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Herd mentality and mob mentality, also lesser known as Gang Mentality describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors. Examples of the herd mentality include political parties, globalism, stock market trends, superstition, and even home décor.^{[citation needed]}. In addition, based on a book by the American professor William Deresiewicz titled Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life, instances of herd mentality can also be found within the academia.^[1]

Social psychologists study the related topics of group intelligence, crowd wisdom, and decentralized decision making.

History

Herd mentality and herd behavior, also lesser known as Gang Mentality have been prevalent descriptors for human behavior since people began to form tribes, migrate in groups, and perform cooperative marketing and agricultural functions. The idea of a "group mind" or "mob behavior" was first put forward by 19th-century French social psychologists Gabriel Tarde and Gustave Le Bon. Herd behavior in human societies has also been studied by Sigmund Freud and Wilfred Trotter, whose book Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War is a classic in the field of social psychology. Sociologist and Economist Thorstein Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class illustrates how individuals imitate other group members of higher social status in their consumer behavior. More recently, Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point, examines how cultural, social, and economic factors converge to create trends in consumer behavior. In 2004, the New Yorker's financial columnist James Suroweicki published The Wisdom of Crowds.

Twenty-first-century academic fields such as marketing and behavioral finance attempt to identify and predict the rational and irrational behavior of investors. (See the work of Daniel Kahneman, Robert Shiller, Vernon L. Smith, and Amos Tversky.) Driven by emotional reactions such as greed and fear, investors can be seen to join in frantic purchasing and sales of stocks, creating bubbles and crashes. As a result, herd behavior is closely studied by behavioral finance experts in order to help predict future economic crises.^[2]

Evidence-based examples

Researchers at Leeds University performed a group experiments where volunteers were told to randomly walk around a large hall without talking to each other. A select few were then given more detailed instructions on where to walk. The scientists discovered that people end up blindly following one or two instructed people who appear to know where they’re going. The results of this experiments showed that it only takes 5% of confident looking and instructed people to influence the direction of the 95% of people in the crowd and the 200 volunteers did this without even realizing it.^[3]

References

^ Deresiewicz, William (2015). Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. Free Press. ISBN 9781476702728.
^ Fromlet, Hubert. "Predictability of Financial Crises: Lessons from Sweden for Other Countries." Business Economics 47.4个电话啥
^ "Sheep in human clothing - scientists reveal our flock mentality". University of Leeds Press Office. 14 February 2008.

External links

The Wisdom of Crowds and Iowa Electronic Market Statistics

[1] Deresiewicz, William (2015). Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life. Free Press. ISBN 9781476702728.

[2] Fromlet, Hubert. "Predictability of Financial Crises: Lessons from Sweden for Other Countries." Business Economics 47.4个电话啥

[3] "Sheep in human clothing - scientists reveal our flock mentality". University of Leeds Press Office. 14 February 2008.

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-'''Herd mentality''' and '''mob mentality''', also lesser known as '''Gang Mentality''' describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors. Examples of the herd mentality include political party's, globalism, [[stock market]] trends, [[superstition]], and even home décor.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}. In addition, based on a book by the American professor William Deresiewicz titled ''Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life'', instances of herd mentality can also be found within the academia.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Deresiewicz|first1=William|title=Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life|date=2015|publisher=Free Press|isbn=9781476702728}}</ref>
+'''Herd mentality''' and '''mob mentality''', also lesser known as '''Gang Mentality''' describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors. Examples of the herd mentality include political parties, globalism, [[stock market]] trends, [[superstition]], and even home décor.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}. In addition, based on a book by the American professor William Deresiewicz titled ''Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life'', instances of herd mentality can also be found within the academia.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Deresiewicz|first1=William|title=Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life|date=2015|publisher=Free Press|isbn=9781476702728}}</ref>
 Social psychologists study the related topics of [[group intelligence]], [[crowd wisdom]], and [[decentralized decision making]].