Dispersed Collectives
Remember that collective behaviors are unusual or non-routine behaviors that large numbers of people participate in. Sometimes the behavior is spread to people who are not physically in the same place, like people in crowds are. In fact, they might be spread over entire nations or even the world. These are called dispersed collectivities.
Dispersed collectivities are made up of people who are not physically connected but who follow common rules or respond to common stimuli.
Examples include:
panics, mass hysteria, fads, rumors, and public opinion
A panic is a reaction to a real threat in fearful, anxious, and often self-damaging ways.
We will never forget...
9 - 11 - 01
On September 11, 2001 governmental, corporate, and private organizations closed their doors and put their very best security at protecting their people and property. Days later, the country realized that the real threat was to only to New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania.
Panic can impact masses and crowds. In the 9-11 terroristic attack the panic may have saved lives and property had the terrorist threats been broader than they really were. In the stock market, panics damage profits and put the economy in peril. On a smaller scale, panics often occur when people feel trapped, like in a burning building. This is why schools practice fire drills in hopes that students will not panic and injure each other.
A mass hysteria is a collective anxiety created by the acceptance of one or more false beliefs.
Mass hysteria usually involves irrational beliefs and behaviors that spread among the population, sometimes unwittingly fueled by the media. Think of times that you have seen a story on the internet that caused hysteria among people, only to later find out that the story was false. One of the most famous mass hysterias in history was the Salem Witch Trials. Unfortunately in that case, the hysteria resulted in loss of life.
A fad is a novel form of behavior that catches on in popularity but later fades.
Another, usually harmless, form of dispersed collectivity is a fad. The Lance Armstrong LiveStrong wrist band was an example of a popular fad that came and went to some degree of popularity. Fads tends to be adopted by a particular group (like teenagers, young children, or local communities) and tend to die out when they become so widespread that they don't bring special notice to the participants anymore. Fads can be clothing, games, hairstyles, cars, toys or other popular items that people are drawn to.
A rumor is a widely circulating piece of information that is not verified as being true or false
A type of collective behavior that most people participate in, whether they mean to or not, is rumors. Rumors spread when people lack definite information about a topic of interest and they die out when the information is proved true or false. Rumors occur on the small scale, like in your classroom, and on the large scale, often promoted through tabloid journalism.
Public opinion is the collection of differing attitudes that members of a public have about a particular issue.
A final type of dispersed collective behavior is public opinion. A public is a group of geographically scattered people who are interested in and divided by some issue. Public opinion might be about political issues, like the latest election, or social issues, like same-sex marriage. It can even be about celebrities or taste in music. Basically anything that large numbers of people can express opinions about is considered public opinion.
