Explain Le Bon's contagion theory of collective behavior, including the major criticisms of it

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

French scholar Gustave Le Bon developed a social psychological theory of collective

behavior called contagion theory. Contagion theory attempts to explain how moods,

attitudes, and behavior are communicated rapidly within a collectivity and why they are

accepted by others. According to Le Bon, people are more likely to engage in

antisocial behavior in a crowd because they are anonymous and feel invulnerable. A

crowd takes on a life of its own that is larger than the beliefs or actions of any one

person. Because of its anonymity, the crowd transforms individuals from rational beings

into a single organism with a collective mind. Emotions such as fear and hate are

contagious in crowds because people experience a decline in personal responsibility?

they will do things as a collectivity that they would never do when acting alone. Critics

of contagion theory, such as those who support emergent norm theory, point out that

crowds are not irrational. Rather, new norms are developed in a rational way to fit the

immediate situation.