Causes Of Mob Mentality

Numerous situations occur everyday where the psychology of being in a group, also known as mob mentality, can overtake someone’s thought process and cause them to act differently. Mob mentality differs from the mentality a person would have when alone. An individual’s behavior changes because there is a shield of feeling anonymous when in a group. This feeling can be exciting, but it can also completely destroy a being’s ability to act normally. People lose their personal ethics due to the sensation of being in this group. Usually, the group participants share a common reason for why they assembled, and it will only take one act to rile them. Because feelings of anonymity and common thought are present, the group usually acts as if they share

only one mind, and each person will not act individually. The larger the crowd, the more likely that a person will feel that the size of the group will allow their actions to go unnamed.
This mentality can result in consequences, causing actions to get out of hand. A few other names for this mindset include herd influence and the bystander effect. Research demonstrates how the effect of this mindset can take over and lead to various outcomes and even events during history. It is this anonymous way of thinking and acting that has caused many significant historical events, such as witch burnings, political protests, and racial aggression. Social changes in the 20th Century were mostly influenced by mob mentality. The Red Scare, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement were all situations that arose due to this mindset.
The First Red Scare, a fear of Communists in America during 1917 to 1920, arose when the Bolshevik Revolution occurred in Russia. After World War I, the casualties in Russia were overwhelming; there was hunger and disease throughout the country, and the government was failing. Russia’s monarchy, called a Czar, was not able to handle the harsh circumstances left behind by the war. The fall of the government led to protests in Petrograd in February of 1917. Two hundred and fifty thousand people armed with guns took the streets, angry about their lack of government. The Bolsheviks, led by VI Lenin, claimed that Russia’s only alternative was a government based on socialism. In November 1917, they overthrew the government, and started the spread of Communism in Russia. This rise of a new government in Russia caused Americans to fear that their democratic government and work industry was under threat. The end of World War II brought the Second Red Scare, where the United States feared invasion by Communists. In the 1950s, Communism was becoming a way of life in Russia and was dispersing around the world. The tension created by the Cold War also caused the United States to worry about Soviet spies infiltrating the government, as it had occurred before during World War II. Due to this alarm, America took matters into its own hands in order to protect their democracy and their country.
The psychology of being in a group took over and acted as one of the most important causes during both Red Scares. This way of thinking was brought on by ideas that spread throughout America in response to chaos occurring in other countries. The Red Scare that began in 1917 was a fear of communism that appeared in the United States after World War I. Due to the rise of Labor Strikes in 1919, politicians and industrialists got the excuse to blame the protests on the Communists, or Reds. For example, during November of 1919 through January of 1920, raids to find, arrest, and question communists took place in America. These searches were called the Palmer Raids and were led by A. Mitchell Palmer, an attorney general, with the assistance of J. Edgar Hoover, a Justice Department worker. They created a list of suspected Reds and rebels, and, on November 7th, ordered the first round of raids. They had the help of many Federal agents and local police. The Palmer Raids are significant because it was not illegal to take part in the Socialist Party or the Communist Party of America. However, the raids occurred because Palmer and others suspected that Communists were the instigators of the labor strikes. These manhunts left America fearful and under the impression that Communists were all around. During January of 1920, Federal agents investigated suspected rebels’ homes without search warrants. They held around 5,000 suspects, and some were even deported.
The Second Red Scare arose during the Cold War when the United States feared that Soviet spies were hidden in their government. A shocking development took place when President Harry Truman gave the Loyalty Order, which called for a search of workers and Federal employees to decide whether they were loyal to the United States. In addition, movie executives made lists to determine potential communists and radicals among their employees and fired people from their jobs. Both Red Scares displayed mob mentality, as American citizens indulged in the madness that was created without concrete proof. Leaders, including A. Mitchell Palmer and Harry Truman, gave orders to eliminate Communism, and others in the government and movie industry fired suspected “Reds.” The involvement of police and Federal agents in these raids only raised the fear that Communists were everywhere. However, because of mob mentality, citizens did not realize that they were discriminating against a group of people, because there were so many others involved in this persecution of Communists and they were overcome by their fear and worry.
World War II, one of the most devastating wars of all time, came into place due to the instability that was created by the First World War in Europe. Due to the issues that arose, Adolf Hitler had the ability to take control of defeated Germany. He re-armed the nation, preparing them for war, because he believed that the only way to enlarge the Aryan, or pure German, race was to go to war. Hitler quickly took control over the unstable countries in Europe, because they did not have enough strength to fight back against restored Germany.
The events of World War II would not have occurred if not for the psychology of mob mentality. Hitler blamed Jews for Germany’s defeat in World War II, which helped him gain his following of Nazis, members of a political party dedicated to the power of Europe and the take down of Jews. On November 9th of 1938, Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Broken Glass, occurred throughout the streets of Germany and Austria. Nazis and citizens participated in destroying Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues. The damage from these riots consisted of countless destroyed properties, 100,000 arrested Jews, and over 2,000 deaths. Kristallnacht displayed the true consequences that can appear under the feelings of anonymity created by mob mentality. Terror for the Jews also came from labor and concentration camps. Beginning after Kristallnacht, male Jews were imprisoned and sent to forced labor camps. Concentration camps existed to hold arrested Jews starting in 1938. Some included: Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen. At these camps run by the Nazis, people died of starvation, fatigue, and exposure to harsh conditions. While Germany was losing and World War II was coming to an end, Hitler relied on a “Final Solution” to kill all the Jews on a large scale. Kill Centers in Poland and camps were created to help with the plan. They consisted of gas chambers and gas vans, in which Jews went in large groups to be killed. Finally, on May 8th, Germany surrendered, ending the war in Europe. Although war was over, a total of 6 million Jews, and 5 million others, such as Communists and the disabled, died; many were shoved into mass graves. One million Jewish victims were children.
Mob mentality is the hidden cause behind each of these examples of Jewish persecution executed by the Nazis.

German citizens and Nazis did not realize the massive damage they, as individuals, were causing for families because they felt anonymous amidst the anti-Jewish feelings that Hitler created, and all shared the common idea that Jews were the source of Germany’s defeat in World War I. Hitler was their leader who convinced them of the need to have a pure Aryan race, and the Germans followed. Some followed through their destructive actions, and others followed by their absence and failure to speak against what was happening. As a survivor of Kaiserwald Concentration Camp says, It was “one of the darkest chapters in man’s history… It should never happen again.” World War II left behind many changes for families and Europe as a whole, and mob mentality is the most logical explanation for why, and how, a countless amount of people followed Hitler in his

madness.
The path to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was carved by the Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow Laws were created to restrict African Americans and their rights. They were segregated in terms of the bathrooms they could use, the schools they could attend, the theaters they could visit, the trains they could ride, and even more. Blacks were tired of being discriminated against and controlled by these rules and in by the everyday actions of Whites around them. As a result, many Blacks began to seek a way to create social change.
The Civil Rights Movement stood as an important example of mob mentality causing alterations in society. Beginning in 1955, after being constantly restricted by the Jim Crow Laws, African Americans in the South decided to stand up. Blacks were fed up with being shoved to the “back of the bus.” In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat to a white man and ended up getting arrested. This event triggered the African American community to boycott and refuse to ride the buses. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by Martin Luther King Jr., encouraged Blacks everywhere to engage in other protests. On February 4th, 1960, four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College started a rash of sit-ins at Southern lunch counters. These protests extended quickly and many people were involved.
On August 28th, 1963, more than two hundred thousand people gathered to hear Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech. The goal of his speech was to motivate the government to demolish segregation. Eventually, on July 2nd, 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbade the discrimination of a person based on their race, color, origin, or religious beliefs. This monumental social change transpired due to the peaceful protests among African Americans, which expanded due to mob mentality. African Americans shared a common anger because of a lifetime of segregation. Rosa Parks began the phenomenon by standing up for her rights and not giving her seat to a white man. After that, many African Americans followed in her footsteps to fight for their civil rights. As their movement grew in size, it may have been easier for others eager to get involved, because there was a feeling of safety, pride, and anonymity in that large of a group. The enormous crowd felt the excitement in supporting this just cause and, they were rewarded by the progress that was made. The positive impact of mob mentality allowed African Americans, as well as some whites, to join the Civil Rights Movement in an effort to bring about social change.
The Red Scare, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement are all events in the 20th Century that were fueled by mob mentality.

These occurrences all began with an influential leader. Whether A. Mitchell Palmer, Adolf Hitler, or Rosa Parks, these people gained an influx of supporters who acted in the same way as they did, with one mind and one goal. In addition, the safety of feeling anonymous and the urge of acting with a single mind allowed people to engage in acts ranging from discrimination, to destruction, to protests. The collective mindset created by a mob mentality was at the heart of these major historical events. The influence of being a member of a group led to these social changes of the 20th Century and can even be seen in modern day society. Prison and stadium riots and behavior at political rallies are a few current examples of the impact of mob mentality. This phenomenon will likely continue throughout years to come, as future social changes will continue to grow out of mob

mentality.