Crowd manipulation

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Manipulation of the crowd is the use of deliberate techniques based on the psychological principle of the crowd to involve, control, or influence the crowd's desire to direct its behavior toward a particular course of action. This practice is common to politics and business and can facilitate approval or rejection or ignorance of a person, policy, or product. The ethics of manipulation of the crowd is questionable.

Manipulation of the crowd is different from propaganda though they can strengthen each other to produce the desired result. If propaganda is "a consistent and lasting effort to create or shape events to influence public relationships of an enterprise, idea or group," crowd manipulation is a relatively short call to action after the propaganda seed (ie more specifically "pre-propaganda") sown and publicly arranged into the crowd. Propagandists attract the masses, even if fragmented, while the crowd manipulator appeals to some of the masses who gather in the crowd in real time. In situations such as a national emergency, however, crowd manipulators can utilize the mass media to tackle the masses in real time as if talking to the crowd.

Crowd manipulation also differs from crowd control, which functions as a security function. The local authorities use methods of controlling the crowd to hold and disperse crowds and prevent and respond to unlawful and unlawful acts such as riots and looting.

Video Crowd manipulation

Functions and morality

Crowd crowds involve, control, or influence the crowd without resorting to physical strength, although the goal may be to incite the use of force by the crowd or by local authorities. Prior to the American War of Independence, Samuel Adams gave Boston residents "costumes, props, and intricate musical instruments to lead protest songs in demonstrations and parade by the harbor through Boston streets." If such a mass provoked British authorities to commit violence, as they did during the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770, Adams would write, produce, and disseminate sensational reports about the incidents to cause discontent and create unity between American colonies. The manner of American manipulation can be classified as a means of soft power, which is "the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payment". Harvard professor Joseph Nye coined this term in the 1980s, though he did not invent the concept. Techniques used to win the minds of the people were examined and developed mainly by Quintilian in his training book, Institutio oratoria and by Aristotle in Rhetoric . The known origins of mass manipulation go as far back as the 5th century BC, where traitors in Syracuse seek to increase their persuasion in court.

The verb "manipulate" can convey negativity, but it does not have to do it. According to Merriam Webster's Dictionary, for example, to "manipulate" means "to control or play in an artsy, unfair, or dangerous way, especially for its own benefit." This definition allows, then, for the use of artistic and honest controls for the benefit of a person. In addition, the actions of many people need not be criminal. The nineteenth-century social scientist Gustave Le Bon wrote:

It is a crowd of isolated individuals who can be encouraged to risk death to secure the triumph of a creed or idea, which may be enthusiastically fired for glory and honor, guided - almost without bread and without weapons, as in the Crusades - to give Christ's tomb of the heathen, or, as in [1793], to defend the homeland. Such heroism without doubt is somewhat unconscious, but it is that heroism that makes history. Are people only credited with great acts committed in cold blood, world records will register but few of them.

Edward Bernays, called "Father of Public Relations", believes that public manipulation is not only moral, but a necessity. He argues that "an invisible small government that understands the mental processes and social patterns of the masses, governs public opinion with consent." This is necessary for the division of labor and to prevent chaos and confusion. "People's voices express people's thoughts, and the minds are made for them by group leaders who are believed by people who understand the manipulation of public opinion", writes Bernays. He also wrote, "We are governed, our minds are shaped, our tastes are formed, our ideas are suggested, mostly by people we have never heard of, this is the logical outcome of the way our democratic society is governed."

Others argue that some techniques are essentially not evil, but instead are vehicles that are philosophically neutral. A lifelong political activist and former White House staff Ronald Reagan Morton C. Blackwell explained in a speech entitled, "People, Party and Power":

Being right in the true sense is not enough to win. Political technology determines political success. Learn how to set up and how to communicate. Most political technology is philosophically neutral. You owe it to your philosophy to learn how to win.

In short, manipulators with different ideologies can use the same techniques to achieve goals that may be good or bad. The crowd manipulation technique offers individuals and groups of tools that are philosophically neutral to maximize the effects of their messages.

To manipulate the crowd, people must first understand what the crowd means, as well as the principles that govern its behavior.

Maps Crowd manipulation

The crowd and their behavior
The word "crowd", according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, refers to "many people especially when collected together" (such as in crowded shopping centers) and "a group of people who have something in common [as in habits, interests , or work]. "Philosopher GA Tawny defines the crowd as "a lot of people who face concrete situations together and more or less aware of their bodies as groups." They face a common situation because of the common interest and the existence of a common state that gives one direction to their thoughts and actions. "Tawney discussed in his work "The Nature of Crowds" two main types of crowds:
Crowds can be classified according to the degree of certainty and firmness of this consciousness. When a very definite and constant crowd can be called homogeneous, and when not so sure and constant, heterogeneous. All mobs belong to a homogeneous class, but not all homogeneous people are masses.... Whether or not a particular group belongs to one or the other may be a debatable question, and the same crowd may unknowingly move from one to the other.
In a 2001 study, the Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Studies at Pennsylvania State University defines a more specific crowd as "a collection of many small and temporarily assembled individuals and groups." These small groups usually consist of friends, family members, or contacts. "
Crowds can show different behaviors from the individuals who compose them. Several theories emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries to explain this phenomenon. These collective works contribute to the "classical theory" of the psychology of the crowd. In 1968, however, social scientist Dr. Carl Couch of the University of Liverpool disproves many of the stereotypes associated with the behavior of the crowd as described by the classical theory. His criticism is widely supported in the psychological community but is still incorporated as "modern theory" into psychological texts. The modern model, based on the "individualistic" concept of crowd behavior developed by Floyd Allport in 1924, is the Elaborated Social Identity Model (ESIM).
Classic Theory
The French philosopher and historian, Hippolyte Taine, was awarded after the Prussian French War in 1871, the first modern account of the psychology of the crowd. Gustave Le Bon developed this framework in his 1895 book, Psychologie des Foules . He proposed that the French during the nineteenth century were essentially cheerful and irrational people who were easily influenced by those who made mistakes. He postulates that the heterogeneous elements that make up this type of crowd essentially form a new creature, a chemical reaction of the types in which the property of the people changes. He writes:
In certain circumstances, and only in that circumstance, male agglomeration gives new characteristics that are very different from those who compose them. The sentiments and ideas of everyone in the meeting took the same one and the same direction, and their conscious personality vanished. A collective mind is formed, undoubtedly temporary, but presents a very clear characteristic.
Le Bon observes some of the characteristics of what he calls an "organized" or "psychological" crowd, including:

immersion or loss of conscious personality and the appearance of an unconscious personality (aka "mental union"). This process is aided by the unbeatable sentiment of strength and anonymity that allows one to give in to the instinct that will continue to be held (ie, the Individual is weakened and the unconscious "grabs the upper hand");

contagion ("In the crowd, every sentiment and action is contagious, and transmitted in such a way that an individual is ready to sacrifice his personal interests for the collective interest"); and

sugestibility as a result of hypnosis. "All feelings and thoughts are bent in the direction determined by the hypnotist" and the crowd tends to turn these thoughts into action.

In short, the classical theory states that:

"[The crowd] is an integrated mass whose behavior can be categorized as active, expressive, acquisitive, or hostile."

"[Crowd] participants are given to spontaneity, irrationality, loss of self-control, and anonymity."

Modern theory
Critics of the classical theory argue that it is a serious defect in that it decontextualises the behavior of the crowd, lack of sustained empirical support, bias, and ignores the effect of police action on the behavior of the crowd.
In 1968, Dr. Carl J. Couch examined and refuted many of the stereotypes of classical theory in his article, "Collective Behavior: Stereotypes." Since then, other social scientists have endorsed many of his critics. The knowledge of this crowd psychology study shows that:

"Crowds are not homogeneous entities" but consist of "the minority of individuals and the majority of small groups of people who know each other."

"Participants disagree in their motivation" or each other. Participants "rarely act in unison, and if they do, it does not last long."

"Crowds do not paralyze individual cognition" and "are not uniquely distinguished by violence or irregular acts."

"Individual attitudes and personality traits," as well as "socioeconomic, demographic and political variables are bad predictors of the intensity of the riots and individual participation."

According to a 2001 study conducted by the Institute of Non-Lethal Technology at Penn State University, the crowd experienced a process that had "early, middle, and late" phases. In particular:

Assembly process

This phase includes the temporary assembly of an individual for a certain time. Evidence suggests that assembly occurs most often through "organized mobilization methods" but can also occur with "spontaneous" processes such as word of mouth by unofficial organizers.

Temporary meeting

In this phase, individuals are aggregated and participate in individual action as well as "collective action." Seldom are all the individuals in the crowd participating, and those who participate do so by choice. Subsequent participation appears to vary by type and purpose of meetings, with religious services experiencing "greater participation" (ie, 80-90%).

Disperseing process

In the last phase, crowd participants spread from "public locations" to "one or more alternative locations."

"Riot" occurs when "one or more individuals in a meeting engage in violence against people or property." According to US and European research data from 1830 to 1930 and from 1960 to the present day, "less than 10 percent of protest demonstrations have involved violence against people or property", with "festive riots" as the most frequent type of unrest in the United States.
Elaboration of social identity model (ESIM)
The modern model has also been developed by Steve Reicher, John Drury, and Clifford Stott which is very different from the "classical theory" of people's behavior. According to Clifford Stott of the University of Leeds:
ESIM has the basic proposition that the component parts of the self-concept that determine human social behavior derive from psychological membership of certain social categories (ie, unique individual identities), crowd participants also have various social identities that can become prominent in psychological systems called 'self. ' Collective action becomes possible when certain social identities simultaneously stand out and are therefore shared among the crowd participants.
Stott's final point differs from the quality of "inundation" of the crowd proposed by Le Bon, in which individual consciousness gives way to the crowd's unconsciousness. The ESIM also considers the police effect on people's behavior. He cautioned that "the use of indiscriminate power creates a re-defined sense of unity in the crowd in terms of invalidity and opposition to police actions." This can basically pull the crowd into conflict despite initial doubts of individuals in the crowd.
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Planning and engineering
Crowd manipulation involves several elements, including: context analysis, site selection, propaganda, authority, and delivery.
Context analysis
History shows that the context and location of socio-economic and political influence dramatically the potential of mass manipulation. The time period in America includes:

Predict the American Revolution (1763-1775) , when Britain imposed heavy taxation and various restrictions on thirteen North American colonies;

Roaring Twenties (1920-1929) , when the emergence of mass production allowed everyday residents to buy luxury items that were previously considered at an affordable price. Businesses that use assembly line manufacturing are challenged to sell a large number of identical products;

The Great Depression (1929-1939) , when a devastating stock market crash disrupted the American economy, causing widespread unemployment; and

Cold War (1945-1989) , when America faced the threat of nuclear war and participated in the Korean War, the highly unpopular Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Internationally, a period of time conducive to crowd manipulation including the Interwar Period (ie after the collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian, Russian, Ottoman and German empires) and Post-World War II (ie decolonization and the collapse of Britain, Germany, France, and the Japanese empire). The beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union provided many opportunities for encouragement messages. The Solidarity movement began in the 1970s thanks to brave leaders like Lech Walesa and the US Information Agency program. In 1987, US President Ronald Reagan capitalized on the sentiment of West Berliners as well as the liberated East Berliners to demand Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev "tear down" the Berlin Wall. During the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama's candidate capitalized on the sentiments of many frustrated American voters mainly by the recent economic downturn and ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The simple messages of "Hope", "Change", and "Yes We Can" were quickly adopted and sung by his supporters during his political demonstrations.
Context and historical events can also encourage unstructured behavior. Examples include:

1968 Columbia, SC Civil Rights Protest;

1992 Poll London Tax Protest; and

1992 L.A. Riot (triggered by the release of police officers involved in Rodney King's assault).

To make full use of the historical context, it is important to conduct a thorough audience analysis to understand the desires, fears, concerns, and biases of the target audience. This can be done through scientific studies, focus groups, and polls.
Site selection
Where the crowd gathers also provides an opportunity to manipulate thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Location, weather, lighting, sound, and even the shape of the arena all affect the willingness of the crowd to participate.
The symbolic and tangible backdrops like the Brandenburg Gate, used by President John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton in 1963, 1987, and 1994, respectively, can evoke emotion before the crowd manipulator opens its mouth to speak. George W. Bush's "Bullhorn Address" at Ground Zero after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center is another example of how the place can reinforce the message. Responding to the shouts of a rescue officer, "I can not hear you," President Bush shouted back, "I can hear you! I can hear you! The whole world hears you! And the people - and the people who knock on these buildings will soon hear all of us! "Crowds erupted with cheers and patriotic singing.
Propaganda
Mass manipulators and propagandists can work together to achieve greater results than individually. According to Edward Bernays, propagandists should prepare their target groups to think and anticipate the message before it is delivered. The messages themselves must be tested in advance because ineffective messages are worse than no messages at all. Social scientist Jacques Ellul calls this kind of activity "pre-propaganda," and it is important that the message must be effective. Ellul writes in Propaganda: Establishment of Male Attitude :
Direct propaganda, aimed at changing opinions and attitudes, must be preceded by sociological, slow, general propaganda, seeking to create a climate, a good starting point. No direct propaganda can be effective without pre-propaganda, which, without direct or real aggression, is limited to creating ambiguity, reducing prejudice, and spreading images, apparently aimlessly....
In Jacques Ellul's book Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, states that sociological propaganda can be compared to plowing, direct propaganda for sowing; You can not do that one without doing the other first. Sociological propaganda is a phenomenon in which society seeks to integrate the maximum number of individuals into itself by uniting the behavior of its members according to the pattern, spreading its lifestyle abroad, and thus imposing itself on other groups. Basically sociological propaganda aims to improve compatibility with collective environments by developing adherence to or maintaining the established order through long-term penetration and progressive adaptation using all social flow. The propaganda element is a way of life by which the individual is impregnated and then the individual begins to express it in a movie, writing, or art without realizing it. This unconscious behavior creates community expansion through advertising, movies, education, and magazines. "The whole group, consciously or unconsciously, express themselves in this way, and to show, secondly that its influence aims more in all lifestyles." This type of propaganda is not accidental but appears spontaneously or unconsciously in a culture or nation. This propaganda reinforces the way of life of the individual and represents this way of life as well as possible. Sociological propaganda creates an indisputable criterion for individuals to make good and evil judgments according to the order of the individual's way of life. Sociological propaganda produces no action, however, it can prepare the land for direct propaganda. From then on, individuals in the grip of sociological propaganda believe that those who live in this way are on the side of the angels, and those who are not bad.
Bernays speed up this process by identifying and contracting those who most influence public opinion (top experts, celebrities, supporters, interrelated groups, etc.).
Once the minds of the crowd are hijacked and the seeds of propaganda are sown, mass manipulators can prepare to harvest their crops.
Authority
The manipulator may be an orator, group, musician, athlete, or other person who moves the crowd to the point of agreement before he makes a special call to action. Aristotle believed that the ethos, or credibility, of manipulators contributed to his persuasion.
Prestige is a form of "domination done in our minds by an individual, a work, or an idea." Manipulators with great prestige paralyze the critical ability of his people and command respect and admiration. Authority flows from prestige, which can be generated by "acquired prestige" (eg position, uniform, judge cloak) and "personal prestige" (ie inner strength). Personal prestige like that of a "savage beast" who can easily eat it. Success is the most important factor affecting personal prestige. Le Bon writes, "From the moment of prestige being questioned, it is no longer a prestige." Thus, the manipulators will try to prevent this discussion and keep the distance away from the crowds so that their mistakes will damage their prestige.
Shipping
The ability of the manipulator to influence the crowd is largely dependent on visual, vocal, and verbal submissions. Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler made a personal commitment to becoming a master of rhetoric.
Churchill
At 22, Winston Churchill documented his conclusions about speaking to the people. He gave him the title "The Scaffolding of Rhetoric" and described what he believed to be the essence of every effective speech. Among these important things are:

"Accuracy of diction", or appropriate word choice to convey the exact meaning of the orator;

"Rhythm", or the sound appeal of speech through the phrase "long, rolling, and loud";

"Accumulation of arguments," or "the orator's quick row of sounds and images" to take the crowds to the thunder climb;

"Analogy", or links from unknown to familiar; and

"Wild Luxury," or the use of expression, however extreme, embodies the feelings of the orator and its audience.

Hitler
Adolf Hitler believed he could apply the propaganda lessons he learned painfully from the Allies during World War I and applied that lesson to benefit Germany afterwards. The following points offer a useful insight into his thinking behind his performance on stage:

Appealing to the masses: "[Propaganda] should be dealt with always and exclusively for the masses", not "scientifically trained intellectuals."

Target emotions: "[Propaganda] should be aimed at emotions and only at a very limited level of so-called intelligence."

Make your message simple: "This is a mistake to make propaganda on many sides... Massive mass acceptance is very limited, their intelligence is small, but the power of forgetting is enormous."

Prepare your audience for the worst-case scenario: "[Prepare] individual warriors for war terror, and thus [help] to protect him from disappointment." After this, the most appalling weapon used against him seems to be just to confirm what his propagandists say , it also reinforces his belief in the truthfulness of his government statement, while on the other it raises his anger and hatred against a vicious enemy. "

Do not make a half-hearted statement: "... emphasize a right that has been established for debate.The task is not to make an objective study of the truth, to the extent it benefits the enemy, and then set before the masses with academic justice, the task is to serve our own rights, always and without doubt. "

Continually repeat your message: "[Propagandist technique] should limit itself to some points and repeat it over and over again.Here, as is often the case in the world, persistence is the first and foremost requirement for success." (Gustave Le Bon believes that the affirmed and repeated messages are often regarded as truth and transmitted through contagion. "Humans, like animals, have a natural tendency to imitate, Imitation is a necessity for him, as long as always that imitations are easy enough", writes Le Bon In his 1881 essay "L'Homme et Societes", he wrote "It is by example not by the argument that the crowds are guided." He emphasized that in order to influence, one should not be too far removed his audience or examples that can not be reached by them If yes, the effect will be zero.

The Nazi Party in Germany used propaganda to develop a cult of personality around Hitler. Historians like Ian Kershaw emphasize the psychological impact of Hitler's skills as an orator. Neil Kressel reports, "Incredibly... the Germans speak by translating Hitler's hypnotic appeal". Roger Gill states: "His touching speech captures the minds and hearts of a large number of Germans: he really hypnotizes his audience." Hitler is very effective when he can absorb feedback from the audience directly, and listeners will also be caught in increased enthusiasm. He looked for signs of fanatical devotion, stating that his ideas would remain "like words received under hypnotic influence."
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Apps

Politics
The political process provides many opportunities to utilize mass manipulation techniques to foster support for candidates and policies. From campaign campaigns to city hall debates to war declarations, statesmen have historically used mass manipulation to convey their messages. Public opinion polls, such as those conducted by the Pew Research Center and www.RealClearPolitics.com provide statesmen and candidate statesmen with approval ratings, and wedge issues.
Business
Since the advent of mass production, businesses and companies have used the manipulation of people to sell their products. The ads serve as propaganda to prepare for the future crowd to absorb and receive certain messages. Edward Bernays believes that certain advertisements are more effective if they create an environment that encourages the purchase of a particular product. Instead of marketing the piano features, selling the idea of â€‹â€‹the idea of â€‹â€‹a music room.

The entertainment industry makes use of the amazing manipulation of people to please fans and boost ticket sales. Not only promoting assembly through mass media, it also uses rhetorical techniques to engage the crowd, thus enhancing their experience. At Penn State University-University Park, for example, the Athletics PSU uses the Nittany Lion mascot to ignite a crowd of over 100,000 students, alumni, and other visitors to the Beaver Stadium. Among the techniques used were gestures for one side of the stadium to chant "We..." while the other party replied, "Penn State!" This and other singing make Beaver Stadium a formidable place to visit a team that is struggling to call their drama because of the noise. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), formerly World Wrestling Federation (WWF) uses mass manipulation techniques to generate its crowds as well. It makes a special use of the polarization personality and prestige of wrestlers to draw out the emotions of his listeners. This exercise is similar to the ancient Roman gladiators, whose lives depended on their ability to not only fight but also to win the crowds. A high level of enthusiasm is maintained using lights, sounds, pictures, and crowd participation. According to Hulk Hogan in his autobiography, My Life Is Outside the Ring , "You do not have to be a great wrestler, you just have to pull the crowd into a game. , and pay attention to the atmosphere of the crowd. "

Flash mobs

Flash mob is a collection of individuals, usually organized first by electronic means, which perform special actions, usually strange and then spread. This action is often weird or funny - like in a big pillow fight, ad hoc music, or a harmonized dance. Bystanders are usually left in awe and/or shock.

The concept of flash mob is relatively new when compared to the traditional form of crowd manipulation. Bill Wasik, senior editor of Harper's Magazine, is credited with the concept. He organized his first flash mob at a Macy department store in 2003. The use of flash mob as a political war tool can take the form of a massive strike during political speeches, political rally disturbances, or even as a tool to reorganize the crowd after it has been disbanded by control mass. The first view, flash mob may seem to be a spontaneous failure of crowd manipulation (ie the crowd curves against the manipulator). On September 8, 2009, for example, choreographer Michael Gracey was organized - with the help of a cell phone and about twenty instructors - 20,000 -person flash mob to surprise Oprah Winfrey during the 24th Kick-Off Event. After the introduction of Oprah, The Black Eyed Peas featured their hit musical "I Gotta Feeling". As the song progresses, the synchronized dance begins with a female dancer in front and spreads from person to person until the whole crowd becomes involved. A Oprah is surprised and delighted to discover that there is a crowd manipulator other than her and her music guest at work. Gracey and others have been able to organize and manipulate such large crowds with the help of electronic devices and social networking. But one does not need to be a professional choreographer to perform such an operation. On February 13, 2009, for example, 22-year-old Facebook users organized flash mobs that temporarily closed Liverpool Street stations in London.

How To Use 10 Psychological Theories To Persuade People

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References

EXPOSED: Media BUSTED...Blatant Manipulation REVEALED!

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Crowd manipulation

Selasa, 10 Juli 2018