Collective behavior

Collective behavior is how people act together in large groups when reacting to a shared situation, problem, or event. It often happens without formal rules or a clear leader. When people interact in these situations, their actions can form patterns that are very different from what each person might do alone. This kind of behavior can appear suddenly, spread quickly, and disappear just as fast, which makes it different from organized activities like working at a company or playing on a sports team.[1][2] Sometimes it is planned, like a flash mob performance,[3] and sometimes it is unplanned, like a crowd running to escape danger.[4] It can happen in person, such as during protests,[5] or online, like when a meme spreads widely.[6]

Sociologists study collective behavior to understand how social interaction, emotions, and shared information affect large groups. One important feature is that it develops outside formal systems, so it does not follow set laws, traditions, or procedures.[2] It can have positive effects, such as volunteers organizing to help during a disaster,[7] or negative effects, such as panic buying during a crisis.[8] Common types include crowds, fads, and mass hysteria. There are also less-known examples like “milling,” when people in a crowd wander around trying to decide what to do, and “emergent norm theory,” which describes how new rules of behavior can appear quickly in unusual situations.[1][2]

A big factor in collective behavior is social contagion, where emotions or actions spread from person to person like an infection.[9] For example, laughter can become louder when more people join in,[10] and anger at a rally can grow stronger as speeches and chants increase emotions.[11] Social media speeds this up, turning a small protest into a global movement within hours.[12] While collective behavior is usually short-lived, it can sometimes lead to lasting changes, such as new laws or cultural norms.[5] Understanding it helps explain both the risks and the possibilities of people acting together outside formal organizations.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Neil J. Smelser, ed. (2013-10-15). Theory Collectve Behav Ils 258 (0 ed.). Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315008264. ISBN 978-1-136-27790-0.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Turner, Ralph H.; Killian, Lewis M. (1987). Collective behavior (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-140682-7.
  3. ↑ Al-Khateeb, Samer; Agarwal, Nitin (2021). "Flash mob: a multidisciplinary review". Social Network Analysis and Mining. 11 (1): 97. doi:10.1007/s13278-021-00810-7. ISSN 1869-5450. PMC 8510885. PMID 34659585.
  4. ↑ Berlonghi, Alexander E. (1995-02-01). "Understanding and planning for different spectator crowds". Safety Science. Engineering for Crowd Safety. 18 (4): 239–247. doi:10.1016/0925-7535(94)00033-Y. ISSN 0925-7535.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Tilly, Charles. Social movements, 1768 - 2004 (Reprinted ed.). Boulder, Colo.: Paradigm Publ. ISBN 978-1-59451-043-4.
  6. ↑ Shifman, Limor (2013-10-04). Memes in Digital Culture. The MIT Press. doi:10.7551/mitpress/9429.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-262-31769-6.
  7. ↑ Dynes, Russell R. (1994). "Community Emergency Planning: False Assumptions and Inappropriate Analogies". International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters.
  8. ↑ Yuen, Kum Fai; Wang, Xueqin; Ma, Fei; Li, Kevin X. (2020-05-18). "The Psychological Causes of Panic Buying Following a Health Crisis". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 17 (10): 3513. doi:10.3390/ijerph17103513. ISSN 1660-4601. PMC 7277661. PMID 32443427.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  9. ↑ Hatfield, Elaine; Cacioppo, John T.; Rapson, Richard L. (1994). Emotional contagion. Studies in emotion and social interaction. Cambridge [England] ; New York : Paris: Cambridge University Press ; Editions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme. ISBN 978-0-521-44498-9.
  10. ↑ Provine, Robert R. (1992-07-01). "Contagious laughter: Laughter is a sufficient stimulus for laughs and smiles". Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society. 30 (1): 1–4. doi:10.3758/BF03330380. ISSN 0090-5054.
  11. ↑ Collins, Randall (2014). Interaction ritual chains. Princeton Studies in Cultural Sociology. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12389-9.
  12. ↑ Castells, Manuel (2013). Networks of outrage and hope: social movements in the Internet age. Cambridge, UK Malden, MA: Polity. ISBN 978-0-7456-6285-5.
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