Depending on the level of development of the individual, the influence of the crowd on one person or another will differ.
Maria Nikolaeva is a professional philosopher and orientalist. Mentor of experts in the field of self-development. The author of the scientific monograph "The Concept of We and the Judgment of Our Will" and 40 more scientific and popular books told how the action of the crowd affects a person.
Most people without a strong individuation will be subject to the so-called "herd instinct", which dictates behavior in accordance with everyone else.
However, those who are used to defending their personal space, having their own opinion, proving their point of view, may well act in defiance of or bypassing the crowd.
Let's look at both extremes of behavior to set a certain scale by which we can roughly predict how a person will behave in a crowd.
The herd instinct is the primary response mechanism, so it will initially work for everyone, whereas a rational person is able to develop a conscious decision.
Most people are literally captured by the crowd, imbued with its mood, even ready to do things that they would never do alone. So, many later do not even understand what they have done: "Everyone was smashing - and I smashed!" etc.
The instinct of self-preservation works no less strongly, therefore, when life is threatened, a person will try to get out of the crowd to try to save himself at least alone. Then chaos begins in the crowd, everyone saves himself first of all, for example, in case of a fire or flood.
Then people in the crowd do not act in a coordinated manner, but are ready to walk over heads to the exit, the effect of "everyone against everyone" arises, and in the end, the most resourceful and agile survives.
A person with a high degree of consciousness will act according to circumstances, first of all, having assessed the situation and understood what is happening. If the impulse of the crowd is noble, then he can appear as a leader to coordinate the actions of people.
If danger threatens, he can take on the functions of an organizer of mutual aid and the establishment of order. If the goals of the crowd are obviously base, he will be able to refrain from committing bad deeds.
Of course, in a real situation, most people find themselves somewhere between the extremes, not being completely crushed by the elements of the crowd, but also not being able to do those actions that they themselves consider correct.
That is why any crowd begins to seethe and split, it is almost never completely homogeneous, and most importantly, there are always many doubts, when a person thinks one thing, but is forced to do something completely different with a feeling of guilt.
This means that it is also worth assessing a person's behavior in a crowd based on their inclinations before and after the events. Will a person go to a particular demonstration in principle, is he inclined to attend mass events, does he like large crowds of people in stores or at fairs.
It is also interesting to trace the aftereffects of the crowd's influence on the psyche of a particular person, whether he will be tired or inspired, guilty or proud.
When organizing or predicting the creation of a crowd, political strategists and social workers must take into account the degree of individuation of people in society in order to avoid tragedies.
