03/01/2022
๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐จ ๐๐๐จ๐จ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ?
And why itโs important to understand it
Mass formation also known as mob or crowd psychology โ is the study of how individual behavior is influenced by large group of people. This branch of social psychology has been studied by Sigmund Freud, Floyd Allport, Gustave Le Bon, and many others.
It is suggested by Gustave Le Bon that the masses go through three main stages as part of whatโs considered to be a mass hypnosis:
๐๐ช๐๐ข๐๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ โ a phase characterized by losing individual identity, which is similar to the concept of de-indivduation that was introduced by Festinger and his colleagues in 1952. De-individuation theory explains that being in a crowd lessens personal identity, guilt, self-evaluation, empathy and other individual morality-related behaviours; this theory was then improved by Zimbardoโs Stanford Prison Experiment. (Very creepy!).
๐พ๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ค๐ฃ โ a phase characterized by having individuals ideas and emotions greatly influenced by the dynamics of their surrounding masses.
Suggestion โ the phase where the group have developed a shared unconscious which affect their decisions and feelings.
Freud also suggests that being in a crowd reveals the unconscious given that the moral principle is displaced by the more powerful masses or a more influential group leader.
Recently, a Belgian professor of clinical psychology at Ghent University who holds a masters degree in statistics, Dr. Mattias Desmet has expressed concerns about some of the data he has been studying that might be causing the lack of empathy and segregation that weโve been seeing in the western world recently because of the pandemic.
Dr. Mattias has identified four psychological conditions that may have resulted in crowd madness or mass formation psychosis during the pandemic:
๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ ๐๐ค๐๐๐๐ก ๐ฝ๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐จ๐ค๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ โ due to COVID-19 restriction measures and the rise of social media, where people are seemingly connected, but truly not.
๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐จ ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐๐ก๐๐จ๐จ โ losing sight of human connection, family, and a divine power. Focusing on everything material that is not fulfilling and losing the true meaning of life. A Gallup poll from 2012 revealed that 63% of respondents admitted that they were sleepwalking through their day.
๐๐ง๐๐-๐๐ก๐ค๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ผ๐ฃ๐ญ๐๐๐ฉ๐ฎ โ Thanks to the news and media, creating and feeding fear and anxiety to the masses. Quoting the Black Eyed Peas:
"Wrong information always shown by the media.
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting the young minds faster than bacteriaโ
๐๐ง๐๐-๐๐ก๐ค๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐ง๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ โ People feel frustrated and aggressive without really knowing the cause of their annoyance and anger.
Dr. Mattias suggests that when the above four conditions are fulfilled, if ANY narrative is distributed through the mass media identifying an Object of the anxiety and providing a strategy to deal with that Object, mass formation can thrive. Since it provides the masses a sudden connection to a heroic struggle allowing them to meet their needs and provides them with a release โ giving them a new social bond and meaning that has been lacking.
At this point in time, people feel they have control over their psychological discontent that can be released by participating in a strategy, that may not make sense to each individual if they were in a psychologically healthy state and were thinking critically of things without the mass influence of the group (or media).
Participation in the strategy has nothing to do with facts or logic; it is survival to preserve this new social bond created by fighting together to defeat the Object of their collective anxiety and frustration. By obeying the strategy, people can go from a very negative, isolated state to the polar opposite โ a state of maximum connectedness, creating mental intoxication that makes the masses willing to go with anything even if immoral or illogical.
This is the summation of mass hypnosis, is focusing the attention on a small part of reality narrated by the hypnotist. Just like hypnosis, people absorbed in mass formation are not aware of whatโs happening outside the small focus of attention that the narrative provides.
