Psychology of the crowd and behavior in the crowd: how can we protect ourselves?

national characteristics of crowd behavior

Psychologists and anthropologists call the mechanism of crowd formation “evolutionary regression”. In its course, the lower layers of the paleocortex, the most ancient part of the cerebral cortex, are revived and updated. They take us back to the early phases of our evolution. And all the achievements of civilization are removed layer by layer.

The crowd activates layers in us much deeper than those on which national differences come into force. Although cultural differences in the mechanisms of formation and behavior of the crowd, of course, there are. For example, in London in the 60s, a woman could walk down the street completely naked, and no crowds would have arisen because of this (and will not arise now either).

And here is a real case that happened in Turkey. The year seems to be 1969. Islamic fanatics have discovered a semi-underground communist cell. The crowd goes on the assault to the cries of “Allah Akbar!”, The communists are preparing to fight back with stocked “Molotov cocktails”.

And suddenly, somewhere on the periphery, four American tourists appear – blondes in miniskirts. For the then Turkey, this is something generally unprecedented! So what? Heads turn as if on command, and a couple of dozen people remain from the aggressive crowd of rioters, who are also in no hurry to storm, seeing that they were left without support.

And the rest run to stare at almost naked American women. The police did not want to quarrel with the Americans, and the girls were protected. Although the police were in no hurry to protect the communists. Here is a typical example of cultural differences. But if an aggressive crowd nevertheless begins to smash and destroy everything in its path, then it will cause equally many troubles: even in England, even in Turkey, even in China – anywhere.

the crowd is not necessarily bad and dangerous?

Crowds arise so easily, for any reason and even without them, because we are drawn to the crowd. This is a deep need to be periodically freed from the burden of social roles. And in general, from a person, after all, a person is a big burden, to be a person all the time, to constantly bear responsibility – this is very difficult. Sometimes I want to take a break.

The crowd can serve the purpose of dropping aggression, relieving tension. And we definitely need festivals, carnivals, processions from time to time – to gather in a crowd and “break away”, take a break from the burden of our own personalities and responsibilities. Another thing is that such events should always be very carefully organized, they should be planned by people who understand the psychology of the crowd, who know how to work with it.

But any other “benefit” from the crowd is very relative. As a maximum, the crowd can destroy something unnecessary and harmful. Let’s say, to take the poorly fortified Bastille – it was the crowd that did it. But she cannot build anything in her place. The crowd does not create.

How can you work with a crowd?

The crowd is controlled, and often by rather primitive methods, which, of course, are known to specialists. First you need to understand that there are different types of crowds. For example, if the crowd is moving with the intention of killing someone, then it is very correct to introduce several people into it who will change the behavior of the crowd: for example, they will start breaking shop windows and robbing expensive stores along the way.

The crowd will gladly switch to this activity and turn from aggressive to acquisitive. If we are talking about a real situation and a real threat to lives, then the main thing is to do without victims. And let expensive shops suffer better than innocent people.

And the expressive crowd, for example, is very well influenced by the musical rhythm. At one time, American embassies in Latin America used this very skillfully: they turned on all sorts of incendiary rhythms loudly when crowds of protesters gathered under the windows. And in South Africa they even invented a “musical tank”. It is equipped with hoses and powerful loudspeakers. Moves towards the crowd and turns on loud rhythmic music. And people really start to dance.

And sometimes we do things that would never have occurred to us, whether we were alone or in the company of loved ones. And it is important to destroy this anonymity, to return people to their identity.

Two classic examples. The first – from Ilf and Petrov, when the crowd on the street is going to beat Panikovsky. What does Ostap Bender do? He puts on some kind of pseudo-police cap and penetrates into the core of the crowd: “What do we have here, comrades? Criminal, everything is clear, let’s write down the witnesses – your name and surname, please. And that’s it – the crowd immediately disperses!

The second is from the Gospel, when Jesus Christ intercedes for a harlot who is about to be stoned. After all, from a psychological point of view, this is a very difficult moment for him. Support the crowd, say – hit? Yeah, and who read sermons about philanthropy here? To say “do not touch” – yeah, so you, then, support fornication! His answer is brilliant. He says, “Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” He restores personality to everyone in the crowd, making people think about their own sins. This is deanonymization.

Does the behavior of the crowd depend on its composition?

If there are women and children in the crowd, then it is more likely to turn into a panic one. This is when people run in horror, not sorting out the road, literally over each other’s heads, just to get out of this very crowd. Women and children are the first to panic, they are more sensitive in this sense. And they carry the rest with them: the fact is that the sounds of high tones are panic-producing.

For example, when the Kalmyk cavalry rushed to the attack and squealed, this had a much stronger effect on the enemy than a courageous bass “cheers”. And to work with people in a state of panic, you definitely need a low, male voice. And if a female squeal arises in the crowd, this, of course, immediately increases the risk of panic.

What is important to know for an ordinary person who is in the crowd

It is important for an ordinary person to understand how he can get out of the crowd. It is good, for example, to find some kind of landmark for yourself – a building, a monument, a noticeable tree – and gradually move in its direction. The crowd moves in waves and chaotically, but if you constantly keep the direction to your landmark, then you will surely get to it.

But the most important thing is to imagine that you are at work. It is not easy, but if it succeeds, then you are protected from any emotions that the crowd infects all its participants.

So, during natural disasters or social upheavals – when panic crowds are just formed – doctors, firefighters or rescuers never panic. It can be very difficult for them, but they do their job, and this psychological attitude is more important. The psychological attitude is more important than any fears and other emotions. “I do my job and everything else falls back.”