Comprehensive Literature Review on the Dynamics of Mob Mentality

This literature review explores the concept of mob mentality, also known as herd behavior, examining how individuals are influenced by group dynamics. It defines mob mentality, discussing its historical roots with sociologists like Tarde and Le Bon, and exploring the role of social media in shaping modern mob behavior, including trolling and online harassment. The review analyzes experiments like the Asch conformity experiments and the bystander effect, illustrating how individuals often prioritize group conformity over independent judgment. It then provides examples of mob mentality in the United States, from the Salem Witch Trials to contemporary social media-driven incidents, and critically evaluates the psychology behind mob behavior, including social contagion theory and economic perspectives on herding. The review also explores the different types of crowds and their behaviors, highlighting the importance of understanding crowd psychology to address the negative impacts of mob mentality on society. The document is contributed by a student to be published on the website Desklib.

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW ON MOB MENTALITY
LITERATURE REVIEW ON MOB MENTALITY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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LITERATURE REVIEW ON MOB MENTALITY
Introduction
Mob Mentality is a term derived from observing crowd behavior in specific situations.
Known also as ‘herd mentality, mob mentality is the natural desire to be part of the mob without
putting an effort to take the right decision. Many studies have found that individuals are
excessively influenced by the people around them such as their neighbors. They have stopped
relying on their own instinct and this has caused them to be less responsive when it comes to
changes in their surrounding environment. The researchers who have conducted studies on mob
mentality have asserted that the influence of the society is a “powerful force in nature and
society” (Roadlesstravelled.me, 2019). Mob mentality could range from copying the buying
behavior neighbor to protesting against a government policy. The example of religious
persecution is one of the most prominent examples of mob mentality that could include the Nazis
and the Salem witch trials amongst others. In all such examples of religious persecutions, one
thing was common – mob mentality.
Understanding mob mentality involves understanding crowd behavior. In many widely
acknowledge studies regarding mob mentality, it has been confirmed that most people under the
circumstances where the majority believes in or follows one thing, would do the same. In the
Asch conformity experiments that were held in 1951 for instance, an unsuspecting respondent
was placed in a room with some actors (Verstegen 2014). It was revealed from the experiment
that the unsuspecting participating agreed to every incorrect answer of the majority.
The aim of the review of literature is to find and analyze such other studies that have
focused on mob mentality or herd mentality. The review will first provide an elaborate definition

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and explanation of mob mentality and the elements associated with it. The review will then
evaluate mob mentality critically based on the data received from reviewing the literature.
Literature review
Defining Mob Mentality
As already stated, mob mentality describes the way people are influenced by the people
around them that could be their peers or family members or neighbors to adopt behaviors based
on emotional grounds rather than on rational grounds. Gabriel Tarde and Gustave Le Bon were
supposedly the first sociologists to talk about mob behavior (Ohlberg, 2015). The two French
sociologists have talked about the mob behavior during the early 19th century.
Later, Sigmund Freud and Wilfred Trotter furthered the study on herd mentality. Some
researchers at the Leeds University also performed experiments involving groups to understand
the phenomenon of mob mentality. The volunteers were instructed to walk randomly around a
big hall without conversing with each other. Only a few amongst the volunteers were given
specific directions of where to walk. It was then revealed by the scientists that the rest of the
volunteers were following the selected few ones who looked to know where they were walking.
The results of the research further revealed that it takes only 5% of seemingly confident and
instructed people to influence the remaining 95% of people (Stott & Drury, 2017). Mob
mentality hence, could be defined as the mentality of the people in the mob to follow the
individuals or group that has confidence and asserts some command.
In the contemporary era, a new form of mob mentality is developing that has its roots in
the social media. This new form of mob mentality is “anonymous” and “negative”
(Roadlesstravelled.me, 2019). As opposed to the early traditions of mob mentality, the new mob

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mentality is seen through the computer or mobile screens and those possessing this mentality are
not seen often. These new breed of mob followers are termed as trollers. They troll or bully
behind the back with their ignorant opinions using crass and careless words. These people
vehemently attack prominent personalities belonging to the media industry, sport or other field
through their social media accounts while being anonymous. This behavior has redefined mob
mentality.
As per this behavior, mob mentality happens when “individuals get together in a group,
lose their sense of self and start to act as the group without feeling responsible for their
individual actions” (Roadlesstravelled.me, 2019). Riots, looting and such other instances are
some prominent examples of mob mentality. Psychologists have termed this as
“deindividuation”. Being a part of the mob mentality does not only cause the individual to lose
her or his individuality and commit actions that she or he would not have committed individually
but also causes the individual not to act when she or he should have.
Another phenomenon that comes out of mob mentality is the “bystander effect” where
the persons do not provide any sort of help to a victim while other individuals are present. The
reason for such a behavior is the perception of the individual that when there is a group of people
present, the accountability and responsibility is subtle and hence the individual is less likely to
help. In an experiment conducted to understand the bystander effect, psychologists placed a
woman seemingly in distress on the street to record the reactions of the passers-by. The result
revealed that 70% of people offered help to the woman when there was no one around. On the
contrary, only 40% of people provided help when there were other people around
(Roadlesstravelled.me, 2019).

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It has been obvious for years that when an individual is a part of the group, it makes her
or him behave differently as opposed to when she or he is alone. However, with the rise of the
internet, such behavior has taken a new direction. Now, there is the presence “giant, global,
virtual mobs, which have totally changed the social psychology landscape” and new form of mob
mentality is on the rise (Roadlesstravelled.me, 2019). The internet has made it easier for people
to attack people of any group from the influence of the ideologies of the mob. With the help of
the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, individuals get in touch
with several “mobs” that easily influence the opinion of the individuals and cause them to lose
their personality.
Mob mentality in the United States
As explained above, the rising dominance of the social media has redefined mob
mentality and presented it in a different and even more dangerous form as many suggest. In the
United States, the herd mentality has always been prevalent especially during the time when the
country was going through a social crisis. As Kevin Jones observes in an article published
online, the recent example of mob mentality in America has been the frenzy about the removal of
the Confederate monuments.
The Salem Witch Trials discussed earlier in the paper is one of the earliest examples of
mob mentality that originated in the US. In the years between 1692 and 1693, over two hundred
people were convicted of witchcraft out of which, 20 were ultimately executed (Medium.com,
2019). During the reign of King William, Salem was faced with huge socio-economic strain
caused due to the war and the influx of thousands of displaced people. this then led to increasing
chaos and arguments between the residents of Salem owing to the scarcity of resources. The

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residents believed that this was the work of the Devil and thus the rumor of witchcraft spread.
Several other instances of mob mentality or herd mentality have been found over the centuries in
the US such as the California Gold Rush, the Panic of 1893, the race to Kansas for slavery during
1854 to 1861 and many more. The “Red Scare” during the 1940s and 1950s of the Cold War
period is amongst the most famous examples of mob mentality (Medium.com, 2019). The mob
here was the US citizens who were forced to think that the communists have infiltrated the
country. In the last two years, the social media and its widespread use has given rise to fresh
forms of mob mentality. The incidences that dominated the mob mentality include race, gender
and politics.
During the 2016, five police officers were murdered because of the “Black Lives Matter”
campaign that started online and continued in real world as well. It started as a result of the
social media outrage against a particular incident involving an Africa American individual.
These events and incidences were not the only ones that occurred due to mob mentality
especially formed over the social media in the US. The 2017 events at Charlottesville where the
white nationalists forming the Ku Klux Klan began a protest that ultimately led to the death of
one name Heather Heyer eventually started a chain of mob mentality (Medium.com, 2019).
Critical evaluation
Mob mentality or herd mentality thus continues to be a cause of concern for
psychologists as well as governments across the globe as it has put the safety and security of the
common citizens at stake. In order to assess the issue elaborately, it is important that the
psychology behind mob mentality be analyzed critically. As has been suggested in the previous
sections, mob mentality could be understood in a clearer way if one understands crowd behavior.

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According to Chaochao et al. (2019), “crowd behaviors are often observed in cases of
serious conflict”. In a study conducted by the authors where they created a model with
simulation of antagonistic crown in game and suggested that such behavior could simulated in
the real world as well. Their study revealed that it is possible to understand crowd behavior
especially antagonistic crowd behavior by simulating the game model in real life. Christakis and
Fowler (2011) on the other hand, discuss the social contagion theory and argue, “Human social
networks may exhibit three degrees of influence property”. The authors reviewed the statistical
approaches they used to characterize the influence of interpersonal encounters concerning the
phenomenon ranging from smoking, obesity, happiness and cooperation. Rousing
Baddeley (2010) however focuses on the behavior specifically to explain the
phenomenon of herding and social influence. According to the author, economists have
neglected the psychological and sociological factors when it came to analyzing herding and
social influence. Most economists, states that author, have focused their studies on mathematical
calculations and algorithms while completely ignoring the sociological and psychological
factors. The author defines herding as the “phenomenon of individuals deciding to follow others
and imitating group behaviors rather than deciding independently and atomistically on the basis
of their own, private information”. The author further states that herding theory came from the
explanation of Keynes who conceived that herding is a response to uncertainty and individuals’
perceptions of their own ignorance”, which means that individuals follow crowd because they
think the crowd is informed better than them.
As could be seen from the evaluation of the author, mob mentality arises when
individuals lose belief in them and consider the thoughts and behaviors of others as superior to
their own. In contrast to this, Gulley (2015) tried to find out in his study as to the reason why

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crowd behaves so abnormally or differently from the individuals acting in isolation. Gulley
(2015) further explains what crowds actually mean and the different subdivisions or types of
crowds that are there in the literature. According to the author, the term crowd has many
subdivisions; however, the taxonomy of crowd is very subjective.
The way a crowd is specifically divided into categories mostly depends on the research
one consults. For example, Roger Brown gives the suggestion that crowds must be divided into
two Prime categories – one is active crowd and the other is passive crowds. While the active
crowds are referred to as mob and passive, crowds are referred to as, audiences with each
subcategory being further divided into other subcategories. In the category of audiences casual
audiences and intentional audiences are included full stop the casual audience is a gathering of
people unintentionally full stop these people are piqued by certain abnormal incidences.
Intentional audiences on the other hand, the ones who gather for some intentional purpose full
stop this category of intentional audiences is further subdivided into recreational and information
seeking audiences. Information seeking audiences are the ones who gather to see some
information. Recreational audiences are the ones who come together for fun or other recreational
purposes.
The important thing however here is the category of active crowds that brown divides
into four types of sub categories that include aggressive mobs, acquisitive mob, escape marks
and expressive mob. As the name suggest, aggressive mass are characterized by their extreme
tendencies towards outreach and angle full stop aggressive mobs fall under the sub categories of
sterilizations, riots and lynching. Escape mobs on the other hand are the mob where the tendency
is to escape from a panic situation unlike aggressive mob.

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The last two sub categories under active crowds are expressive mob and acquisitive mob.
While acquisitive mobs are driven by a sense of competition expressive mobs are driven by the
purpose or belief of something they want to change. Nonetheless, all these categories of crowds
are completely subjective. In contrast to this taxonomy or subdivision of crowds, Mousavi et al.
(2015) state that groups are formed owing to the strains within a society. He states that groups or
mob often gather to reconstitute certain aspects of social action. Beaton and Vullo (2014) asserts
that individuals within a mob act or behave abnormally due to their lack of or loss of
accountability and their experience being members within a group. This assertion is important in
understanding what mob mentality actually is and how it is formed. This reveals that when one
talks about mob mentality it does not necessarily related to aggressive behaviour only full stop
the mentality of the crowd is shaped by also what happens in the society.
Templeton, Drury and Philippides (2015) found in a study concerning crowd behaviour
that it is not possible to to simulate the large collective behaviour of the crowd using computer
simulations. The authors suggest that in order to “model crowd behaviour realistically,
simulations must use methods which allow cloud members to identify with each other, as
suggested by the self categorisation theory”. The authors further explains that in the previous
studies crowds were considered either mass of people coming under one group mind or a mass of
numerous unrelated individuals within the crowd.
In accounts relating to group mind, crowds were comprehended as homogenous
components where on entering crowd individuals had to lose both their personal ability to give
logic and their personality as well. Group mind accounts every member in the crowd became
indistinguishable from each other as she or he intended to become included in a mindless
violence. The individualist accounts on the other hand argued that the notion of collective

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behaviour or group mind is actually a nominal fallacy. They suggested that crowds or groups and
nothing but aggregates of individuals.
Proponents of individualism accounts suggested that any connectivity was just occurring
through social facilitation where the presence of others instigated behaviour that was already
present in every individual. It could be seen that from both positions that is, from the position of
group mind and individualism, collective behaviour leads to indiscriminate violence full stop
nonetheless extensive empirical research has demonstrated that majority of the crowds are
nonviolent.
It is revealed that even in situations of riots or other violent occurrences the behaviour of
the crowd is discriminate, rational and often demonstrates a pattern, which aligns with shared
notions of legitimacy. In the views of Buchan and Pearl (2018), the current literature often
characterizes collective behaviour as contagion where the mere sound or sight of others’
behaviour, it appears, influences the behaviour of an individual in a crowd in the same way.
Nevertheless, social psychologists evaluating the behaviour of crowd presented the argument that
the concept of contagion could not explain in the boundaries of the groups to social influence.
The authors pointed out that a distinct model of collective behaviour is necessary to explain the
reason behind the stirring effects of an agitated crowd affected the behaviour of protesters but
not the riot police who were present physically in the same crowd.
One of the earliest authors who studied group behaviour or mob mentality explains that in
order to understand the individual one must understand the group by paying attention to the
group in which the individual belongs. As opposed to this view some sociologists argued that
individuals within a mob or a crowd have shown behaviour where they a decided to side with

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individuals with whom they already had a pre-existing affiliation such as friends and family.
Such individuals did not care even if their affiliation or Association with that group would result
in their own harm. In such cases, the focus is on crowd behaviour involving small groups full
stop nonetheless “approaches to crowd behaviour focusing on small groups fall short of
explaining large collective behaviour”.
Here, the theory of self-categorization is a useful theory to understand collective
behaviour according to Templeton, Drury and Philippides (2015). Authors suggest that self-
categorization theory could explain the way “physical aggregates of individuals” could be
brought together psychologically within a crowd and the way a “single physical crowd might
consist of multiple psychological crowds acting as a large group without previous interpersonal
interaction or relationships.
Considering these aspects of crowd behaviour one could easily understand the
complexities related to understanding mob mentality full stop as evident from the studies
conducted by various authors in the past and present comma mob mentality has remained a
debated topic. The various studies have demonstrated numerous reasons for the way people
behave in a certain way when they are a part of the mob full stop terms like deindividuation or
the loss of self-awareness have been used most commonly by researchers and theorists while
explaining mob mentality.
Conclusion
In the end, it could be stated that mob mentality is a topic that could be interpreted in
several ways. Crowd behavior has been elaborately discussed in the paper. It has been revealed
that many studies have found individuals are excessively influenced by the people around them

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such as their neighbors. They have stopped relying on their own instinct and this has caused
them to be less responsive when it comes to changes in their surrounding environment. The
review of literature provides a comprehensive explanation of mob mentality. It then critically
evaluated the various studies on the topic and found that crowd behavior is something that has
different interpretations. While some found individualism accounts as explanation for mob
mentality, others revealed group mind as the chief factor. The study also revealed the way a
crowd is specifically divided into categories mostly depends on the research one consults. For
example, Roger Brown gives the suggestion that crowds must be divided into two Prime
categories – one is active crowd and the other is passive crowds. While the active crowds are
referred to as mob and passive, crowds are referred to as, audiences with each subcategory being
further divided into other subcategories. Further studies on mob mentality and its causes could be
suggested.