herd behavior

Examples of herd behavior in the following topics:

• Controlling the Behaviors of Group Members

  • The behavior of group members can be controlled indirectly through group polarization, groupthink, and herd behavior.
  • The importance of group polarization is significant as it helps explain group behavior in a variety of real-life situations.
  • Herd behavior describes how individuals in a group can act together without planned direction.
  • The term pertains to the behavior of animals in herds, flocks and schools, and to human conduct during activities such as stock market bubbles and crashes, street demonstrations, sporting events, religious gatherings, episodes of mob violence and everyday decision-making, judgment and opinion-forming.
  • Give examples of group polarization, groupthink and herd behavior in real life

• Panic

  • Architects and city planners try to accommodate the symptoms of panic, such as herd behavior, during design and planning, often using simulations to determine the best way to lead people to a safe exit.

• Riots

  • While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are typically chaotic and exhibit herd-like behavior.

• Social Change

  • These diverse actions fall within the area sociologists call collective behavior.
  • While there is debate over what should be included under the label of "collective behavior" among sociologists today, often included are additional behaviors like: rumors, riots, and fads.
  • Collective behavior can actually change elements of society.
  • This is the component of collective behavior known as "social movements. "
  • While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are typically chaotic and exhibit herd-like behavior.

• Introduction

  • Collective behavior, a third form of action, takes place when norms are absent or unclear, or when they contradict each other.
  • Scholars have devoted far less attention to collective behavior than they have to either conformity or deviance.
  • These diverse actions fall within the area sociologists call collective behavior.
  • 1) collective behavior involves limited and short-lived social interaction while groups tend to remain together longer
  • While there is a degree of debate over what should be included under the label of "collective behavior" among sociologists today, often included are additional behaviors like: rumors, riots, trends, and fads.

• Social Context and Sexual Behavior

  • Social context influences sexual behavior; sexuality is expressed and understood through socialized processes.
  • Sexual behavior refers to the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality.
  • Socialization necessarily implies the inculcation of norms, or behaviors that society marks as valued.
  • This is most obviously demonstrated in behaviors associated with flirtation.
  • Thus, social context is essential when one considers potentially sexual behavior.

• Sociobiology

  • Sociobiology is a field of scientific study which is based on the assumption that social behavior has resulted from evolution.
  • It attempts to explain and examine social behavior within that context.
  • Sociobiologists believe that human behavior, like nonhuman animal behavior, can be partly explained as the outcome of natural selection.
  • They contend that in order to fully understand behavior, it must be analyzed in terms of evolutionary considerations.
  • Sociobiologists reason that common behaviors likely evolved over time because they made individuals who exhibited those behaviors more likely to survive and reproduce.

• Differential Association Theory

  • Differential association is when individuals base their behaviors by association and interaction with others.
  • Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication.
  • The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups.
  • While criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those needs and values, since non-criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values.
  • The process of learning criminal behavior is really not any different from the process involved in learning any other type of behavior.

• Effects of Group Size on Attitude and Behavior

  • Size (number of people involved) is an important characteristic of groups, organizations and communities in which social behavior occurs.
  • Individual behavior deviates substantially in a group setting; therefore, it is difficult to determine group behavior by looking solely at the individuals that comprise the group.
  • Group dynamics refers to a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group or between social groups.
  • Individual behavior has been shown to be influenced by the presence of others.
  • Large groups introduce diversity of attitudes and behaviors.

• Deviance

  • Deviance, in a sociological context, describes actions or behaviors that violate informal social norms or formally-enacted rules.
  • The second type of deviant behavior involves violations of informal social norms (norms that have not been codified into law) and is referred to as informal deviance.
  • Cultural norms are relative, which makes deviant behavior relative as well.
  • This behavior represents a luxury, because heterosexual white males can afford to make a temporarily shift, knowing that they may subsequently return to the comforts of their prevailing socioeconomic status.
  • Other examples include performers who may affect deviant behaviors in order to gain credibility with an aim to increasing commercial profits.