Unconscious Conformity: Freud’s Take on Crowd Dynamics

Freud's ideas about the desire to be in harmony with the majority reveal the mechanism of crowd influence through a process of unconscious submission to the inner human need to conform to the group. Freud argued that the evolution of the crowd occurs largely by prompting people to act like everyone else in order to "be in harmony with the majority." This means that an individual, under the pressure of both real and imagined group influence, alters his behavior and beliefs, demonstrating group conformity. This process is especially evident in the desire to follow a leader and identify with him, making the person more susceptible to collective ideas and actions than to independent decisions.

Supporting citation(s):
"Also, Sigmund Freud wrote that the evolution of the crowd is based on the prompting of individuals to act as others do in order to 'be in harmony with the majority.' In his work 'The Psychology of Crowds and the Analysis of the Ego,' he noted that group members tend to follow the leader and even identify with him. When a person succumbs to the influence of collective actions and begins to behave in a way he would not if alone, he exhibits group conformity. As a result of real or imagined group pressure, his behavior or beliefs change." (source: link txt)

Unconscious Conformity: Freud’s Take on Crowd Dynamics

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