Causes and Aspects of Human Herd Behavior
Herd behavior, also known as mob behavior or pack behavior, is a concept in social psychology where individuals conform to the behaviors and beliefs of a larger group without exercising independent judgment. We all at times find ourselves caught up in herd behavior, experiencing moments of groupthink, following a fad, and grappling with the decision of whether to conform or express our own dissenting views.
Herd behavior can be positive and negative. On the positive side, it can lead to mass volunteering during crises. On the negative side, it can come in the form of dangerous religious extremism, violent mobs, and witch hunts of innocent people.
Herd behavior evolved as a survival strategy. Acting in groups provided protection from predators and facilitated access to resources. As inherently social beings, humans have this psychological inclination. It is also observed in other animals such as birds, fish, sheep, and wolves.
Herd behavior is influenced by cognitive biases, such as the bandwagon effect and myside bias. Emotional contagion is another factor, where people are swayed by the emotions exhibited in their surroundings. Deindividuation, or the perceived loss of individuality in a group, can lead to both positive and negative behaviors, causing individuals to act in ways they might not otherwise. Mobs often include people doing violent things they would never do on their own.
Ostracism from one's group or society is a deeply rooted human fear, dating back to our early survival instincts. Many people conform or suppress their dissenting views to fit in and avoid isolation.
Herd behavior often involves humans forming group identities, often in opposition to others. This "us versus them" mentality is evident in politics, religion, and sports fandom, and is one of the most dangerous aspects of herd behavior.
Herds include people with a wide range of opinions, including those who do not support the group's core philosophy but conform to belong. People often self-censor, making it challenging to know individual beliefs within the group.
The Spiral of Silence is where people who fear social ostracism tend to keep silent about minority views, often publicly aligning with majority opinions that they don't genuinely support. The Abilene paradox is where, because the members are silent about their beliefs, all the members of a group agree to do something none of them want to do.
The Abilene Paradox: Why People Go Along to Get Along | Psychology Today
My experience is that most people are underinformed on topics, and lazily follow what their “tribe” thinks. Many on all sides of the debates who take strong positions about critical race theory, vaccines and climate change are far from experts in the area. University of Oxford public science literacy expert Dr. Catarina Amorim told me that it is not just people within the religious right who don’t understand the theory of evolution. She says that many people within the left who say they believe in evolution also have significant misconceptions about it.
Tribal support, such as nationalism or belonging to a religion, is fermented by the culture in which one grows up. Cultural, educational and environmental factors play a significant role in shaping group behaviors. Many people belong to a religion because that is the religion in which they were brought up. Most Christians in the United States would be Muslim if they grew up and lived in the Middle East.
Forces work to create and sustain herd behavior by various means. These include group leaders using propaganda, censorship, and scapegoating dissenters including threatening them with expulsion from the group. Peer pressure is a common way to create group conformity. Today’s so-called cancel culture involves online mobs publicly shaming and sometimes trying to get perceived wrong-thinkers fired from their jobs. These attacks are not just to punish the individual but to demonstrate to observers what can happen to them if they dissent.
Society and groups have a love/hate relationship with outspoken independent thinkers. Outspoken independent thinkers are often considered dangerous to group cohesion and societal peace. However, outside-the-box thinking is required for a healthy and growing society. Most of those who are today celebrated as great artists, inventors, scientists, and intellects were outliers and often punished for their heterodoxy. Renoir, Galileo, and Nikola Tesla were social outsiders.
In conclusion, herd behavior can be productive and destructive, and humans naturally belong to groups and change their behavior to belong. We all exhibit herd behavior, sometimes in positive and harmless ways. Tribalism and echo chambers are two of the biggest dangers of herd behavior. Groups must promote critical thinking and must make it safe for people to express their views to know what the members think.