There is a basic human need to be part of a group. We move through many on a daily basis. Individuals gather for countless reasons; from organized events to unintentionally on a busy street.
The increase of mass media also allows the rapid exchange of information and opinions around the world to form online groups. For example, #100daystogo is currently trending on twitter – a mixture of thousands of people and companies sharing their views and sponsorship offers on the Olympics. A perfect opportunity to influence the masses.
Most of us are used to communicating with words whereas in a crowd, body language plays a large part. A simple gesture from someone in a crowd can encourage an upsurge of actions. Seeing a group of shoppers bustling round a sales rack is more intriguing than seeing just one, causing more to follow suit.
Zimbardo called it ‘deindividuation’: loss of individual identity and a gaining of collective identity as the group. Arguing that in a large crowd, an individual becomes unidentifiable – more likely to lose inhibitions and act in a way they wouldn’t usually. The responsibility of actions becomes shared amongst others.
Social Psychologist, Stanley Milgram, explored the impact of not feeling directly responsible for your own actions. In his experiment, participants were asked by a figure of authority to administer potentially lethal electric shocks (not real, but this was unknown at the time) to others in response to them making mistakes in a simple test. Over 65% of participants followed orders to give the shocks.
The suggestion is that we are more likely to take instruction and advice from a trusted member of society. More Th>n insurance recognized this with the use of the ‘More than Freeman’ voice in their advertising campaign.
It is not to say that people lose their individualities completely when in a crowd; however they are more likely to become more suggestible and act from their less responsible self.
Lauren Overton
Consumer Analyst
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