Crowd Control

By: Justin Sharpley

                

 Group behavior and obedience is a two edged sword. Behaving a certain way based on the group we are a part of is something we are all failure with but sometimes the role changes based on the desired outcome of that group interaction/involvement.  One example is when there is an altercation on a playground involving adolescents. Inevitably, the two children having an argument will be surrounded by the other children witnessing the argument. After shouting words of encouragement, more often than not a chant of “fight! fight!” will begin. The children involved in the argument will then take the cue from the crowd and start throwing punches. This is of course an example of negative group behavior. 

                An example of positive group behavior could be at a standing room concert. You have a large group of people all enjoying the same show, singing the same songs, and all acting similar to one another. People are standing shoulder to shoulder, with everyone trying to get as close as they can to the stage in front of them, sometimes a part of the crowd will even start another behavior that may seem aggressive and start shoving one another and generally running into one another. This is of course aggressive behavior but it is rarely done in an angry way, evidence of this can be found when a person falls down in such a situation. People stop doing what they are doing, make space for the fallen person to get back up, and then continue to enjoy the show. This is of course dependent on the artist performing the show as well. The crowd will respond to the performer in a very unique way. The performer will control the crowd essentially taking a large group of strangers, bringing them together to the same mind space and then using that to control the crows and put on a show.

                These are both examples of group behavior in which different situations and circumstances control the behavior. Group behavior is something as small as how we act in an elevator, to something as large as how we act when in a group of our peers. Group behavior and the obedience of the group is something that has always been around and is a very strange thing. The idea of taking people of different backgrounds and unifying them is something we have all experienced, and positive or negative, it can be a very powerful thing.