Collective hysteria
From Freepedia
In psychology collective hysteria (also referred to as mass hysteria) is the name given to a phenomenon of the manifestation of the same hysterical symptoms by more than one person. It normally begins when an individual shows a hysteric manifestation in front of others who "contagiously" acquire the same symptoms.
Examples include cases of accidents in which people act "irrationally", screaming, running in the wrong direction, etc; cases in which a person who is suspected of a crime is caught by a group and one of the members throws a stone or gives the first kick, and the rest join the action; etc. Another symptom includes group nausea, often caused by a publicly witnessed traumatic event. Seeing one person become violently ill can psychologically trigger a similar reaction in other bystanders.
Writer Jerome Clark—while recognizing that mass panic can undoubtedly be genuine and widespread—argues that mass hysteria can be "a classic blame-the-victim strategy" in cases where authorities or experts can find no explanation for puzzling or frightening events.
The phenomenon is also described in religion, such as the Pentecostal contagion of the Holy Ghost described in the Book of Acts.
See also
- collective behavior
- craze
- fan death
- folie à deux
- Hysteria
- Moral panic
- New Delhi monkeyman
- panic
- penis panic
- Salem witch trials
- Satanic ritual abuse
- Spring Heeled Jack
- Stock market bubble, Stock market crash
- The Mad Gasser of Mattoon
- War of the Worlds (radio play)
Sources
- Jerome Clark (1993). Unexplained! 347 Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena. Canton, Milwaukee: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 0810394367.
