Brennan Chapt. 3

In Chapter 3 of Transmission of Affect, Gustave Le Bon’s theory of crowds caught my attention.  He asserts that, “groups have heightened affectivity and a lower level of intellectual functioning and regress to the mental life of ‘primitive people’,” which means that due to some social contagion in a crowd setting people commit inexplicable actions based off the attitude of the crowd.

The prime example of this is protestors.  Especially in America, most protests begin in a calm manner, but usually shift towards hostility and violence by the ending.  Like when schools were first integrated in America many respectable White people in the community threw rocks at, spit at, and cursed at the Black children.  This was because the mind of the crowd jolted them to partake in acts of hatred.  Their own personal interests were overshadowed by the interest of the crowd which collectively became primitive and brutal.

William McDougall took this concept of the primitive crowd even further by explaining how affect is transmitted.  He said that affect is transmitted through our senses.  One may see or hear the emotions of someone else, then drum those emotions up within themselves unconsciously until the same affect has permeated throughout the crowd.  This is so true.  I remember at my great grandmother’s funeral my mom broke down in tears.  Immediately, as if on cue, I began to cry as well.  At the time I was about 8 or 9 and I didn’t know my great grandmother that well.  There was absolutely no reason for me to cry besides the fact that I cried because my mom was crying. 

I can see how this can be very dangerous within a crowd of people.  I didn’t consciously decide to cry because my mother began to cry, I did it just because it happened.  So if the same transmission can occur with anger and fear, then crowds can very easily become mobs.