Humans are often predisposed to the willingness to remain a part of the crowd and change their behaviors to remain adherent to common values and aspirations. Research related to the concept of the influence of the community on individual humans relies on the notion of herd mentality (also known as pack mentality or mob mentality). The latter means that the ‘herd’ averts relying on their own instincts and chooses to follow the chosen group’s mentality (Sanderson, 2021). As a result, the herd turns out to be majorly ignoring the changes occurring within their natural environment, as they are preoccupied with following the rules of the herd. The United States Capitol recently became a victim of mob mentality, with numerous people committing criminal acts merely because other protestors near them chose aggression as their primary instrument of protesting. The scenes of the Capitol being attacked could be compared to the era when the US was flooded with lynching and violence.
From the sociological point of view, herd mentality is a dynamic concept that can change under the influence of external factors. The existing research on the subject yet has to be extended because the power of the collective mind and its destructive potential should be investigated further. The key idea about the recent insurrection of the US Capitol or any instance of aggressive herd mentality is that crowds are unpredictable and rarely display humility when confronted by law enforcement (Charness & Chen, 2020). The causation behind protests is often linked to the inability of human nature to avoid the process of selection when they prefer to conform to the group rules instead of capitalizing on their individuality. The perceived like-mindedness among the members of the ‘herd’ is what usually moves the group forward and motivates them to perform unexpected acts of violence.
In both psychological and sociological studies, it is clearly stated that the fact of being in a group completely changes individual behavior, causing people to alter their worldviews to be able to remain a part of the target group (Charness & Chen, 2020; Ma et al., 2017). The social mind was shaped in a way that forces humans to join the cause if they feel like it could improve their individual lives as well. The so-called bystander effect becomes a reality, and even the most distant individuals start participating in activities they would have never taken place in otherwise. These activities may range from helping a person in the street to attacking the US Capitol, apparently, making herd mentality one of the crucial contributors to the most moving events across the country (Sanderson, 2021). The greater is the level of diffusion of responsibility, the more chances there are that an individual is going to avoid their concerns.
This strong influence of deindividuation may go beyond the whole crowd of protestors and impact law enforcement officers as well. Even the presence of a definite social structure does not protect the US community as a whole from the repetition of the events that occurred during the 1960s (Schneider, 2020). Accordingly, the bigger problem linked to herd mentality is the presence of law enforcement officers who have positive sentiments toward the protestors but still have to prevent them from causing more damage to the environment or other people. The event that took place in Washington, DC, recently is a perfect embodiment of the concept of herd mentality that cannot be stopped. Most law enforcement officers only had a chance to prevent some of the damages, as the destructive behaviors displayed by the crowd were too excessive and violent.
References
Charness, G., & Chen, Y. (2020). Social identity, group behavior, and teams. Annual Review of Economics, 12, 691-713.
Ma, Y., Li, L., Zhang, H., & Chen, T. (2017). Experimental study on small group behavior and crowd dynamics in a tall office building evacuation. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 473, 488-500.
Sanderson, C. (2021). Trump mob mentality: A charismatic leader with an armed following and a Capitol target. USA TODAY. Web.
Schneider, K. J. (2020). The polarized mind: It’s killing us and what we can do about it. University Professors Press.