How does mob mentality work

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.

Copyright: University of Miami. All Rights Reserved. This was a mistake. She kept this experience in mind when she published her paper on mob mentality with co-author Rebecca Saxe, an associate professor of cognitive neuroscience. Cikara and her team of researchers suspect that the answer lies within the brain that something changes the moment we find ourselves amongst a throng of other faces.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The larger the group the greater the amplification of that group behavior.

If the group behavior is peaceful, exemplified by Martin Luther King and Ghandi, the group behavior is peaceful and orderly. 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.

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