be observed especially well in a lion's pride or an elephant herd. Such an unenviable final fate of male lions and elephants after completing the program is no exception.

In other species, it can be even sadder: in bees, drones die immediately after copulation, in grasshoppers and spiders, males are immediately eaten by females after copulation. This list, sad in relation to males, can be continued for a very long time, and it pushes you to even more gloomy thoughts.

Now I am plagued by vague doubts that our brother "muzhik" was treated in the same or almost the same way in the distant historical past.

You ask: Foundations? I explain: Humanity has lived for 3-4 million years, practically no different from the surrounding animal world, driven only by the same. Scientists find traces of human cannibalism in all parts of the world and until very recently. The same is true for human sacrifice.

The rudiments of humanistic morality appeared, one might say, yesterday by historical standards and there is no serious reason to believe that in the human herd, males were treated in ancient times better than males in the rest of the animal kingdom.

Now we will begin to study the herd instinct in the most interesting herd - human society. In the most interesting, because a person has another important option, which is not in the animal world. It !

The herd instinct sits in a person in the same way as in any other herd animal, and in the overwhelming mass of his person follows it. Is it good or evil? We will try to give here an exhaustive answer to this question, as far as possible.

The list of these people in the entire history of mankind, in all types of its activities, is extremely small. Several thousand. Not more. In any case, a small fraction of a percentage of the total population.

Once in my youth I asked my friend: "If the whole civilization was created by this small fraction of a percent, then why did God create all the rest?" The answer was wonderful: "In order to give birth to this small fraction of a percent!"

And in general, it is impossible to imagine a society consisting entirely of geniuses, completely free from the herd instinct! It would have collapsed instantly!

The other day I listened to television interview interview two smartest people, Dmitry Gordon and Viktor Shenderovich. They also talked about the herd instinct and came to the conclusion that this instinct is always evil, giving correct examples of the destructive action of this instinct in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and that everything right and good is done by single people without this instinct.

With all due respect to these interlocutors, I can in no way agree with both of these statements.

• First, what is wrong with the herd instinct, when it raises a person, together with all his people, to defend the Motherland, to the Revolution?

• Secondly, people like Stalin and Hitler were also completely free from the herd instinct. But, at the same time, these people, who hated, skillfully manipulating the herd instinct of the crowd, led their peoples in the twentieth century to the most terrible disasters in the history of mankind.

Note that in all totalitarian societies, such as, for example, fascism or communism, following your "herd" or, in other words, the education of the herd instinct becomes state policy, and any deviation from it is severely punished. Those who lived under the communists or under the Nazis remember this very well.

The attitude to the herd instinct in society, especially among the intelligentsia, is quite arrogant and contemptuous. If you google on this topic, you will immediately see a bunch of articles on how to get rid of the herd instinct. At the same time, the overwhelming part of society, blindly and unswervingly obeying this instinct, is embarrassed to admit it.

The anthem of all who consider themselves free from the herd instinct was once the book "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", written by Richard Bach in 1970.

Now let's think about whether it is always necessary to be ashamed of the herd instinct? Why do we, without hesitation, run after the crowd in case of danger?

I recall the television pictures of the flooding from the tsunami in Thailand in 2004, when crowds of people began to scatter in different directions in random order. Survived only those who competently began to climb the hills or ran up the stairs of multi-storey strong hotels, as well as those who ran after them, following the herd instinct.

At the end of their conversation, Gordon and Shenderovich came to the common conclusion that when you see a huge crowd running somewhere, then immediately run away to the side. As we can see from the above examples, this advice is generally wrong.

You need to know why the crowd is running, what are its slogans, do they encroach on someone's rights to or?

In the textbook examples of communism and Nazism, their slogans quite openly called for the abolition of these rights among the nobles, the rich, the bourgeoisie in the first case, and among the Jews and other non-Aryan races in the second.

The very Principle of Democracy, when the minority is obliged to obey the majority, is the most, that neither is the Herd Instinct! Who and when proved that the majority is right? Nobody ever! Nothing other than herd instinct can explain this.

But, as the above examples show, Democracy does not always guarantee the right choice of solution, which happened in Germany in 1933.

The most recent mistake Democracy made was Brexit, where its supporters won by less than 2%. A mistake, because Brexit does not increase Freedom of Choice in any way, on the contrary, it lowers its overall level in Britain. This will become obvious to everyone just a few years after its implementation of Brexit, unless it is canceled altogether by a second referendum. The most "advanced" Britons are already foreseeing this today.

However, democratically accepting the rule of the majority, we expect that his decision will most often be correct, and history confirms this. Moreover, if Democracy made a mistake, but the mechanisms of Freedom of Choice (democratic institutions) were preserved, then this mistake can be quickly corrected.

There are no, to hell with, special historical paths and national peculiarities! There is simply a lead and a lag. And it's easy to prove!

If, for example, there are two states A and B with different forms of government, ways of life, and after some time the form of government in state B and the way of life become the same as in A, then this means only one thing: state B evolutionarily lags behind in development from state A.

We know many examples of countries where women, traditionally wearing hijabs, begin to take them off at the risk of losing their personal freedom (Iran), and we do not know of any example of a single country where the reverse process was going on.

Here, of course, it does not count the case when Islamists came to power for a short time in Egypt recently and women were forcibly put on hijabs. It was pure short-term fluctuation.

And one more interesting thought: countries where permanent presidents who have come to power are trying by hook or by crook, forgeries and machinations to prolong their power, resemble animal herds or animal packs, ruled by also permanent leaders, dominant males, until they are overthrown. males are younger and stronger. From this, draw the conclusion which society is closer to its primitive animal historical origin.

Well, now, let's formulate the promised answer to the question posed in the title: Is herd instinct good or evil? Should you follow the herd instinct?

From all that has been said above, it follows that there is no deterministic answer to this question! There is only a probabilistic answer. It's best to always think with your head.

But if you do not have your own decision, then it is best to join the group where you see the most recognized, authoritative and intelligent people.

Well, if you have to choose a solution at random, then join the largest group, in the hope that there should be smart, experienced people there.

None of these tips will give you a 100% guarantee. Only probability!

Generally speaking, our world around us is fundamentally not deterministic. It is probabilistic and there are more questions with probabilistic answers than questions with deterministic answers. Physicists were the first to understand this at the beginning of the last century, when they got into the microcosm.

In conclusion, I will give an example from a recent news feed about outbreaks of measles in such civilized countries as France.

The fact is that these outbreaks were the result of the fact that some parents refuse to vaccinate their children. Some for orthodox religious reasons, others after reading that vaccination has side effects. Both of them cite personal freedom to choose what concerns their children.

However, if the probability of a side effect is a few in a thousand, then the probability of contracting a healthy child through close contact with a sick person is almost one hundred percent. Moreover, with modern movements of people, it is almost impossible to ensure absolutely reliable quarantine.

So choose after that the probability that you prefer. In this regard, in France, discussions are being raised about the compulsory restriction of personal, when there is a threat to society, i.e. the rest.

I remember that in the Soviet Union all children were vaccinated without asking either themselves or their parents. I would not object to such compulsory vaccination.

Karmak Bagisbaev, professor of mathematics, author of the book

This article will be devoted to people who are used to living according to the "herd principle". From the point of view of banal erudition, the herd, as an individual critically metaphorizing in his abstraction, it cannot be ignored by theoretical subjectivism - this is how the concept of a human herd sounds in a textbook on psychology.

One or another value of the sum depends on the value of the units ... All our sociology knows no other instinct than the instinct of the herd, that is, summed zeros, where each zero has "the same rights", where it is considered a virtue to be zero ... Nietzsche

But, we all know perfectly well that the herd is people who have their own leader. A striking example of the herd is the so-called "Bounty" from the movie "Bad girls" (starring Lindsay Lohan, I advise you to watch it at your leisure). The Bounty is a school flock run by Regina George, the leader. Its principle is that what Regina tells us, we will do it.

Yes, on the one hand, being in such a herd is not bad: you have your own definite place (a merry fellow or women of fashion, for example), everyone thinks and treats different things in the same way, and in general you don't need to strain your brains too much, because the leader decides everything for you ...

The crowd doesn't like singles; she recognizes only fake people who imitate each other in everything. The crowd despises everyone who keeps aloof, who defends his rights, defends his freedom, does his own thing, regardless of the consequences. - Osho

But not everything is as good as it seems at first glance. Let's take a look at everything the pros and cons of the herd... To those already listed above pluses some of my acquaintances (who live according to the "herd principle") they refer to: understanding each other, ease of communication, mutual assistance and ... Doesn't this remind you of some kind of closed sect? Joke. Yes, it's not bad if you occupy a certain place in the herd, but a counter question arises: "Who am I if there is no herd nearby?"

The biggest disadvantage the herd has something that is infringed upon and human individualism is destroyed... This implies incorrect behavior, which is considered wrong in the herd: you cannot do something without the consent of others, and if you do - Goodbye herd. A bit radical, but true. Everyone knows the concept of collectivism from the history of the USSR.

The crowd can forgive anything and anyone, but not a person who can remain himself under the pressure of its contemptuous ridicule. - Ayn Rand

To some extent, it may have justified itself, but what did it lead to - the collapse of the Soviet Union. In fact, the USSR (for all its advantages) is the same herd, only in a larger-scale concept.

“The herd principle” of life with us every day: Someone from their friends bought themselves some new fashionable blouse, as literally the next day all the other friends have an almost similar one, some of their friends started smoking new cigarettes and everyone praising this new brand starts smoking the same ones themselves.

People can only be tolerated alone, the crowd is too close to the animal kingdom. - Franz Grillparzer

It, as an unconditioned reflex Pavlova (when the dog produces gastric juice when the light is turned on), which is produced, but which can be easily disposed of.

People who express their individuality and are not part of the herd receive some kind of pressure in response from all sides. It's just that the herd destroys everyone who is not part of it: the "dirty linen" of the individualist rises, gossip arises, and in general everything is done according to the principle "If you are not like everyone else, then you have no place at all on this planet."

Do you know why this is done? All because the herd is afraid of individualists. This is due to the fact that the individualist, in moral and psychological terms, is much stronger than these supporters of herd life.

People who are not afraid to show maximum enthusiasm and creativity achieve the highest results both in life and in recognition in society (over time, of course). I do not mean to stand out from the crowd with red hair and a lot of tattoos on the body (although, as an option - very much even nothing). Just do not succumb to pressure from the outside and do not always "adjust" to others, showing their character and nature.