Public opinion; Public relations; Publicity; Social psychology
The crowd is a state of mind which permeates society and its
individuals at almost all times. What becomes articulate in times of
stress under great excitement is present in the mind of the individual
at most times and explains in part why popular opinion is so positive
and so intolerant of contrary points of view. The college professor in
his study on a peaceful summer day is just as likely to be reacting as
a unit of a crowd-mind, as any member of a lynching party in Texas or
Georgia.
Mr. Trotter in his book, “Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War,”[15]
gives us further material for study. He discusses the underlying causes
and results of “herd” tendencies, stressing the herd’s cohesiveness.
The tendency the group has to standardize the habits of individuals
and to assign logical reasons for them is an important factor in the
work of the public relations counsel. The predominant point of view,
according to Mr. Trotter, which translates a rationalized point of view
into an axiomatic truth, arises and derives its strength from the fact
that it enlists herd support for the point of view of the individual.
This explains why it is so easy to popularize many ideas.
“The cardinal quality of the herd is homogeneity.”[16] The biological
significance of homogeneity lies in its survival value. The wolf
pack is many times as strong as the combined strength of each of its
individual members. These results of homogeneity have created the
“herd” point of view.
One of the psychological results of homogeneity is the fact that
physical loneliness is a real terror to the gregarious animal, and that
association with the herd causes a feeling of security. In man this
fear of loneliness creates a desire for identification with the herd in
matters of opinion. It is here, says Mr. Trotter,[17] that we find “the
ineradicable impulse mankind has always displayed towards segregation
into classes. Each one of us in his opinions and his conduct, in
matters of amusement, religion, and politics, is compelled to obtain
the support of a class, of a herd within the herd.”
Says Mr. Trotter:[18] “The effect of it will clearly be to make
acceptable those suggestions which come from the herd, and those only.
It is of especial importance to note that this suggestibility is not
general, and it is only herd suggestions which are rendered acceptable
by the action of instinct, and man is, for example, notoriously
insensitive to the suggestions of experience. The history of what is
rather grandiosely called human progress everywhere illustrates this.
If we look back upon the developments of some such thing as the steam
engine, we cannot fail to be struck by the extreme obviousness of each
advance, and how obstinately it was refused assimilation until the
machine almost invented itself.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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