Human Nature and Conduct: An introduction to social psychology — John Shaqi
Human Nature and Conduct: An introduction to social psychologyDewey, John
Philosophy
Human Nature and Conduct: An introduction to social psychology
Dewey, John
Habit; Social psychology
[3] Mob psychology comes under the same principles, but in a
negative aspect. The crowd and mob express a disintegration
of habits which releases impulse and renders persons
susceptible to immediate stimuli, rather than such a
functioning of habits as is found in the mind of a club or
school of thought or a political party. Leaders of an
organization, that is of an interaction having settled
habits, may, however, in order to put over some schemes
deliberately resort to stimuli which will break through the
crust of ordinary custom and release impulses on such a scale
as to create a mob psychology. Since fear is a normal
reaction to the unfamiliar, dread and suspicion are the
forces most played upon to accomplish this result, together
with vast vague contrary hopes. This is an ordinary technique
in excited political campaigns, in starting war, etc. But an
assimilation like that of Le Bon of the psychology of
democracy to the psychology of a crowd in overriding
individual judgment shows lack of psychological insight. A
political democracy exhibits an overriding of thought like
that seen in any convention or institution. That is, thought
is submerged in habit. In the crowd and mob, it is submerged
in undefined emotion. China and Japan exhibit crowd
psychology more frequently than do western democratic
countries. Not in my judgment because of any essentially
Oriental psychology but because of a nearer background of
rigid and solid customs conjoined with the phenomena of a
period of transition. The introduction of many novel stimuli
creates occasions where habits afford no ballast. Hence great
waves of emotion easily sweep through masses. Sometimes they
are waves of enthusiasm for the new; sometimes of violent
reaction against it--both equally undiscriminating. The war
has left behind it a somewhat similar situation in western
countries.
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