Mob Mentality In The Crucible

What is Social Influence Theory? Social Influence Theory is the change in behavior that another person causes, intentionally or unintentionally. Social Influence Theory has to deal with the social situations of people, and how they affect, persuade, or influence each other. This is especially relevant in today's society in the teenage generation with all their social medias and having high standards for social status that most people follow. Social Influence Theory has three areas that are evident in the story The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The characters Abigail and Tituba are good examples of being impacted or showing Social Influence.

How many times has one action by one person influenced crowds of people to follow? This scenario has taken place numerous times throughout history. This psychological occurrence is known as “mob mentality”: when a group of people is influenced by a person’s actions to change their behavior and think as a group. During the time period that The Crucible by Arthur Miller and “Half-Hanged Mary” by Margaret Atwood took place in, the people worked together to deal with any threat to their beliefs. The communities relied on the judgment of their peers, hence why mob mentality was an important aspect of both works. In both pieces of literature, the authors illustrate the hysteria the people of Salem and Northampton experienced, and how they dealt

Mob Mentality is strange behavior that is displayed when people are in a large group (Smith). People take part in these mobs because, when a group of people are emotional and angry about something, it takes very little for the crowd to break out in violence (Edmonds). In To Kill a Mockingbird mob mentality is apparent in the book. An example of mob mentality is, typically others will follow the initial rioter’s lead (Edmonds). This is shown in To Kill a Mockingbird when Scout guilts the mob into leaving and Mr. Cunningham tells the rest of the mob lets go and they follow right after him (Lee 206). Along with the Jim Crow laws and mob mentality another influence in To Kill a Mockingbird was the Scottsboro

Mob mentality and herd behavior have a negative behavior on people because of their individuality and rational thinking. People are influenced by others behaviors in a group. They can have negative and positive acts on people having individual thinking and it changes people's rational thinking. In the teleplay “The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street” written by Rod Serling, the article “When Good people Do Bad Things” written by Ann Trafton, and the article “Why Do People Follow The Crowd” reported by ABC news, when someone does not want to share their own idea they do not feel like sharing as a groups. People can also act differently in a group because they do not want to be embarrassed with others.

When an entire crowd is choosing to go down the same path it makes it easy for us to follow the leader, even if the outcome may be against our morals or not truly what we believe is right. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, we see people follow one false accusation with more. Sadly, it’s human nature to choose to make the same decisions and behave similarly as those we are surrounded by. This is distinguished in two ways: mob mentality and mass hysteria. Mob mentality is the behavior of a large crowd who are solely followers. Mass hysteria is a condition affecting a large group, characterized by anxiety, irrational beliefs or behavior, and inexplicable symptoms of illness. All of these signs are very much present in the Salem mass, but when it comes down to it, who was the person that started all of this? Abigail Williams is the one responsible for creating the mass hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts.

In the Crucible, Arthur Miller writes of the hysteria during Salem Witch Trials, hoping that the world will never do anything stupid again because of hysteria. During the Salem Witch Trials there were many people that chose to act as individuals, rather than a community. Judge Danforth, Reverend Parris , and Abigail Williams had the power to stop, and even prevent the trials, but chose not to because they did not care for anyone except themselves. Judge Danforth could have stopped the trials when he found out that he was wrong about the whole thing. Also, Parris is the reason the trails took place, and Abigail Williams fed the flame of hysteria throughout the trails. These three individual contribute to callous

When people hear the words “disobey to authority”, often what might come to mind is a dog in an obedience class. Dogs are trained to obey the authority of a human owner, and when they disobey that authority they are often punished or chastised for their actions. With humans though, the process is somewhat different. “Disobedience to authority” could then mean almost anything. It could be disobedience to a rule in a board game, a law, a teacher, a boss, a government... It could be civil disobedience or classroom disobedience. No matter what “disobedience to authority” calls to mind, often times the disobedience to authority is a plausible case that can be allowed for its reasoning. Within the context of The Crucible and modern societal disobedience

Often individuals over dramatize their opinion to convey their attitude. Similarly, Danforth often acts extreme in his attempts to rid witchcraft from Salem when he says, “If retaliation is your fear, know this- I [Danforth] should hang ten thousand that dares to rise against the law” (Miller 129). Danforth displays demagoguery while he explains to Reverend Hale why the executions must happen on schedule because he appeals to Hale’s passionate fear of witchcraft. Danforth’s response to Hale works in the scene to further build the audience’s perception of Danforth as irritable and urgent, yet precise, and support his determination as Deputy Governor. However, Danforth’s determination often misguides his rationality. Furthermore, Danforth supports the thematic topic of law in The Crucible and helps the reader understand the severity of justice Miller conveys throughout the play. Danforth’s role develops the play by illustrating the stubbornness of authority in Salem during the witch trials.

Slapping, punching, pushing, shoving, kicking, and ultimately killing are all forms of violence that occur in a person’s lifetime. In Arthur Miller’s book, The Crucible, the act of public violence is presented. People in the community had come to accept violence as a way of life in Salem, Massachusetts. This is very much the same level of acceptance for violence in today’s society. In fact, this level of violence occurs frequently throughout the book. Community members are accustomed to violence way back in 1692, as well as in 2016. Miller points out this savage need for violence.

Herd Mentality in The Crucible Human beings tend to follow a few particular leaders and find comfort in not having to do all of the decision making themselves in difficult situations. This concept describes herd mentality to a T. Herd mentality is to blame in Arthur Miller’s account of the Salem Witch Trials be causing people to lose their individuality in order to caution people from conforming to society. If the people of Salem had allowed their moral compasses to guide them instead of succumbing to their fear of the powerful, many innocent lives would have been saved. It only took a few powerful people to lead dozens to their graves in The Crucible. One of the main characters, Abigail Williams, had the ability to melt many young vulnerable girls in her hands.

People do bad things in a group setting for numerous reasons falling under the category of social influencing. In many cases people tend to succumb to “deindividuation” in which they let go of their individual morals and mimic group behavior.

“Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” ― Bertrand Russell. What is mob mentality, and why does it play such an important role in The Crucible? The dictionary definition of mob mentality (also known as herd mentality) provided by the Oxford English Dictionary is “The tendency for people's behavior or beliefs to conform to those of the group to which they belong.” Mob mentality is shown very clearly through The Crucible, some of the most significant points in the story revolve around the actions made through mob mentality. Mob mentality is not something new to the crucible and has been seen in many other historical events such as the French Revolution, and can cause thing such as crowd wisdom, bandwagoning, and superstition.

Are you the type of person to make decisions based off of the group you're involved with, or do you go your own way and make your own decisions? Whether being involved in a group, or you tend to be a follower, those certain things have a bigger influence on how someone acts, compared to individual human views, that can be founded off of social psychology. Being involved with the group, has the biggest impact on how people choose to obey or disobey certain actions because of the societal pressure, family and religious backgrounds, and having the fear of not fitting in, or conforming.

Lei Jun, a Chinese entrepreneur and 2014’s Businessman of the Year once said “things get much easier if one jumps on the bandwagon of existing trends.” (Jun). According to Merriam-Webster, “bandwagoning” is “a popular party, faction, or cause that attracts growing support —often used in such phrases as jump on the bandwagon”. In The Crucible, there are many examples of bandwagoning. Most of these examples include someone blaming another person for making contact with the devil to draw attention away from themselves. This notion is very common, why do people feel the need to bandwagon?

When out with a group of friends, it’s easy to let yourself be encouraged to do things that you wouldn’t do on your own. It’s normal to feel safe when you’re around people you trust, but when the people you trust are up to bad things, how easy is it for you dive into bad behavior alongside them? My hypothesis is that people are more likely to break the rules or a law in a group than by themselves because they feel more empowered and safe in a group. That leads to people doing things that they wouldn’t normally do on their own.