Collective Behaviour

Collective behaviour describes the actions, thoughts, and feelings of relatively temporary and unstructured groups of people.

Characteristics of Collective Behaviour

1. Spontaneous and episodicTakes place occasionally rather than regularly and routinely.

2. UnstableShort-lived, no stable goals, values and expectations like institutionalized behaviour.

3. UnstructuredNot set rules, it is loosely structured.

4. UnpredictableSuch behaviour cannot be foretold.

5. IrrationalUnreasoning, beliefs, hops, fear and hatreds.

6. Emotional7. Based on considerable personal interaction8. Non-traditional

Not clearly according to norms and values.

Types of Collective Behaviour

There are three type of collective behaviour:

1. Crowd behaviour2. Mass behaviour3. Public and Public Opinion

Crowd BehaviourIt is a very important type of collective behaviour. A crowd is a large number of people who gather together with a common short-term/long-term purpose. Characteristics of Crowd Behaviour

1. Suggestibility2. Anonymity

3. Spontaneity4. Invulnerability

Types of Crowd Behaviour

Sociologist Herbert Blumer (1969) developed a popular typology of crowds based on their purpose and dynamics.

1. Casual crowds2. Conventional crowds

3. Expressive crowds4. Acting crowds

5. A fifth type, protest crowds, has also been distinguished by other scholars

Casual CrowdA casual crowd is a collection of people who happen to be in the same place at the

same time. It has no common identity or long-term purpose. e.g. A gathering of people who are waiting to cross the street and to this degree do have a common goal, but this goal is temporary. As Erich Goode (1992) emphasizes, "members of casual crowds have little else in common except their physical location."Conventional Crowd

A conventional crowd is a collection of people who gather for a specific purpose. They might be attending a movie, a play, a concert, or a lecture. Expressive Crowd

An expressive crowd is a collection of people who gather primarily to be excited and to express one or more emotions. e.g. include a religious revival, a political rally for a candidate. A conventional crowd may sometimes become an expressive crowd, as when the audience at a movie starts shouting if the film projector breaks. Acting Crowd

An acting crowd refers to a crowd where the members are actively doing something that is directly related to their goal. It is crowd by planed.  An acting crowd goes one important step beyond an expressive crowd by behaving in violent or other destructive behaviour such as looting. Acting crowds sometimes become so large and out of control that they develop into full-scale riots, which we discuss momentarily.Protest Crowd Clark McPhail and Ronald T. Wohlstein (1983) A protest crowd is a collection of people who gather to protest a political, social, cultural, or economic issue.

RiotsA violent disorder caused by a group or crowd of persons, as by a

crowd protesting against another group, a government policy etc. in the streets. A riot is a relatively spontaneous outburst of violence by a large group of people.

Types of RiotsProtest riots express discontent regarding a political, social, cultural, or economic issue.Celebration riots express joy or delight over an event or outcome, such as the celebration of a football team’s championship that gets out of hand. Protest riots are fundamentally political in nature, while celebration riots are decidedly apolitical.Another popular typology (Goode, 1992) distinguishes 4 types of riots:

1. Purposive2. Symbolic

3. Revalue's4. Issueless

Purposive are intended to achieve a specific goal regarding that issue. Colonial riots mentioned earlier are examples of purposive riots, as are many of the riots that have occurred in U.S. prisons during the past few decades. Symbolic riots express general discontent but do not really aim to achieve a specific goal. Revelous riots are the same as the celebration riots already discussed.

Issueless riots have no apparent basis or purpose. An example of an issueless riot is the looting and general violence that sometimes occurs during a citywide electrical outage.Mob: When a acting crowd starts to engaged in destructive and sometimes violet behaviour, they become a mob.

Mass BehaviourMass behaviour is a type of social behaviour and is defined as collective behaviour among people who are spatially dispersed from one another. Types of Mass behaviour

1. Mass Hysteria2. Rumours

3. Panic4. Fashion and Fads

Mass Hysteria

It is some form of irrational, compulsive behaviour spreads among people.  Mass hysteria is a common term used to describe a situation in which various people all suffer from similar hysterical symptoms. Mass hysteria is also known as collective hysteria, epidemic hysteria, or mass psychogenic illness. Rumours

A rumour is a piece of information gathered informally which is used to interpret an ambiguous situation. It arises in such a situation where people want some verifiable information but do not get or cannot get it. PanicIt is physical and psychological distance of people such as fire in a cinema hall, hotel etc.

Fashion and FadsWhen large number of people enthusiastically embrace some activity or object of a

short period of time. e.g. TV program at that time. Fashion is longer live than fads. Fashion is a continuing state of change. e.g. hair length and eyelashes' are best example of fashion.

Public and Public OpinionIt is an aggregate rather than a group. The people working on road, in farms, gathering in Mosque for payers. It has Three Elements:

1. Existence of a problem2. Discussion on the problem by the

people

3. Attempting to form collective opinion differ among the people

Contagion TheoryA French psychologist LeBon (1896) he described the theory of collective

behaviour based on contagion "some process moods, attitude and behaviour are communicated rapid and accepted uncritically". This theory maintains that a crowd can exert a hypnotic effect on its members. Anonymity of a crowd creates a condition in which people lose their identity and personal responsibility to a collective mind. This theory relies heavily on such idea as stimulus response and emotional contagion. Supposedly, as a crowd around and interacts, emotions are transmitted quickly from one person to another. This

transformation is facilitated through "circular reaction" or "a type of inter-stimulation" whereby one individual reproduces the simulation that has come from another and when back to this individual, reinforce the original stimulation.