Crowd psychology. Crowd psychology Psychological characteristics of an individual in a crowd

Crowd concept. The mechanism of its formation and composition

The social life of people is molded into a great variety of the most diverse forms. Some of them are mundane and familiar. Others are seriously different from what is considered to be the daily norm. There are forms of behavior that are purely individualized, wholly or largely depending on the will, desires or needs of the individual. But there are also those in which the manifestations of the will, desires and needs of an individual person are seriously limited by the direct or indirect influence of other people.

People and the individual even without experiencing mental pressure from others, but only perceiving the behavior of these others, become infected with their behavior, obey and follow it. Of course, insubordination is also possible, but the individual, as a rule, explains it rationally to himself. Without this explanation, "disobedience" inevitably causes internal anxiety in the individual, often supplemented by the work of the imagination of the relatively low assessment of his personality by others.

The crowd concept is usually born from personal experience of people. Almost everyone has either been in the crowd or has seen its behavior from the outside. Sometimes, succumbing to simple human curiosity, people join a group considering and discussing an event. Increasing quantitatively, becoming infected with a general mood and interest, people gradually turn into a discordant, disorganized congestion, or crowd.

A crowd is an unstructured gathering of people, devoid of a clearly perceived commonality of goals, but mutually related by similarities. emotional state and the general object of attention.

The term "crowd" came into social psychology during the period of a powerful revolutionary upsurge of the masses at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Psychologists at that time understood the crowd as mainly the poorly organized actions of the working people against the exploiters.

G. Le Bon gave a very figurative definition of the crowd: "The crowd is like leaves raised by a hurricane and carried in different directions, and then falling to the ground."

When small groups, consisting of individuals who are indignant about a certain reason, are united into a sufficiently large group, the likelihood of manifestation of spontaneous behavior increases sharply. The latter can be aimed at expressing feelings, assessments and opinions experienced by people, or at changing the situation through action. Very often the subject of such spontaneous behavior is the crowd.

The crowd as a subject of mass forms of extra-collective behavior often becomes:

the public, which is understood as a large group of people arising on the basis of common interests, often without any organization, but always in a situation that affects common interests and allows rational discussion;
contact, outwardly disorganized community, acting extremely emotionally and unanimously;
a set of individuals who make up a large amorphous group and do not have, for the most part, direct contacts with each other, but are connected by some common, more or less constant interest. These are mass hobbies, mass hysteria, mass migrations, mass patriotic or pseudo-patriotic frenzy.

In mass forms of extra-collective behavior, unconscious processes play an important role. On the basis of emotional arousal, spontaneous actions arise in connection with any impressive events that affect the main values of people in the course of, for example, their struggle for their interests and rights. These were the numerous "copper" or "salt" riots of urban and peasant idleness in the Russian Middle Ages or the rebellious actions of the English "Luddists", expressed in the destruction of machines, devoid of a clear ideological context and clearly understood goals of the actions being taken.

The main mechanisms for the formation of a crowd and the development of its specific qualities are circular response(growing mutually directed emotional contamination), and gossip.

Even the main stages of crowd formation have been identified.

Crowd core formation... The emergence of a crowd rarely goes beyond the causal relationships of social phenomena, the awareness of which is not always spontaneous. Despite the fact that one of the essential features of the crowd is the random composition of the people who make it up, often the formation of the crowd begins with a certain nucleus, in the capacity of which the instigators act.

The initial core of the crowd can be formed under the influence of rationalistic considerations and set itself quite definite goals. But in the future, the core grows like an avalanche and spontaneously. The crowd grows, absorbing people who, it would seem, had nothing to do with each other before. Spontaneously, a crowd is formed as a result of an incident that attracts the attention of people and creates interest in them (more precisely, at the very beginning - curiosity). Excited by this event, the individual who has joined those already gathered is ready to lose some of his usual self-control and receive exciting information from the object of interest. A circular reaction begins, prompting the audience to show similar emotions and to satisfy new emotional needs through psychic interaction.

Circular reaction constitutes the first stage in the formation and functioning of the crowd.

Whirling process... The second stage begins simultaneously with the whirling process, during which the senses are further sharpened and a willingness to respond to information from those present arises. The internal whirling is growing on the basis of the ongoing circular reaction. Excitement also builds up. People are predisposed not only to joint, but also to immediate action.

The emergence of a new general object of attention. The circling process prepares the third stage in crowd formation. This stage is the emergence of a new general object of attention, on which the impulses, feelings and imaginations of people are focused. If initially the general object of interest was an exciting event that gathered people around it, then at this stage the image created in the process of circling in the conversations of crowd participants becomes a new object of attention. This image is the result of the creativity of the participants themselves. It is shared by all, gives individuals a general orientation and acts as an object of joint behavior. The emergence of such an imaginary object becomes a factor that rallies the crowd into a single whole.

Activation of individuals through arousal. Final stage in the formation of a crowd is the activation of individuals by additional stimulation through the excitation of impulses corresponding to an imaginary object. Such (based on suggestion) stimulation occurs most often as a result of the leadership of the leader. It encourages the individuals who make up the crowd to take concrete, often aggressive, actions. Among those gathered, the ringleaders usually stand out, who both develop vigorous activity in the crowd and gradually direct its behavior. These can be politically and mentally immature and extremist individuals. Thus, the composition of the crowd is clearly defined.

The core of the crowd, or the instigators, are the subjects whose task is to form the crowd and use its destructive energy for the intended purposes.

Crowd participants are subjects who have joined it as a result of identifying their value orientations with the direction of the crowd's actions. They are not instigators, but they find themselves in the sphere of influence of the crowd and actively participate in its actions. Of particular danger are aggressive individuals who adhere to the crowd solely because of the opportunity that has arisen to give relief to their neurotic, often sadistic, inclinations.

On the Wednesday of the crowd participants are also conscientiously mistaken. These subjects join the crowd due to misperceptions of the environment, they are driven, for example, by a misunderstood principle of justice.

The townsfolk join the crowd. They are not very active. They are attracted by kurtosis as an exhilarating sight that diversifies their dull, dull existence.

In the crowd, highly suggestible people find their place, who succumb to the general infectious mood. They surrender without resistance to the power of natural phenomena.

Participants of the crowd are also just curious, observing from the side. They do not interfere in the course of events, but their presence increases the mass character and enhances the influence of the elements of the crowd on the behavior of its participants.

2 Crowd classification

Like any other social phenomenon, the crowd can be classified on various grounds. If we take such a feature as controllability as the basis for the classification, then the following types of crowd can be distinguished.

Elemental crowd... It is formed and manifested without any organizing principle on the part of a specific individual.

Driven crowd... It is formed and manifested under the influence, influence from the very beginning or afterwards of a specific individual who is its leader in a given crowd.

Organized crowd. This variety is introduced by G. Le Bon, considering as a crowd and a collection of individuals who have embarked on the path of organization, and an organized crowd. We can say that he sometimes does not distinguish between an organized crowd and an unorganized crowd. Although it is difficult to agree with this approach. If some community of people is organized, therefore, it has structures of management and subordination. This is no longer a crowd, but a formation. Even a squad of soldiers, as long as there is a commander, is no longer a crowd.

If we take the nature of the behavior of people in it as the basis for the classification of the crowd, then we can distinguish several of its types and subtypes.

Occasional crowd... Formed on the basis of curiosity about an unexpected incident (traffic accident, fire, fight, etc.).

Conventional crowd... It is formed on the basis of interest in some previously announced mass entertainment, spectacle or other socially significant specific reason. I am only ready to temporarily follow rather diffuse norms of behavior.

Expressive crowd... Forming - like a conventional crowd. It jointly expresses a general attitude towards any event (joy, enthusiasm, indignation, protest, etc.)

Ecstatic crowd... It is an extreme form of the expressive crowd. It is characterized by a state of general ecstasy based on mutual rhythmically increasing infection (mass religious rituals, carnivals, rock concerts, etc.).

Acting crowd... Formed - as well as conventional; performs actions in relation to a specific object. The acting crowd includes the following subspecies.

Aggressive crowd. United by blind hatred for a specific object (any religious or political movement, structure). Usually accompanied by beatings, pogroms, arson, etc.
Panic crowd... Spontaneously fleeing from a real or imagined source of danger.
Money-grubbing crowd. Enters into an unordered direct conflict over the possession of any values. It is provoked by the authorities that ignore the vital interests of citizens or encroach on them (the seizure of places in outgoing transport by storm, the agiotage snapping up of food in trade enterprises, the destruction of food warehouses, the deposition of financial (for example, banking) institutions, in small quantities manifests itself in places of major disasters with significant human victims, etc.).

4. Rebel crowd. It is formed on the basis of general fair indignation at the actions of the authorities. The timely introduction of an organizing principle into it can elevate a spontaneous mass action to a conscious act of political struggle.

G. Le Bon distinguishes between types of crowds on the basis of homogeneity:

heterogeneous;
anonymous (street, for example);
personified (parliamentary assembly);
homogeneous:
sects;
caste;
classes.

Modern views on the typology of the crowd are somewhat different from the views of G. Le Bon. The organized crowd has already been discussed above. It is also difficult to consider as a crowd a personified gathering of people such as a production meeting, a parliamentary meeting, a jury (G. Le Bon refers these formations to the category of "crowd"), which only in potential can turn into a crowd, but initially they are not. Classes are also difficult to attribute to the category of crowds - they have already been discussed. Still, the main system-forming feature of the crowd is its spontaneity.

3 Psychological properties of the crowd

Social psychologists note a number of psychological characteristics of the crowd. They are characteristic of the entire psychological structure of this formation and are manifested in various areas:

cognitive;
emotional and strong-willed;
temperamental;
moral.

In the cognitive realm, the crowd expresses various oddities of their psychology.

Failure to be aware... The important psychological characteristics of the crowd are its unconsciousness, instinct and impulsiveness. If even one person rather weakly succumbs to the promises of reason, and therefore does most of the actions in life thanks to emotional, sometimes completely blind, impulses, then the human crowd lives exclusively by feeling, logic is contrary to it. An uncontrollable herd instinct comes into play, especially when the situation is extreme, when there is no leader and no one shouts out the restraining words of commands. The heterogeneous in each of the individuals - a particle of the crowd - drowns in the homogeneous, and unconscious qualities take over. General qualities of character, controlled by the unconscious, are joined together in the crowd. An isolated individual has the ability to suppress unconscious reflexes, while a crowd does not.

Features of imagination... The crowd is highly imaginative. The crowd is very receptive to impressions. The images that boggle the imagination of the crowd are always simple and clear. The images evoked in the minds of the crowd by someone, the idea of some event or case, in their liveliness, are almost equal to real images. It is not the facts themselves that strike the imagination of the crowd, but the way they are presented to it.

Another very important effect of the crowd is collective hallucinations. In the imaginations of people gathered in a crowd, events are distorted.

Features of thinking... The crowd thinks in images, and the image evoked in its imagination, in turn, evokes others that have no logical connection with the first. The crowd does not separate the subjective from the objective. She considers real the images that are evoked in her mind and often have only a very distant connection with the fact she is observing. A crowd capable of thinking only in images is only receptive to images.

The crowd does not reason or ponder. She accepts or rejects ideas entirely. She does not tolerate disputes or contradictions. The reasoning of the crowd is based on associations, but they are connected with each other only by apparent analogy and consistency. The crowd is able to perceive only those ideas that are simplified to the limit. The judgments of the crowd are always imposed on it and are never the result of in-depth discussion.

The crowd never strives for the truth. She turns away from the obvious, which she does not like, and prefers to worship delusion and illusion, if only they seduce her.

For a crowd that is incapable of thinking or reasoning, there is nothing incredible, but the incredible is the most striking.

There is no premeditation in the crowd. She can consistently experience and go through the whole gamut of conflicting feelings, but will always be under the influence of the excitement of the minute. The association of dissimilar ideas that have only an apparent relationship to each other, and the immediate generalization of particular cases - these are the characteristic features of the reasoning of the crowd. The crowd is constantly under the influence of illusion. Some important features of crowd thinking should be highlighted.

Categorical... Without any doubts as to what is true and what is error, the crowd expresses the same authority in their judgments as intolerance.

Conservatism. Extremely conservative at its core, the crowd has a deep aversion to all innovation and has an infinite reverence for tradition.

Suggestibility... Freud came up with a very productive idea for describing the phenomenon of the crowd. He viewed the crowd as a human mass under hypnosis. The most dangerous and most essential in the psychology of the crowd is its susceptibility to suggestion.

Any opinion, idea or belief suggested to the crowd, it accepts or rejects entirely and refers to them either as absolute truths or as absolute delusions.

In all cases, the source of suggestion in the crowd is an illusion born of one particular individual due to more or less vague memories. The evoked representation becomes the nucleus for further crystallization, filling the entire area of the mind and paralyzing all critical abilities.

It is very easy to instill in the crowd, for example, a sense of adoration, which makes it find happiness in fanaticism, obedience and a willingness to sacrifice itself for the sake of its idol.

No matter how neutral the crowd is, it is still in a state of expectant attention, which facilitates any suggestion. Legends that spread easily in the crowd are due to its credulity. The same direction of feelings is determined by suggestion. Like all creatures under the influence of suggestion, the idea that has taken possession of the mind seeks to express itself in action. Impossible for the crowd does not exist.

Infectivity... Psychological infection contributes to the formation of special properties in the crowd and determines their direction. A person is prone to imitation. Opinions and beliefs are spread to the crowd through infection.

For the emotional-volitional sphere of the crowd numerous psychological characteristics are also characteristic.

Emotionality... In the crowd, there is such a socio-psychological phenomenon as emotional resonance. The people involved in the excess are not just neighbors. infect others and become infected from them. The term "resonance" is applied to such a phenomenon because the crowd members, when exchanging emotional charges, gradually heat up the general mood to such an extent that an emotional explosion occurs, which is hardly controlled by consciousness. The onset of an emotional outburst is facilitated by certain psychological conditions of a person's behavior in a crowd.

High sensuality... The feelings and ideas of the individuals who make up the whole called the crowd take the same direction. A collective soul is born, which, however, has a temporary character. The crowd knows only simple and extreme feelings.

The various impulses to which the crowd obeys may be, depending on the circumstances (namely, the nature of the excitement), magnanimous or evil, heroic or cowardly, but they are always so strong that no personal interest, not even a sense of self-preservation, is able to suppress them.

In the crowd, the exaggeration of feelings is due to the fact that this very feeling, spreading very quickly through suggestion and infection, evokes universal approval, which contributes to a significant increase in its strength.

The strength of the crowd's feelings is further increased by the lack of responsibility. The confidence in impunity (the stronger, the larger the crowd) and the consciousness of significant (albeit temporary) power enable crowds of people to show such feelings and perform such actions that are simply unthinkable and impossible for an individual person.

Whatever the feelings of the crowd, good or bad, their characteristic feature is one-sidedness. The one-sidedness and exaggeration of the feelings of the crowd lead to the fact that it knows no doubts or hesitations.

In its eternal struggle against reason, feeling has never been defeated.

Extremism... The forces of the crowd are directed only towards destruction. The instincts of destructive ferocity lie dormant in the depths of the soul of almost any individual. Surrendering to these instincts is dangerous for an isolated individual, but being in an irresponsible crowd where impunity is guaranteed, he can freely follow the dictates of his instincts. In the crowd, the slightest bickering or contradiction from any speaker immediately provokes violent shouts and violent curses. The normal state of a crowd when it hits an obstacle is rage. The crowd never cherishes their lives during a riot.

The peculiarity of the crowd also lies in the specificity of socio-psychological phenomena that determine the uniformity of the behavior of its participants. The fact is that the crowd is created mainly on the basis of opposing a given community to the object of discontent. The crowd is often made a community by precisely what is “against them”. This, of course, is not blind hatred for everything with which people do not identify themselves. Nevertheless, in the crowd, the opposition of "we" and "they" reaches a socially significant, often very dangerous level.

The crowd lacks a critical attitude towards itself and there is "narcissism" - "we" are impeccable, "they" are to blame for everything. "They" are cast into the image of the enemy. The crowd considers only strength, and kindness touches it little; for the crowd, kindness is one of the forms of weakness.

Motivation... Self-interest is rarely a powerful mover in a crowd, while for an individual it comes first. Although all the desires of the crowd are very passionate, they still do not last long, and the crowd is as little able to show persistent will as it is judicious.

Irresponsibility... It gives rise to the often incredible cruelty of an aggressive crowd, incited by demagogues and provocateurs. Irresponsibility allows the crowd to trample the weak and bow to the strong.

In the temperamental sphere, the psychological characteristics of the crowd are manifested in physical activity and diffuseness.

Physical activity... The urge to immediately turn instilled ideas into action - characteristic feature crowds.

Diffuseness... The pathogens that act on the obeying crowd are very diverse - this explains its extreme variability. Above the well-established beliefs of the crowd lies a superficial layer of opinions, ideas and thoughts, constantly emerging and disappearing. The crowd's opinion is inconsistent.

The absence of clear goals, the absence or diffuseness of the structure give rise to the most important property of the crowd - its easy transformation from one type (or subspecies) to another. Such transformations often occur spontaneously. Knowledge of their typical patterns and mechanisms allows you to deliberately manipulate the behavior of the crowd for adventurous purposes or in order to deliberately prevent its especially dangerous actions.

IN moral sphere the psychological characteristics of the crowd are most often found in morality and religiosity.

Morality... The crowd can sometimes demonstrate very high morality, very lofty manifestations: selflessness, devotion, selflessness, self-sacrifice, a sense of justice, etc.

Religiosity... All the convictions of the crowd have features of blind obedience, ferocious intolerance, the need for the most violent propaganda, which is inherent in religious feeling.

The crowd needs religion, since all beliefs are assimilated by it only if they are clothed in a religious shell that does not allow for dispute. Crowd beliefs always have a religious form.

4 Psychological characteristics of an individual in a crowd

A person in a crowd is characterized by the following traits.

Anonymity... An important feature of the self-perception of an individual in a crowd is the feeling of his own anonymity. Lost in the "faceless mass", acting "like everyone else", a person ceases to be responsible for his own actions. Hence the brutality that usually accompanies the actions of an aggressive crowd. A member of the crowd appears to be nameless in it. This creates a false sense of independence from organizational ties, by which a person, wherever he is, is included in the work collective, family and other social communities.

Instinctiveness... In a crowd, the individual surrenders himself to the power of such instincts, which he never, being in other situations, gives free rein to. This is facilitated by the anonymity and irresponsibility of the individual in the crowd. His ability to process the perceived information rationally decreases. The capacity for observation and criticism that exists in isolated individuals completely disappears in the crowd.

Unconsciousness... The conscious personality disappears in the crowd, dissolves. The predominance of the unconscious personality, the same direction of feelings and ideas, determined by suggestion, and the desire to immediately turn the suggested ideas into action are characteristic of the individual in the crowd.

State of unity (association)... In a crowd, the individual feels the power of human association, which influences him with its presence. The impact of this force is expressed either in support and strengthening, or in restraining and suppressing individual human behavior. It is known that people in a crowd, feeling the psychic pressure of those present, can do (or, on the contrary, not do) what they would never have done (or, on the contrary, what they would certainly have done) under other circumstances. For example, a person cannot provide, without prejudice to his own safety, assistance to a victim when the crowd itself is hostile to this victim.

G. Le Bon notes the most striking fact observed in the crowd: whatever the individuals that make it up, their lifestyle, occupations, characters, mind, their mere transformation into a crowd is enough for them to form a kind of collective soul that makes them to feel, think and act in a completely different way than each of them felt, thought and acted separately. There are ideas and feelings that arise and turn into actions only in the individuals who make up the crowd. The spiritualized crowd represents a temporary organism, merged from dissimilar elements, merged together for an instant.

Hypnotic trance state... The individual, having spent some time among the acting crowd, falls into a state that resembles the state of a hypnotized subject. He is no longer aware of his actions. In him, as in a hypnotized person, some abilities disappear, while others reach an extreme degree of tension. Under the influence of the suggestion acquired in the crowd, the individual performs actions with irresistible impetuosity, which also increases, since the influence of the suggestion, which is the same for everyone, is increased by the force of reciprocity.

Feeling overwhelming... The individual in the crowd acquires the consciousness of an irresistible force, thanks to sheer numbers. This consciousness allows him to succumb to hidden instincts: in a crowd, he is not inclined to curb these instincts precisely because the crowd is anonymous and is not responsible for anything. The sense of responsibility, which usually restrains individual individuals, completely disappears in the crowd - here the concept of impossibility does not exist.

Infectivity... In a crowd, any action is contagious to such an extent that the individual very easily sacrifices his personal interests to the interest of the crowd. Such behavior is contrary to human nature itself, and therefore a person is capable of it only when he is a part of the crowd.

Amorphousness... In the crowd, the individual traits of people are completely erased, their originality and personal uniqueness disappear.

The psychic superstructure of each personality is lost and amorphous homogeneity is revealed and emerges on the surface. The behavior of an individual in a crowd is conditioned by the same attitudes, motives and mutual stimulation. Not noticing the shades, the individual in the crowd perceives all impressions as a whole and does not know any transitions.

Irresponsibility... In a crowd, a person completely loses a sense of responsibility, which is almost always a restraining principle for an individual.

Social degradation... Becoming a part of the crowd, a person, as it were, descends several steps lower in his development. In an isolated position - in ordinary life he was most likely a cultured person, but in the crowd he is a barbarian, i.e. an instinctive creature. In the crowd, the individual shows a tendency to arbitrariness, violence, ferocity. A person in a crowd also undergoes a decrease in intellectual activity.

A crowd man is also characterized by an increased emotionality of perception of everything that he sees and hears around him.

5 Crowd behavior

In the behavior of the crowd, both ideological influences are manifested, with the help of which certain actions are prepared, and changes in mental states that occur under the influence of any specific events or information about them. In the actions of the crowd, there is a docking and practical implementation of influences, both ideological and socio-psychological, their interpenetration into the real behavior of people.

Joint feelings, will, moods turn out to be emotionally and ideologically colored and intensified many times over.

The atmosphere of mass hysteria serves as a background against which often the most tragic actions unfold.

As already mentioned, one of the types of crowd behavior is panic. Panic is an emotional state that arises as a result of either a lack of information about some frightening or incomprehensible situation, or its excessive excess and manifests itself in impulsive actions.

There are many factors that can trigger panic. Their nature can be physiological, psychological and socio-psychological. Panic attacks have been reported in Everyday life as a consequence of catastrophes and natural disasters. In panic, people are driven by unaccountable fear. They lose their composure, solidarity, rush about, see no way out of the situation.

Factors that have a particularly strong influence on crowd behavior are as follows.

Superstition- a well-established false opinion that arises under the influence of fear experienced by a person. However, there may be superstitious fear, the reasons for which are not recognized. Many superstitions are associated with belief in something. They are subject to the most different people, regardless of the level of education and culture. For the most part, superstition is based on fear and is amplified many times over in the crowd.

Illusion- a kind of false knowledge entrenched in public opinion. It can be the result of tricking the senses. In this context, we are talking about illusions related to the perception of social reality. A social illusion is a kind of ersatz-semblance of reality, created in the imagination of a person instead of genuine knowledge, which for some reason he does not accept. Ultimately, the basis of the illusion is ignorance, which can have the most unexpected and undesirable effects when it manifests itself in a crowd.

Prejudice- false knowledge, turned into a belief, or rather, into a prejudice. Prejudices are active, aggressive, assertive, and desperately resist true knowledge. This resistance is so blind that the crowd will not accept any arguments that contradict prejudice.

The psychological nature of prejudices is that a person's memory captures not just an opinion (knowledge), it also preserves the feeling, emotion, and attitude that accompanies this knowledge. As a consequence, memory is highly selective. Facts and events that contradict a certain opinion are not always analyzed at the level of consciousness. And, of course, they are thrown away under the influence of emotions that usually overwhelm, overwhelm the crowd.

In cases where widespread stereotypes of public opinion are oversaturated with emotions, a mass psychosis may arise, during which people are able to commit the most reckless acts, cease to be aware of all the consequences of their actions.

The factors that determine the nature of the opinions and beliefs of the crowd are of two kinds: direct factors and remote factors. The immediate factors influencing the crowd act on the soil prepared by distant factors - without this they would not have caused such devastating results, which often amaze a raging crowd. Factors capable of impressing the crowd itself always appeal to its feelings, not to reason.

6 Leader in the crowd and crowd control mechanisms

Often the behavior of a crowd is determined by the presence or absence of a leader. A leader in a crowd can appear as a result of a spontaneous choice, and often in the order of self-designation. The self-appointed leader usually adapts to the moods and feelings of the people in the crowd and can relatively easily induce the participants to behave in a certain type.

Any gathering of individuals instinctively obeys the power of the leader. The hero worshiped by the crowd is truly a god for her. In the soul of the crowd, it is not the desire for freedom that prevails, but the need for submission. The crowd is so eager to obey that it instinctively submits to the one who claims to be its master.

People in the crowd lose their will and instinctively turn to the one who has kept it. Always ready to rebel against a weak government, the crowd cringes and bows before a strong government. Left to their own devices, the crowd soon grows tired of their own turmoil and instinctively strives for slavery.

The crowd is as intolerant as it is gullible about authority. She respects strength and lends itself little to the influence of kindness, which means for her only a kind of weakness. She demands strength and even violence from the hero, wants to be possessed, suppressed. She longs to fear her master. The power of the leaders is very despotic, but it is this despotism that makes the crowd obey.

In a crowd of people, the leader is often only a leader, but, nevertheless, his role is significant. His will is the core around which opinions crystallize and unite. The role of leaders is mainly to create faith, whatever it is. This explains their great influence on the crowd.

Most often, the leaders are mentally unbalanced people, half-crazy, on the verge of insanity. As absurd as the idea they proclaim and defend, and the goal they strive for, their convictions cannot be shaken by any reasoning. There is one more quality with which the leaders of the crowd are usually distinguished: they do not belong to the number of thinkers - they are people of action.

The leader class is divided into two categories:

people are energetic, with a strong willpower that appears only for a short time;
people with a strong and at the same time persistent will (they are much less common).

One of the important factors determining the influence of a leader on a crowd is his charm... Charisma is a kind of domination of an idea or personality over the mind of an individual. It can consist of opposite feelings, for example, admiration and fear, and be of two types: acquired and personal. Personal charm is different from artificial or acquired and does not depend on title or power. It is based on personal superiority, on military glory, on religious fear, but not only on this. Many different factors are involved in the nature of charm, but success has always been and remains one of the most important.

Crowd control has a dual nature, for the crowd is almost always the object of control of two forces: on the one hand, it is led by leaders, leaders; on the other hand, the crowd is occupied by the forces of the protection of public order, the power administrative structures.

The possibilities of crowd control differ significantly depending on who seeks to be a leader in it - a demagogue or an intellectual. As they say in the East, the one who wants to control the crowd tries to saddle the tiger. However, it is much more difficult to manage individuals than a crowd.

A speaker wishing to captivate a crowd must overuse strong language. Exaggerating, arguing, repeating, and never trying to prove anything with reasoning are ways of arguing for the crowd.

A statement then only affects the crowd when it is repeated many times in the same expressions: in this case, the idea is embedded in the minds so firmly that it is ultimately perceived as a proven truth, and then it cuts into the deepest areas of the unconscious. This technique is also quite successfully used by the leaders or leaders of the crowd.

A theoretical analysis of the mechanisms of crowd formation can, to some extent, help administrative bodies to control its behavior. They are faced with a two-fold task:

1) to awaken the awareness of the crowd of individuals of their actions, to return to them the lost feelings of self-control and responsibility for their behavior;

2) prevent the formation of a crowd or disband an already formed crowd.

reorientation of the attention of individuals who make up the crowd. As soon as the attention of people in the crowd is distributed among several objects, separate groups are immediately formed, and the crowd, just united by the "image of the enemy" or the readiness for joint actions, immediately disintegrates. The traits of the personality structure of individuals, suppressed by the influence of the crowd, come to life - each person individually begins to regulate his behavior. The crowd ceases to be active, functioning and gradually dissipates;
a loudspeaker announcement that covert cameras are filming crowd members;
addressing crowd members with the name of specific surnames, names, patronymics most common in a given area;
the use of measures to capture and isolate the leaders of the crowd. If, due to some accident, the leader disappears and is not immediately replaced by another, the crowd again becomes a simple gathering without any connection or stability. In this case, it is easier to carry out activities to disperse the crowd.

Generally speaking, it is very difficult to speak with a crowd with the voice of reason. She only takes orders and promises.

7 Communication in the crowd

Communication plays an especially important role in the emergence of a crowd as a process of exchanging messages that are meaningful to them.

It is known that an individual becomes a participant in spontaneous behavior, either by becoming infected with the directly observed behavior of others, or by learning about it through official or unofficial communication channels. Some of these behaviors arise in the context of acute information shortages or ineffective messaging systems.

People are ready to succumb to contagious action from others when this action is consistent with their ideas and beliefs. Obviously, mental infection would be impossible if people did not see the actions and deeds of others and did not hear about them. Mental infection can generate feelings along the entire length of the emotional scale - both positive, enthusiastic and negative, feelings of despondency and depression.

Where an individual is deprived of the opportunity to directly perceive the picture of the behavior of others, the media - newspapers, radio, television and cinema - play an increasingly important role.

In any society, along with the systems of official communication, unofficial systems operate in parallel. They touch at different points. For example, the content of informal communication - conversations, gossip, gossip, rumors - go to the pages printed publications or become the subject of conversations by a television commentator who promotes their dissemination. And, even more so, important messages mass media communication is usually discussed with friends or family.

Therefore, the consciousness of the individual often contains an interpretation shared by his neighbors, friends, relatives, travel companions. The anger caused, say, by the announcement of the introduction of a new tax or a rise in prices, is easily understood by the interlocutor, because he experiences the same feelings ... This is the first condition for preparing mass behavior.

Literature:

American Sociological Thought. - M., 1994.
Lebon G. Psychology of peoples and masses. - SPb., 1996.
Mitrokhin S. Treatise on the crowd // XX century and the world. - 1990. No. 11.
Moskovichi S. Century of crowds. - M., 1996.
Criminal crowd. - M., 1998.
Psychology of domination and subordination: a reader. - Minsk, 1998.
Psychology of the Masses: A Reader. - Samara, 1998.
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Social Psychology. Tutorial. Series "Higher Education" Authors: R.I. Mokshantsev, A.V. Mokshantseva. Moscow-Novosibirsk, 2001

What is a crowd? What effect does it have on a person? It is this problem that is raised in the text of V.N. Kazakov.

In this text, the author notes that "the man of the crowd is no longer a man."

In works from Russian literature there are examples that show the power of the crowd over a person. the main character from the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time", from the very birth he tried to please the "crowd". Gregory was modest - he was accused of cunning, and he became secretive; he was ready to love the world - no one understood him, and Pechorin learned to hate.

And Boris Vasiliev's work "Satisfy My Sorrows" describes the destructive property of the crowd. The main heroine of this novel is the girl Nadia, who wanted to become a journalist. She got to Khodynskoye field, where the celebration took place on the occasion of the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II. This celebration soon turned into a huge a crush in which the main thing was not to fall, because a fall meant death.

I believe that V.N. Kazakov is certainly right. Even in our time, a person cannot always resist the crowd. Examples from literature prove the negative influence of the crowd on a person. A crowd is a gathering of people who obey the circumstances and cannot resist other people. But a person must remain a "person" who does not imitate the animal herd.

Updated: 2017-04-12

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Using the text you read, complete ONLY ONE of the tasks on a separate sheet: 9.1, 9.2 or 9.3. Before writing an essay, write down the number of the selected task: 9.1, 9.2 or 9.3.

9.1 Write a reasoning essay revealing the meaning of the statement famous linguist Viktor Vladimirovich Vinogradov: "All means of language are expressive, you just need to skillfully use them." Arguing your answer, give two examples from the text you read. When giving examples, include numbers the necessary proposals or use quotation. You can write a work in a scientific or journalistic style, revealing a topic in linguistic material. You can start the essay with the words of V.V. Vinogradov.

A work written without reference to the text read (not according to this text) is not evaluated. If the essay is a retelling or completely rewritten of the original text without any comments, then such work is rated zero. Write an essay carefully, legible handwriting.

9.2 Write a reasoning essay. Explain how you understand the meaning of the phrase from the text: "In the crowd, either they do not notice anyone, or everyone is roaming somewhere in a herd ..." Give in the essay two arguments from the text that you read, confirming your reasoning.

When giving examples, indicate the numbers of the desired sentences or use quotations.

The length of the essay must be at least 70 words. A work written without reference to the text read (not according to this text) is not evaluated. If the essay is a retelling or completely rewritten of the original text without any comments, then such work is rated zero. Write an essay carefully, legible handwriting.

9.3 How do you understand the meaning of the word CROWD? Formulate and comment on your definition. Write an essay-reasoning on the topic: "What is a crowd", taking your definition as a thesis.

Arguing your thesis, give 2 examples-arguments that confirm your reasoning: give one example-argument from the text you read, and the second from your life experience.

The length of the essay must be at least 70 words.

If the essay is a retelling or completely rewritten of the original text without any comments, then such work is rated zero.

Write an essay carefully, legible handwriting.

(1) After the incident with the teenagers, who almost took the priceless camera away from the young cameramen, Olya sadly said:

- (2) A crowd of scoundrels ... (3) And you can't hide from them anywhere - they are everywhere.

(4) Neilka, alarmed by something, said quietly and irreconcilably:

- (5) You can't hide forever, but we don't need a crowd in our city.

- (6) Where can you go, since she is, - muttered Boris.

- (7) I'm not talking about the city at all, but about which is ours. (8) The one that we ... make ... - Neilka was referring to the fairytale city that they tried to create in their film.

(9) But on this Nilka did not end the conversation about the crowd. (10) It can be seen that something caught him, opened up an old wound. (11) He spoke with a painful note, as if touching a sick tooth with his tongue:

- (12) In the crowd, either they do not notice anyone, or they all stick somewhere in a herd ... (13) Daddy says that this is a crowd syndrome; he told me this after one incident ...

- (14) What? - asked Fedya. (15) For some reason I felt sorry for Nilku.

- (16) It's a shame to remember ...

- (17) Well, Neil, do not remember then, - Olya said docilely.

- (18) No, I will. (19) Because ... it will become easier for me ... (20) It was when I was still living in an old house, which is on Turgenev Street ...

(21) And while they wandered around like this, depressed, Nilka told about what happened two years ago.

(22) An old quarter stretched next to their five-story building, and there, in a rickety house, an old man lived. (23) His relatives either died or departed, so that he alone managed as best he could. (24) I lived on retirement, I did not dig a vegetable garden: apparently, there was no strength and hunting. (25) But once - whether it was a memory of childhood, or just eccentricity - he began to build a toy city among the abandoned beds. (26) From clay, from plaster, from shards and glass shards. (27) He worked every day: riveted patterned lattices from wire, molded and dried bricks in the sun, made houses and fortress walls out of them ...

(28) Apparently, he, this old man, was with talent and understood something in architecture. (29) The city - with quaint buildings, with a knight's castle in the middle, with bridges over a ravine - grew up in an abandoned vegetable garden like a small miracle. (30) At first, people laughed, then they began to stand at the low hedge for a long time, looked already seriously, admiring this man-made beauty,

there were also helpers from the guys. (31) They laid out the sparkling pavement with tin bottle caps, collected colored glass for mosaics, cut pieces from red plastic for tiles ...

(32) And he did not know Nilk, did not understand where the "conspiracy" came from the local boys. (33) Including those who used to help the old man during the day. (34) And it is completely incomprehensible why Nilka was in this conspiracy.

- (35) They came to me at dusk, called me. (36) They say a "covert operation" to avenge someone. (37) They say that this old man offended one of the guys, did not let him into the yard ... (38) Everyone gathered, secretly, as if they were scouts. (39) Interesting ... (40) They took the lanterns from somewhere ... (41) They crept up to the garden, the lanterns were turned on - and let's go around the city with stones like bombs ...

(42) They hurry, throw, and I also began, as if something had happened to me, and then one tower fell from my stone. (43) You know, as if I was over the head myself! (44) And then my eyes opened like a shout: "(45) What are you doing, you bastards!" (46) He roared - and home ... (47) Dad jumped out, and there was no one there. (48) And half of the city is gone ... (49) Dad kept asking me: “(50) Well, why did you go? (51) Why did you throw it? (52) You loved this city so much ... ”(53) And I just roar, because I myself do not know. (54) That's when he spoke about the crowd syndrome ...

- (55) Did the guys beat you later? Fedya asked hesitantly. - (56) For giving away.

- (57) Nope ... (58) It would be better if they beat me. (59) Otherwise, I could not walk past that vegetable garden. (60) Past the ruins ... (61) Because as a traitor ...

- (62) You were little, - Olya tried to console him.

- (63) Well, yes, small. (64) Seven and a half! ..

- (65) Did the old man not restore the city? Boris asked.

- (66) He was fixing something. (67) But somehow already reluctantly. (68) And the tower that I ... it remained ... (69) Then we left, and the old man, they say, soon died ... (70) Maybe because of this ... (71) And I am still ashamed I burn that I was in this crowd of boys destroying wonderful city that behaved like they ...

According to V.P. Krapivin*)

* Vladislav Petrovich Krapivin (born 1938) - Soviet and Russian children's writer, author of books about children and for children. Vladislav Krapivin's books have been republished many times in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Hungary, translated into English, Spanish, Persian and other languages.

Which answer option contains the information necessary to substantiate the answer to the question: "Why did Neil decide to tell the guys the story of how he and the boys smashed the old man's toy town?"

2) In the depths of his soul, Nilka was proud of his deed, it seemed to him a manifestation of courage.

3) Neal talked about his ugly act because he needed to ease his conscience.

4) Nilka wanted the city they are now creating with the guys to be as beautiful as the old man's town.

Explanation.

The third answer contains the information necessary to substantiate the answer to the question: “Why did Neal decide to tell the guys the story of how he and the boys smashed the old man's toy city?” In sentences (18) No, I will. (19) Because ... it will become easier for me ... we get the information we need.

Answer: 3.

Answer: 3

Explanation.

15.1 The perception of others depends on how a person speaks: what impression he will make, how his words will be perceived, whether he will achieve the goals pursued. One of the means of attractiveness of the interlocutor is the expressiveness of his speech, which is impossible without mastering the norms of the culture of speech.

In the text of Vladislav Krapivin there are dialogues, which can be used to trace how skillfully their authors know how to use the word to convey what they would like to say. For example, in sentence 12 (In the crowd, either no one is noticed, or everyone is roaming somewhere in a herd ...) Nilk uses the jargon "rod", which turns out to be very appropriate in defining the actions of the crowd: the crowd is an element, an unpredictable, destructive force.

When Neilka's speech is agitated, his sentences are short, with an ellipsis at the end of such sentences. The ellipsis is used as a sign of ambiguity, reflections that remain behind the text. An example is sentences 57, 60, 61.

Thus, examples from the above text confirm the statement of the outstanding linguist V.V. Vinogradova: "All means of language are expressive, you just need to skillfully use them."

15.2 For the hero of the story, Vladislav Krapivin, the memories of the shameful act committed by him under the influence of the crowd remain very painful. The crowd is an element, an unpredictable, destructive force. This is exactly what the phrase is about: "In the crowd, they either do not notice anyone, or they all stick somewhere in a herd ..."

It happens that in life we do things for which then we are ashamed of our whole life. The hero of the text V. Krapivina recalls exactly such an act. Years later, Neilka could not forget the shameful cowardice when he succumbed to the crowd syndrome. He does not even remember why he began to destroy the city: “They are in a hurry, throwing, and I also began, as if something had happened to me, and then one tower fell from my stone” (sentence 42).

When the boy came to his senses, he challenged the crowd: “And then my eyes opened, I shouted like:“ What are you doing, you bastards! ” He roared - and home ... ”(sentences 44-46). Of course, repentance came, but it was too late: the fairytale city was destroyed.

The story told by the hero is very topical. We come across such conciliation in the crowd very often. Resisting the decision of the crowd is very difficult and subject only to strong man.

15.3 The topic of the relationship between the individual and the crowd is a traditional topic for Russian literature. What do we mean by the word "crowd"? In my opinion, the crowd is a terrible word - at once a chaotic group of people, obsessed with some idea, does not think much about the meaning of this idea, is incapable of analysis, destroying, sowing evil in its path.

This is exactly how the crowd appears in an excerpt from the work of Vladislav Krapivin. The frenzied flock of boys, who endured a conspiracy against the old man, destroyed not only the city he built, destroyed the meaning of his life, destroyed the soul of a boy who could not withstand the crowd and the destructive principle in himself.

The story told by the hero is very topical. We come across such conciliation in the crowd very often. Resisting the decision of the crowd is very difficult and subject only to a strong person. From your own weakness in the company of adolescents, you can become a drug addict, alcoholic, criminal. This happens because a person does not have the strength to say "no", at this moment only one thought drives him: to be like everyone else, not to stand out, not to lose the support of others. But who gets worse from this? I would like to appeal to peers: to have your own opinion is right, good and cool; if your opinion is despised by others, think about whether you are with the right people.

Relevance: Corresponds to the demo version of the current year

A crowd is an unstructured gathering of people, devoid of a clearly perceived commonality of goals, but mutually related by the similarity of their emotional state and a common object of attention.

VG Belinsky wrote: "A crowd is a gathering of people living according to legend and reasoning according to authority."

G. Le Bon gave a very figurative definition of the crowd: "The crowd is like leaves raised by a hurricane and carried in different directions, and then falling to the ground."

Famous researchers of crowd psychology are Gustave Le Bon, Wilfred Trotter, Gabriel Tarde, Sigmund Freud, Elias Canetti.

Crowd classification

By the degree of organization:

Elemental crowd... It arises spontaneously, not organized by any persons. This type includes such crowds as a crowd of people in the subway or in the lobby of a cinema. Although they gathered for a specific occasion, the crowd itself has no instigators.

Led crowd- a crowd organized by the leaders. Such a crowd has instigators. An interesting type of driven crowd is a flash mob - a crowd of people that suddenly gathers in one place and just as suddenly disappears. Flash mobs are usually organized over the Internet.

Organized crowd... A crowd with a pronounced organization, orderliness. The concept was introduced by Gustave Le Bon, who considered such formations as a company of soldiers and even a sitting of parliament to be a kind of crowd. Le Bon also used the term soulful crowd, emphasizing that the crowd has its own soul. Many researchers disagree with such an extended interpretation and believe that only an unorganized mass of people can be called a crowd.

By the nature of people's behavior:

Occasional crowd- a bunch of curious (onlookers), for example, a crowd gathered on the occasion of a car accident.

Conventional crowd- a crowd gathered on a pre-known occasion (festival, carnival, etc.)

Expressive crowd- a crowd expressing general emotions (protest, jubilation, etc.).

Ecstatic crowd- a crowd engulfed in ecstasy.

Acting crowd- a crowd performing physical actions.

Aggressive crowd- the mass of people performing destructive actions.
Panic crowd- a crowd fleeing from someone (something).
Money-grubbing crowd- a crowd fighting for values.
Rebel crowd- a crowd opposing the authorities.

Crowd dynamics

If the crowd or parts of it move in any way, then the following division can be given:

Sparse crowd- each individual constituting it can move relatively freely in any chosen direction.

Petrifying crowd- the movement of an individual is possible only in a common direction with the entire crowd, while attempts to deviate from him meet with increasing resistance.

Monolithic crowd- any individual independent movement is impossible, the pressure in the crowd exceeds the capabilities of the human body, everyone is concerned only with their own survival, crush.

Psychological characteristics of an individual in a crowd

In a crowd, an individual acquires a number of specific psychological characteristics that may not be at all characteristic of him if he is in an isolated state. These features have the most direct impact on his behavior in the crowd. A person in a crowd is characterized by the following traits. Anonymity... An important feature of the self-perception of an individual in a crowd is the feeling of his own anonymity. Lost in the "faceless mass", acting "like everyone else", a person ceases to be responsible for his own actions.

Instinctiveness... In a crowd, the individual surrenders himself to the power of such instincts, which he never, being in other situations, gives free rein to. Unconsciousness... The conscious personality disappears in the crowd, dissolves. The predominance of the unconscious personality, the same direction of feelings and ideas, determined by suggestion, and the desire to immediately turn the suggested ideas into action are characteristic of the individual in the crowd. State of unity (association)... In a crowd, the individual feels the power of human association, which influences him with its presence. The impact of this force is expressed either in support and strengthening, or in restraining and suppressing individual human behavior. Hypnotic trance state... The individual, having spent some time among the acting crowd, falls into a state that resembles the state of a hypnotized subject.

Feeling overwhelming... The individual in the crowd acquires the consciousness of an irresistible force, thanks to sheer numbers.

Infectivity... In a crowd, any action is contagious to such an extent that the individual very easily sacrifices his personal interests to the interest of the crowd. Amorphousness... In the crowd, the individual traits of people are completely erased, their originality and personal uniqueness disappear. Irresponsibility... In a crowd, a person completely loses a sense of responsibility, which is almost always a restraining principle for an individual. Social degradation... Becoming a part of the crowd, a person, as it were, descends several steps lower in his development.

Crowd Control Mechanisms

The mechanisms of mass behavior can be used by politicians of any views and any moral level. In such cases, the crowd becomes a plaything in the hands of the leader. Usually, people eager to lead a crowd intuitively know how to influence it. They know that in order to convince a crowd, you must first understand what feelings inspire it, pretend to share them, and then conjure up images of the crowd that seduce them. The crowd should always present any ideas in whole images, without pointing out their origin. A speaker wishing to captivate a crowd must overuse strong language. Exaggerating, arguing, repeating, and never trying to prove anything with reasoning are ways of arguing for the crowd. A statement then only affects the crowd when it is repeated many times in the same expressions: in this case, the idea is embedded in the minds so firmly that it is ultimately perceived as a proven truth, and then it cuts into the deepest areas of the unconscious. This technique is also quite successfully used by the leaders or leaders of the crowd. A theoretical analysis of the mechanisms of crowd formation can, to some extent, help administrative bodies to control its behavior. They are faced with a task of two kinds: 1) to awaken the awareness of the crowd of individuals of their actions, to return to them the lost feelings of self-control and responsibility for their behavior; 2) prevent the formation of a crowd or disband an already formed crowd. Effective means can be considered the following: - reorientation of the attention of individuals who make up the crowd. As soon as the attention of people in the crowd is distributed among several objects, separate groups are immediately formed, and the crowd, just united by the "image of the enemy" or the readiness for joint actions, immediately disintegrates. The traits of the personality structure of individuals, suppressed by the influence of the crowd, come to life - each person individually begins to regulate his behavior. The crowd ceases to be active, functioning and gradually dissipates; - Announcement over a loudspeaker that video filming of crowd participants is being carried out by hidden cameras; - an appeal to crowd members with the name of specific surnames, names, patronymics, which are most common in a given area; - the use of measures to capture and isolate the leaders of the crowd. If, due to some accident, the leader disappears and is not immediately replaced by another, the crowd again becomes a simple gathering without any connection or stability. In this case, it is easier to carry out activities to disperse the crowd.

Generally speaking, it is very difficult to speak with a crowd with the voice of reason. She only takes orders and promises.

The word "instinct" has two meanings. The first is the innate ability to carry out the necessary actions in an unusual situation, for example, the instinct of self-preservation, the second is internal feelings, for example, to understand something by the instinct of a loved one. You can never obey the spontaneous actions of the crowd, instincts. Sometimes a person really needs an instinct, but they need to be reasonably guided.

The crowd is a great force that can subjugate a person's will, lead, overcome obstacles and prohibitions. Each of us is well aware of the deaths of people in a spontaneous crowd. How to be saved from this calamity?

There are times when a crowd is created to achieve a common goal. If, for example, workers see injustice on the part of the leadership, violation of their own rights, they go on strike. Where the voice of one person is not heard, a rich-voiced wall will help to achieve the goal, the position of which cannot be ignored in the decision important issues... With the help of mass events, justice is often achieved, important political issues are resolved.

The crowd can form during musical events, entertainment events, holidays, concerts. Such a crowd also cannot be called harmful. People gather together who are united by one goal: attraction to interesting events, the desire for active recreation. But even with such peaceful events, unforeseen situations can occur. Among the visitors there may be one person or a group of drunk people who are capable of starting a fight or starting hooligan actions, a fire may suddenly break out or some other disaster may occur.

It is in such cases that the actions of the crowd become unpredictable. People are driven by panic, they are not always able to adequately assess the situation, the consequences of their actions can be dire. If there is a fight, others are often involuntarily involved in it, and then a person who had nothing to do with the quarrel becomes a participant in it. When you suddenly have to leave the premises (for a fire or other accident), everyone immediately forgets to perform those simple actions that we are taught from childhood, namely: during a mass movement, keep calm, not push, move in an orderly direction in the direction of the exit.

We are all familiar with the fire safety or civil defense training that is held annually at school or higher educational institution... Pupils, accompanied by teachers and administration, do an excellent job with the task. IN real life we see a crowd of people, fast and moving at random, pushing those around us with a shout and horror. It's good if these people are strong enough to stay on their feet. Otherwise - injuries, injuries, even death of people!

Fortunately, I have not had to get into such terrible situations, but I have repeatedly thought about how I would behave in the event of an unexpected situation. I remembered well what I was taught at school. I am sure that in any case I will not panic and will try to first assess the situation and make a "sober" decision.

The concept of "crowd" has many meanings. The instinct of the crowd guides the youth in the disco, during the trip to nature, just for a walk. "Everyone smoked, and I tried" - we often hear similar statements. Very rarely, a person really understands why she does, "like everyone else." And if "everyone" was still drinking or trying drugs? You will have to fight against alcohol or drug addiction yourself, without the help of the crowd.

It is often not easy to go against the crowd. Comrades begin to persecute you, they consider you a "black sheep". But if you confidently adhere to your principles and do not pay to the "shaky" path, gradually the attitude changes: they begin to reckon with you, begin to respect you as a person. Therefore, protesting against crowd instinct can be beneficial.

The "crowd instinct" does not at all refer to the vital human instincts, it should rely on in order to survive, in order to remain human.