tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/crowd-psychology-47238/articlesCrowd psychology – The Conversation2022-09-19T12:22:46Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1898592022-09-19T12:22:46Z2022-09-19T12:22:46ZConspiracy theories are dangerous even if very few people believe them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/484680/original/file-20220914-18-utbv87.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=247%2C7%2C4745%2C1863&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lies don't have to spread far to cause problems.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/people-garthered-around-one-outstanding-person-royalty-free-image/1365164005">numismarty/iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is an open question among pundits and researchers: Do <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/shadowland/">more Americans</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/717850">believe in conspiracy theories</a> now <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/18/buffalo-shooting-great-replacement-qanon">than ever before</a>?</p>
<p>But as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Q13nvXwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholar of conspiracy theories</a> and their believers, I am concerned that focusing on how many Americans believe conspiracy theories can distract from their dangers.</p>
<p>Even if most people dismiss conspiracy theories or accept them only in <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691178707/not-born-yesterday">some limited sense</a>, leaving very <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/717850">small numbers of true believers</a>, the high visibility of these false ideas can still make them dangerous.</p>
<h2>Association without belief</h2>
<p>Philosophers often suppose people can <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2253760">explain their actions</a> in terms of what they want to do or get, and what they <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/belief/">believe</a>. However, many of people’s actions are guided not by explicit beliefs but rather by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/19/oliver-burkeman-aliefs-beliefs">gut feelings</a>. These feelings aren’t set in stone. They can be influenced by experience. </p>
<p>This principle is taken to heart by advertisers who aim to influence behavior, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/thinking-vs-feeling-the-psychology-of-advertising/247466/">not by changing how people think but how they feel</a>. Manipulating feelings in this way can be accomplished by subtly associating a product with desirable outcomes like status and sex.</p>
<p>This can also take a negative form, as in political attack ads that aim to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3647684">associate an opponent</a> with threatening imagery and descriptions. Forging similar mental associations is one way in which conspiracy theories, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-021-03379-y">like other misinformation</a>, might have consequences even without being believed.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dDTBnsqxZ3k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">One of the earliest political attack ads, placed by Lyndon Johnson in 1964, never even mentions its target’s name.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Some examples</h2>
<p>Consider conspiracy theories alleging that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was rigged. Some people no doubt <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/05/america-biden-election-2020-poll-victory">believe that</a>. But even if people don’t buy the whole lie, they may still believe that something about the 2020 election doesn’t <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/04/trump-voters-big-lie-stolen-election/629572/">“feel right,” “seem right” or “smell right.”</a> They might, therefore, be more inclined to support efforts politicians claim will protect election integrity – even if such efforts result in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/17/florida-republicans-black-voters-justice-department">targeted voter suppression</a>. </p>
<p>Next, consider anti-vaccination conspiracy theories. Anti-vaccination content, whether about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.287.24.3245">vaccines in general</a> or specifically about the <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/covid-vaccine-misinformation-facebook">COVID-19 vaccines</a>, often takes the form of pictures and videos purporting to illustrate disturbing side effects of vaccines. Material of this sort can proliferate rapidly across social media and, by relying on disturbing imagery rather than explicit false claims, can often <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7ek3d/anti-vaxxers-are-learning-how-to-game-tiktoks-algorithm-and-theyre-going-viral">escape moderation</a>. </p>
<p>Exposure to anti-vaccination information might give readers or viewers a vague feeling of unease, and consequent hesitancy concerning vaccines, even without producing explicit anti-vaccination beliefs. In fact, previous studies have shown that people who tend to rely on their intuition and who have negative emotions toward vaccines <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2019.1673894">are more likely to refuse vaccination</a>. While that research involved other vaccines, it’s likely that similar factors help explain why <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html">many Americans have gone without full COVID-19 vaccination, and most have gone without boosters</a>. </p>
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<span class="caption">Whether they were true believers or not, Capitol rioters were influenced by conspiracy theories.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SocialMediaConservativeVoices/1714e596e04b4367956e142598025532/photo">AP Photo/John Minchillo</a></span>
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<h2>Pretense and coordination</h2>
<p>Scholars often suggest that many people merely pretend to believe in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192895325.003.0001">conspiracy theories</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfx042">other forms of misinformation</a> as a way of expressing their political loyalties. But even pretense can be costly. Consider an analogy.</p>
<p>When a child declares that “the floor is lava,” few if any believe the declaration. But that child, and others, begin to act as if the declaration were true. Those who do may clamber onto furniture, and repeat the declaration to others who enter the space. Some children play just for fun, some play to show off their climbing and jumping skills, and some play to appease the child who initiated the game.</p>
<p>Some kids quickly tire of the game and wish to stop playing, but like or respect the child who initiated the game, and don’t want to upset that person by stopping. As the game progresses, some take it too seriously. Furniture is damaged, and some get injured while attempting to leap from one raised surface to another. The lava is fake, but real things get broken. </p>
<p>More seriously, when Donald Trump claimed that the 2020 presidential election was “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-longstanding-history-calling-elections-rigged-doesnt-results/story?id=74126926">rigged</a>,” some officials and ordinary citizens acted accordingly. Whether out of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/02/972564176/antifa-didnt-storm-the-capitol-just-ask-the-rioters">sincere belief</a>, partisanship, loyalty to Trump or <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/true-the-vote-election-fraud/">financial opportunism</a>, many Americans behaved as if the 2020 election was unfairly decided.</p>
<p>Some people acting as if the election conspiracy theory were true assembled in Washington, D.C., some stormed the Capitol building and, behind the scenes, some developed a scheme to submit <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/27/us/politics/fake-electors-explained-trump-jan-6.html">fake slates of electors</a> supporting Trump’s reelection despite his loss at the ballot box. The people involved in these activities could count on the support of others who endorsed the rigged election claim, even if these endorsements were largely insincere. </p>
<h2>The price of pretending</h2>
<p>The costs of acting as if the 2020 election were rigged are no doubt greater than those for acting as if the floor is lava. The costs of acting as if the 2020 election were rigged led to <a href="https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/04-8-2022/jan-6-costs/">millions of dollars</a> worth of damage to the Capitol building, led to <a href="https://time.com/6133336/jan-6-capitol-riot-arrests-sentences/">hundreds of arrests</a> for Capitol rioters, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-deaths.html">led to multiple deaths</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/06/trump-election-attacks-collapse-faith-democracy">imperiled American democracy</a>.</p>
<p>Given the severe risks involved, it’s worth wondering why people who did not sincerely believe the election was unfair would risk pretending. This question highlights the unique danger of conspiracy theories endorsed by those in power: There can be much to gain from pretending to believe them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189859/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Raymond Harris receives funding from The Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine Westphalia. </span></em></p>Worrying about how many people believe false ideas misses the real danger – that people are influenced by them whether they believe them or not.Keith Raymond Harris, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Philosophy, Ruhr University BochumLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1713972021-11-08T07:30:39Z2021-11-08T07:30:39ZAstroworld tragedy: here’s how concert organisers can prevent big crowds turning deadly<p>A <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-08/astroworld-crowd-crush-deaths-travis-scott-kylie-jenner/100602042">fatal crowd surge</a> during a performance by US rapper Travis Scott on Friday night has become one of the deadliest live music incidents in <a href="https://theconversation.com/carnage-at-ariana-grande-concert-in-manchester-a-suspected-terrorist-attack-78187">recent years</a>. Crowd crushes during the Houston show, which was part of the Astroworld Music Festival, led to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/astroworld-festival-victims.html">eight deaths and dozens of injuries</a>. </p>
<p>The incident is still being investigated, with criminal investigations also underway. How does such catastrophe emerge in a space where people are supposed to be enjoying themselves? </p>
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<p>I have been working in the area of crowd safety for several years. My expertise focuses on ways of boosting safety at large events such as Schoolies, outdoor music festivals and sporting tournaments. Based on reports, it seems several factors — compounded by mismanagement — led to an environment that was not conducive to what we call “cooperative crowding”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-sound-of-fear-65230">Friday essay: the sound of fear</a>
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<h2>An unsettled start</h2>
<p>In a successfully managed event, organisers will create an atmosphere in which people are relaxed and feel part of a collective. Reports of early pushing and shoving at Scott’s show are a bad sign. </p>
<p>Adding to this, several witnesses reported they were unable to persuade event organisers to take action once the disaster was unfolding. It may be the music was too loud, although such details won’t be known until investigations finish. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/06/us/travis-scott-crowd-surge.html">According to the New York Times</a> and several other outlets, Scott’s show continued for 40 minutes after city officials reported on the “mass casualty event” — with the show finishing just half an hour earlier than planned.</p>
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<h2>It’s all about event control</h2>
<p>Event managers will often turn the lights up, or play music with a slower tempo, to help tame a rowdy audience. Lighting conditions and music are both important <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/public-health-for-mass-gatherings-key-considerations">psychosocial considerations</a>.</p>
<p>In fact, there are several ways organisers and performers on stage can attempt to settle a crowd — even among audiences of high-intensity musical acts.</p>
<p>For instance, German heavy-metal band Rammstein can attract intense and sometimes aggressive crowds. When the band played the 2011 Big Day Out festival in Sydney, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3727/152599518X15346132863157">managers put on a pyrotechnic display</a> and ambient music between sets to helps shift and control the crowd’s mood. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Rammstein played in Sydney in 2001 for the Big Day Out music festival.</span></figcaption>
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<p>It’s about knowing your audience and the environment they are likely to create. The <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263332870_Developments_in_the_real-time_evaluation_of_audience_behaviour_at_planned_events">genre will determine the demographic</a> and the expectation of the crowd’s behaviour. If it’s expected a particular show will attract a high-energy demographic, this needs to be prepared for in advance. Effective crowd control is preemptive, not reactive. </p>
<p>At music festivals, the acts in the lineup can also have a direct influence on the audience’s behaviour. Festival-goers can be persuaded to participate in activities and behaviours at the performer(s) request, abandoning safety restrictions put in place by event management. </p>
<p>As such, performers can create a calming environment through their interaction with the audience and have a positive influence on the crowd.</p>
<h2>What measures are in place?</h2>
<p>Despite widespread coverage of the Astroworld incident, the reality is that deadly crowd surges are not common. Australia’s most recent crowd-related music festival fatality was during a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/doublej/music-reads/features/how-the-big-day-out-lost-its-innocence/11606956">Limp Bizkit performance</a>, during the Big Day Out event in 2001.</p>
<p>On the whole, event managers put a lot of work into making sure crowds are looked after. Investment in crowd care can come through venue “chill-out spaces”, and granting different levels of access such as ground level versus stalls, or VIP seating. This is because events both in Australia and internationally are <a href="https://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/tools-and-resources/event-starter-guide/risk-assessment-and-risk-management/">heavily</a> <a href="https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/media/1959/manual-12-safe-and-healthy-mass-gatherings.pdf">legislated</a>. </p>
<p>On-the-ground security guards matter a lot, as they help ensure the crowd is sufficiently spread out and safe. The layout and design of the venue is also crucial, and the space should be able to handle the expected number of attendees. </p>
<p>The 2010 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Parade_disaster">Love Parade disaster</a> in Germany is one example of a chaotic crowd surge in which there were several systemic issues. The events communications system went down and there was only only one entry and exit – a catastrophic situation that <a href="https://epjdatascience.springeropen.com/articles/10.1140/epjds7">culminated</a> in 21 deaths in a crush inside a tunnel.</p>
<p>Closer to home, in 2016 attendees at the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-31/falls-festival-stampede-leaves-80-injured/8155392">Falls Festival</a> had to rush from one stage to another, which resulted in about 80 people being injured, including 20 hospital admissions. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there are plenty of well-organised events that manage to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people, such as the <a href="https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/how-many-people-attend-glastonbury-4166109">Glastonbury festival</a>. </p>
<h2>What can I do in this situation?</h2>
<p>As concerts and shows start to resume, you may wonder how you can stay safe in a volatile crowd. The reality is, there is not much someone can do if they find themselves stuck deep in a dense mosh pit which is out of control, and the risk in this scenario is great. </p>
<p>The best way to avoid danger is to stay on the fringes, well away from the most congested sections of the crowd. If you have concert plans, ask yourself: what kind of people might I expect? Will people be drinking? Will it be family-friendly? Common sense will go a long way. </p>
<p>If, despite your planning, you find yourself in a crowd situation where you don’t feel safe, you should immediately report to security if you can. If you’re near the stage, you might also be able to get the performer’s attention. The performer has lot of power and, as several incidents in the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/placebo-stops-newcastle-gig-to-kick-out-fighting-crowd-members-20170913-gygauy.html">past have shown us</a>, they can shut things down until the crowd starts to cooperate. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/computing-the-chances-of-olympic-crowd-chaos-8066">Computing the chances of Olympic crowd chaos</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171397/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Hutton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Investigations are being conducted to figure out what led to the death of eight people during a crowd surge at Travis Scott’s show.Alison Hutton, Professor , University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1426432020-07-30T20:03:01Z2020-07-30T20:03:01ZFriday essay: make some noise — the (forbidden) joy of crowds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349848/original/file-20200728-23-yotw6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Regi Varghese/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I live in what was one of the noisiest city precincts, pre-pandemic, in the country — Surfers Paradise — golden lit, white noise jewel of the Gold Coast. </p>
<p>The pandemonium vibe both natural and man-made, big waves crashing right up to the edges of the cityscape competing with the clangour of human joy and the human stain. My front yard — the azure Pacific and my backyard, Orchid Avenue, home to shiny super clubs, old bolt holes rebranded or new kids on the block, clubs that never even got to open, neon signs glittering more than their insides, the newest — Asylum — flashing on and off in a peculiar reminder of where we have ended up. </p>
<p>Usually Surfers is pumping. There are sirens all the time, a thousand scooters and every form of stupid kart, hired out to families from down south who take over the joint like there is no bedtime in paradise.</p>
<p>Horns, kids in pools, Lamborghinis and Skylines doing laps, gangs of skateboarders cruising the Esplanade, the wide concrete swathes host to their tricks and a kilometre-long market running every second evening, the unofficial motorbike convention rolling in on Saturday nights to chew the fat, hen’s nights in Hummers. 20,000 visitors a day. Middle Eastern families, kids from Logan, Chinese entourages, posses of French, Spanish and Argentinian gods and goddesses. Silence here isn’t normal. That’s why when the pandemic hit, it was next level eerie. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349854/original/file-20200728-27-1em4cmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349854/original/file-20200728-27-1em4cmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349854/original/file-20200728-27-1em4cmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349854/original/file-20200728-27-1em4cmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349854/original/file-20200728-27-1em4cmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349854/original/file-20200728-27-1em4cmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349854/original/file-20200728-27-1em4cmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349854/original/file-20200728-27-1em4cmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A crowd of schoolies from another epoch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony Phillips/AAP</span></span>
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<p>On the first of May I took a stroll through the streets, even though I probably wasn’t supposed to. Well past the Cinderella hour, I saw not a single soul. Not even the kebab shops and the convenience stores placed at handy ten meter intervals were alight, no bored strippers leaning up against fake marble pillars, not one car moving, only cop cars, lined up in a shiny, stagnant row outside the police station. </p>
<p>Some might venture this was an improvement, but for a renegade like me who doesn’t mind the volume dialled up to 50, the scene was more post-apocalyptic than any previous version of Surfers. It was, in a word — boring. I say this in full acknowledgement of the seriousness of what’s become the global Corona horror show. The lives lost and the lives yet to go down the economic fallout drain. </p>
<p>But those memes circulating about us all heading into the apocalypse in our bathrobes and lounge-wear captured something of the inertia and restlessness we were feeling. A void of interaction has you questioning the meaning — of everything. For what are we left with without each other, without the crowd? Without the teeming masses that sometimes drive us crazy or even to despair? It is a world without the sounds we make. The good, the bad and the ugly. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350094/original/file-20200729-15-1mh10ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350094/original/file-20200729-15-1mh10ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350094/original/file-20200729-15-1mh10ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350094/original/file-20200729-15-1mh10ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350094/original/file-20200729-15-1mh10ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350094/original/file-20200729-15-1mh10ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350094/original/file-20200729-15-1mh10ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350094/original/file-20200729-15-1mh10ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The teeming masses … last year’s Melbourne Cup.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vince Caligiuri/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Solitude as a choice</h2>
<p>At first, I kinda liked the holes COVID-19 had buried me into. I’ll dance on a table until 3am but then I’ll want to disappear and think about it for, well, at least seven days. Most writers are like this. On the spectrum between hedonists and hermits. (The modernists more firmly in the latter pack — but I guess you can empathise with a mistrust of crowds in the 20th century.) The herd, the groupthink, rubs right up against the grain. A sentiment exemplified by Carl Jung when he said, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>A group experience takes place on a lower level of consciousness than the experience of an individual. This is due to the fact that, when many people gather together to share one common emotion, the total psyche emerging from the group is below the level of the individual psyche. If it is a very large group, the collective psyche will be more like the psyche of an animal.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Jung might have been onto something but perhaps his take is only part of the story. Crowds can be lowest common denominator and maddening, but when the pandemic hit, I realised solitude is only preferable when it’s a choice. </p>
<p>Musos and sports stars generally love crowds — they know how important they are, hometown advantage, ticket sales, energy. When the AFL opened up to crowds again in July, the Twittersphere erupted in gratitude. People had “tears in their eyes” and the roar was “awesome”, “beautiful”. “I vow to never take genuine crowd noise like this for granted ever again,” said one fan.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349850/original/file-20200728-35-1d7ww2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349850/original/file-20200728-35-1d7ww2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349850/original/file-20200728-35-1d7ww2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349850/original/file-20200728-35-1d7ww2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349850/original/file-20200728-35-1d7ww2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349850/original/file-20200728-35-1d7ww2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349850/original/file-20200728-35-1d7ww2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349850/original/file-20200728-35-1d7ww2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A footy crowd returns to Adelaide on July 25 this year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Mariuz/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We didn’t want cardboard faces in the seats, cameramen trying to avoid the sweep of empty grandstands. We wanted “proper crowds” not fake ones, where our joy and rage got dubbed in for our consumption. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349858/original/file-20200728-23-1yh77lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349858/original/file-20200728-23-1yh77lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349858/original/file-20200728-23-1yh77lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349858/original/file-20200728-23-1yh77lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349858/original/file-20200728-23-1yh77lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349858/original/file-20200728-23-1yh77lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349858/original/file-20200728-23-1yh77lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349858/original/file-20200728-23-1yh77lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We didn’t want cardboard faces in the seats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Just like ‘boom!’</h2>
<p>I was supped on crowds as a kid, and the best, most terrifying, glorious mass to be in was a sellout Queensland State of Origin crowd at Lang Park, when the beer was full strength, before they banned glass. A hallowed ground nicknamed the Cauldron, because its original intimate configuration resembled a pot, a hive where the intensity of the crowd could strike fear into the hearts of the opposition.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/footy-crowds-what-the-afl-and-nrl-need-to-turn-sport-into-show-business-139471">Footy crowds: what the AFL and NRL need to turn sport into show business</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Lang Park was paganistic, with the steam rising and the baying for blood, always on the verge of violence but not quite tipping over because the passion wasn’t just about sport, the passion was political. Queenslanders making a point. </p>
<p>Early era Brisbane Broncos and Maroons player Paul Bowman summed it up. “We’re battlers, we’ve always got to scrap for what’s ours and what we deserve. I think there’s a lot of Queenslanders with that attitude. Southerners […] probably think about us as second-class citizens.”</p>
<p>He went on to describe the crowd at Lang Park as “unbelievable”. And almost every other player who ran out onto that paddock in a Maroon jersey has had something to say about it too. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349849/original/file-20200728-25-vi7sds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349849/original/file-20200728-25-vi7sds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349849/original/file-20200728-25-vi7sds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349849/original/file-20200728-25-vi7sds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349849/original/file-20200728-25-vi7sds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349849/original/file-20200728-25-vi7sds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349849/original/file-20200728-25-vi7sds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349849/original/file-20200728-25-vi7sds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maroons fans cheer during a State of Origin Game in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Glen Hunt/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Former Origin star Gavin Allen: “The crowd was louder than any crowd I have played in front of. This crowd was just out of control.” </p>
<p>And Steve Renouf, known as one of NRL’s greatest centres and a Queensland Origin legend. “You walk out there, and they said it just really hits you and it does, the crowd is just like ‘boom’!”</p>
<h2>Ephemeral power</h2>
<p>You never forget those moments when you become part of something bigger than you, something stronger, louder and fiercer, something outside of your control. A crowd can exhilarate the ephemeral power in us. </p>
<p>French polymath <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gustave-Le-Bon">Gustave Le Bon</a> captures some of this unnameable force when he says, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Crowds display a singularly inferior mentality; yet there are other acts in which they appear to be guided by those mysterious forces which the ancients denominated destiny, nature, or providence, which we call the voices of the dead, and whose power it is impossible to overlook, although we ignore their essence. It would seem, at times, as if there were latent forces in the inner being of nations which serve to guide them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When I got older that desire for a collective merging shifted — same stadiums, different offerings on the menu — mosh pits of thousands slivering and snaking to the Prodigy or Beastie Boys or Ministry, hive mind of their own, where the point was to fling yourself into other bodies and be carried away by them, where a multitude became one, sweat and spit flying and sometimes blood, in unbridled proximity. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349851/original/file-20200728-35-3auhrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349851/original/file-20200728-35-3auhrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349851/original/file-20200728-35-3auhrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349851/original/file-20200728-35-3auhrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349851/original/file-20200728-35-3auhrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349851/original/file-20200728-35-3auhrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349851/original/file-20200728-35-3auhrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349851/original/file-20200728-35-3auhrq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The point of the mosh pit was to fling yourself into other bodies and be carried away by them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martin Philbey/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, distrust of the crowd has always been elitist. Crowds change things: temperatures, moods, security levels. And they end things: reigns, wars, ideological creep. Conversely, they can also signify these things or generate them, hence our uncomfortable relationship with validating a war cry.</p>
<p>One thing’s for sure, right now, a crowd anywhere in any form is asking for trouble — but in essence that’s what crowds are for. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349857/original/file-20200728-15-1sz9o1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349857/original/file-20200728-15-1sz9o1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349857/original/file-20200728-15-1sz9o1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349857/original/file-20200728-15-1sz9o1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349857/original/file-20200728-15-1sz9o1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349857/original/file-20200728-15-1sz9o1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349857/original/file-20200728-15-1sz9o1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349857/original/file-20200728-15-1sz9o1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">East Berlin residents waiting to cross into West Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany in November 1989.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The film <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/inside-italy%E2%80%99s-covid-war/12464132">Italy’s War on Covid</a> documents the day-to-day struggles of Dr Francesca Mangiatordi, ER Director of the Cremona Hospital in the north of Italy, one of the hardest hit regions in the world.</p>
<p>We bear witness to the unbearable choices she had to make between ventilating the young or the old, the hand of her co-worker’s son pressed up against the pale yellow glass on a door his mother is isolating behind. Nurses stripping off their anti-viral gear staring at their over-tired faces in the mirror. Mangiatordi’s young son in very enthusiastic Italian, comparing her to Captain America. She is a warrior and at the end of the doco, when her unit has regained some semblance of normality she says </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I believe the moment we can say there is no risk of contagion, everyone will let out a thunderous roar. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>She would know. </p>
<h2>A roar of relief</h2>
<p>It’s Saturday night on the May Day long weekend and my partner and I are bored. Usually a long weekend signals the need for veranda gatherings and the city gets hit with all kinds of trippers. But the city is quiet, no parties in the towers, no cars on the roads and the most exciting thing you’re allowed to do is walk down the street to pick up your takeout.</p>
<p>We collect the food but don’t head back right away. We can’t deal with it — we want air and other people’s faces, so we take a seat at one of the public tables set into the ground. The old couple in the expensive looking but worn coats sit two tables away from us, the man pushing his much frailer wife in a wheelchair. He locks the wheels, lays out their fillet of fishes, upturns the small packets of fries, gets out a jar of mayonnaise from his backpack, unscrews the lid, puts two neat dollops on the cardboard lids. A little picnic just like the one we’re having in a largely abandoned mall. </p>
<p>And when the fireworks go off and all our faces are lit up in golds and pinks and purples and my heart is pumping as the explosions rip through me like welcome gunshots, I don’t expect it. The council deciding to go ahead with their usual May Day celebrations without telling anyone. And that’s probably a good thing. Because those giant shots of dangerous chemicals and stars from the barges set out in the ocean are just the start.</p>
<p>The roar that comes next is all people, hundreds of bodies pooling out of high rises flouting the rules and acting purely on instinct, running almost desperate, towards the sound. </p>
<p>Hundreds more join them on verandas above us, screaming out in solidarity and relief, rattling their cages, the gunpowder in the air flicking a switch. Moments before, the buildings had seemed so desolate and lifeless. Now they appear to be covered in human lichen, spreading and calling out in whatever ways they can. We’ve seen similar outpourings all around the world, because this is the only way a crowd can be now, forbidden, illicit or socially distanced on separate balconies. </p>
<p>Italians belting out opera from flung-open windows, a stalled Spanish Armada banging pots and pans in a frenzy, whole neighbourhoods in the US breaking into song for the essential workers and high-rise captives in Surfers Paradise, screaming into a lit up sky. In two months time, Ukrainian band O.Torvald would take this force of circumstance one step further, staging a vertical concert, where every seat was a balcony, a hotel full of paying punters, watching over them as they play. Even when we’re spaced apart, we need the noise we make together to feel alive. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G7rIWEqx_EM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The old couple don’t really bother looking, just keep dipping their chips into the mayonnaise they brought themselves. Not really fussed. Maybe they’ve lived through something bigger than this after all. </p>
<p>And when the noise dies down, almost as quick as it came, we tidy up in ways which I’m hoping mirror the old couple’s ways and we wish them good evening, making our way home with the rest of the crowd, the revellers who’d busted out and the thousands of ghostly silhouettes in the high rises all around us. Slinking back into a long night of solitary confinement — tails between our legs — but at least we’re smiling.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142643/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Breen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A crowd can exhilarate the ephemeral power within us. Whether a packed stadium or a mosh pit, crowds brought us together in ways that were more than physical.Sally Breen, Senior Lecturer in Writing and Publishing, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1396622020-06-02T20:06:20Z2020-06-02T20:06:20ZWhy does crowd noise matter?<p>Sporting codes are restarting as part of easing restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic. In Australia, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-29/rugby-league-returns-from-covid-19-shutdown/12298446">the NRL season has just restarted</a>, the AFL <a href="https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/afl-restart-date-revealed-c-1038201">will resume on June 11</a>, and Super Netball <a href="https://thewomensgame.com/news/2020-super-netball-and-constellation-cups-confirmed-548760">will return on August 1</a>. </p>
<p>But, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, there’s one crucial ingredient missing: crowds.</p>
<p>To provide atmosphere in the absence of people, broadcasters are experimenting with canned crowd noise, much like the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-laugh-even-if-it-is-fake-a-history-of-canned-laughter-134070">laugh tracks used in sitcoms</a>. Last weekend the NRL unveiled its fake audience noise, drawing a <a href="https://twitter.com/i/events/1265956270839750659?s=13">mixed response from viewers</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1265951385960374273"}"></div></p>
<p>Germany’s top soccer league <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-28/fake-crowd-noise-bundesliga-afl-tv-broadcast/12295010">has been using it for weeks</a>, and the English Premier League, which returns on June 17, is even considering <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league-project-restart-fifa-20-fake-crowd-noise-a4455766.html">borrowing crowd noise from EA Sports’ popular soccer video game FIFA</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YbX4Wq5pCPY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">EA Sports’ popular FIFA soccer gaming franchise is famed for its fake crowd noise.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But why do we care so much about crowd noise, and why do many of us feel we need it?</p>
<p>It’s because it bonds us with members of our tribe, provides us a sense of connection, and acts as a psychological cue for when to pay particular attention to the action, like a goal opportunity. Without it, sport just doesn’t seem as exciting.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-spit-to-scrums-how-can-sports-players-minimise-their-coronavirus-risk-139034">From spit to scrums. How can sports players minimise their coronavirus risk?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>We bond over sport</h2>
<p>Following a team brings a sense of <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203728376/chapters/10.4324/9780203728376-14">connection</a> with others who follow the same team. That sense of <a href="http://persweb.wabash.edu/facstaff/hortonr/articles%20for%20class/baumeister%20and%20leary.pdf">belonging is an incredibly powerful motivation</a> for people - it drives our thoughts and our emotions. And following a team is an <a href="https://www.niesr.ac.uk/publications/football-matter-life-and-death-%E2%80%93-or-it-more-important">emotional experience</a>. We share the highs when they win, and the lows when they lose.</p>
<p>Spectators may not even play the sport they watch, but still refer to <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.322.6919&rep=rep1&type=pdf">“us” and “we” when talking about their team</a>, and use “they” and “them” for the opposition. And when the crowd supporting our team is the one making all the noise, it drives home that sense of connection.</p>
<h2>Crowd noise is a cue</h2>
<p>For a couple of rounds of competition, before the COVID-19 suspension, we saw games of AFL where we could actually <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/mar/20/no-crowd-no-atmosphere-only-footy-as-afl-season-makes-muted-bow">hear the players yelling to each other</a>. When they scored, the only noise was from the players themselves. It sounded similar to watching an amateur match at the local park. Even the most tense moments, or heroic efforts, were somehow not as exciting without the crowd.</p>
<p>That’s because crowd noise is a cue for spectators. We know something exciting has happened when the crowd goes nuts. When a game comes down to the last few minutes, and the scores are very close, the crowd noise adds to the tension. When <em>my</em> team is getting cheered on, I share in the excitement with others like me - <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/11/sports/sports-psychology-it-isn-t-just-a-game-clues-to-avid-rooting.html">my tribe</a>. It seems the broadcasters are reflecting this by increasing the volume of fake crowd noise during exciting moments.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1262304623626342400"}"></div></p>
<p>Without crowd noise, we just don’t get the same level of excitement, because we’ve <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08838151.2019.1568806">learned to link excitement with crowd noise</a>. You can have the most amazing players, with so many things to cheer on, but the only noise you’re likely to hear will be from whoever is watching with you in the lounge room (and maybe your neighbour if they’re watching too).</p>
<p>If we’re not sharing the moment with everyone, we’re missing out on that sense of belonging.</p>
<h2>Crowds also influence players and referees</h2>
<p>The most important factor in home ground advantage <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527002515595842">appears to be the crowd</a> (though some argue that the home crowd advantage <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02640410400021559?mobileUi=0&journalCode=rjsp20">used to be larger</a> than it is now).</p>
<p>Most teams have their own home ground, but in some cases, two or more teams might share a home ground. When they’re playing against each other, one team is still designated as home, and the other as away. Neither team has to travel far, and both teams are familiar with the stadium’s quirks, but the designated “home” team will have a more sympathetic crowd. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1527002515595842">A 2015 study</a> used this exact scenario at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles to find that essentially the entire home advantage between two teams comes down to the crowd effect. So crowd noise can support players, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/it-feels-all-wrong-a-player-s-view-of-footy-without-a-crowd-20200318-p54bho.html">and spur them on</a>. </p>
<p>Further, home crowd noise has also been found to have an effect on <a href="https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=24626">referees, umpires and judges</a>. Teams appear to be <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17852675/">less likely to receive yellow cards in soccer</a> when playing at their home ground, because of the home crowd’s impact on referees.</p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20733209/">A 2010 study</a> found referees used crowd noise as a cue when making decisions such as whether to give a yellow card for a foul. </p>
<p>The home crowd is more likely to be loud for fouls against their own team, rather than fouls their team has committed against the opposition. Because crowd noise is strongly associated with exciting action, and fouls are exciting, referees may not even be aware they’re using crowd noise as a cue. Further, they may just want to <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17852675/">appease the home crowd</a>.</p>
<h2>Sport won’t be as exciting without crowds</h2>
<p>I distinctly remember the moment when Nick Davis kicked <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvH5yPHOaVg">that goal</a> with 5 seconds to go to defeat the Geelong Cats and send the Sydney Swans into a 2005 preliminary final. The crowd went nuts and I loved sharing that moment with everyone. I belonged.</p>
<p>But if something like that happened this year, and there was no crowd to see it and cheer it on, would it be as exciting? I doubt it.</p>
<p>And that’s precisely why fake crowd noise is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-28/fake-crowd-noise-bundesliga-afl-tv-broadcast/12295010">on TV</a>. It might feel forced, and <a href="https://twitter.com/i/events/1265956270839750659">some people might not like it much</a>, but at least there’s just a little bit more excitement with it. With any luck, we won’t have to worry about it for too long.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is supported by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/partners/judith-neilson-institute">Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>This article was amended on June 3, 2020. It originally referred to the Sydney Swans advancing to the grand final after defeating Geelong. The team actually advanced to a preliminary final.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139662/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Russell is a member of the International Gambling Think Tank. This Think Tank is an international network of researchers, policy makers, service providers and interested others collaborating to advance understanding of gambling and to reduce gambling-related harm. He works in gambling research, with a particular interest in sports betting, and has received funding to examine topics such as wagering advertising and its effect on peoples' betting behaviour, as well as sports betting more generally. He has not received any funding into this specific topic, and discloses no conflicts of interest.</span></em></p>Why are sport broadcasters using fake crowd noise? It might be because crowd noise can help us bond with our tribe and acts as a psychological cue for when to pay attention.Alex Russell, Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, CQUniversity AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/874932017-12-19T01:41:39Z2017-12-19T01:41:39ZMarket bubbles and sonic attacks: Mass hysterias will never go away<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199472/original/file-20171215-17863-mpj8c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1738%2C0%2C6202%2C4737&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Were U.S. diplomats at the embassy in Cuba stricken by a mass delusion?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Cuba-Sonic-Attacks/be7ba705400847398b024df1ef81bea9/4/0">AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ancient and quaint seem the days of <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=FfUcvgAACAAJ&dq=Extraordinary+Popular+Delusions+and+the+Madness+of+Crowds&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjezcXZqPPXAhWlzIMKHXPHA8EQ6AEIKDAA">witch crazes, demon scares and tulip manias</a>. <a href="https://www.csicop.org/si/show/mass_delusions_and_hysterias_highlights_from_the_past_millennium">Instances of mass hysteria</a> may strike you as rare events in modern advanced societies. But such outbreaks are products of their times. They’re still around today, just in different guises. </p>
<p>Aided and abetted by its status as an internet meme, the <a href="https://www.snopes.com/slenderman/">myth of an evil, supernatural Slenderman</a> has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/beware-the-slenderman-how-users-created-the-boogieman-of-the-internet-71338">panicking adolescents</a> since 2009, even culminating in an attempted murder by proxy. If it’s easy to brush this off as a case of impressionable teens with too much internet access, then what of otherwise rational late 20th-century <a href="https://youtu.be/gVJJijESlko">American adults participating</a> in <a href="http://www.heavensgate.com">suicide cults</a>, Puerto Rico’s mythical cattle-killing <a href="http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/lost-tapes/creatures/chupacabra-history/">Chupacabra monster</a>, the “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10421.html">irrational exuberance</a>” of the dot-com bubble in the 1990s, or the seemingly insane rush to make <a href="https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/355/transcript">bad real estate investments</a> in the latter 2000s? </p>
<p>A diplomatic dustup between the U.S. and Cuba may be the latest well-publicized case of collective delusion. In 2017, the U.S. State Department claimed its diplomats in Havana were subjected to “<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/diplomats-in-cuba">sonic attacks</a>” that produced a range of physical symptoms including hearing loss, headaches and dizziness. Consequently, the federal government <a href="https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/09/274518.htm">pulled out most of its embassy staff</a> and sent packing most Cuban diplomats stationed in the U.S. </p>
<p>Although medical exams have <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/doctors-identify-brain-abnormalities-u-s-embassy-victims-cuba-attack-n826996">identified unusual physical conditions</a> in some diplomats, those exams lacked proper experimental controls and fall well <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/12/cuba-mass-hysteria-sonic-attacks-neurologists">short of providing evidence</a> for any sort of sonic attack. There remains no demonstrably valid evidence that diplomats were subjected to sonic attacks at the American embassy in Havana – and a good deal of evidence has now been amassed suggestive of the contrary. The latest culprit to be fingered is the <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/the-real-story-behind-the-havana-embassy-mystery">chirping of crickets or cicadas</a> – in conjunction with mass hysteria.</p>
<p>So how do otherwise logical and informed 21st-century people fall under the spell of these mass delusions? Over the past several decades, psychologists and sociologists have used examples like these to dig into when and how this kind of false belief gains traction.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199296/original/file-20171214-27555-13p9e4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199296/original/file-20171214-27555-13p9e4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199296/original/file-20171214-27555-13p9e4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199296/original/file-20171214-27555-13p9e4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199296/original/file-20171214-27555-13p9e4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199296/original/file-20171214-27555-13p9e4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199296/original/file-20171214-27555-13p9e4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199296/original/file-20171214-27555-13p9e4c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the most famous mass delusions in America led to the Salem witch trials in 17th-century Massachusetts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003677961/">Joseph E. Baker, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A recipe for collective delusion</h2>
<p>Collective delusions are the culprits behind mass hysterias and related phenomena. As traditionally defined, <a href="https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/little-green-men-meowing-nuns-and-head-hunting-panics/">they’re characterized</a> by a rapid, spontaneous and temporary spread of false beliefs within a circumscribed population.</p>
<p>Nowadays that circumscribed population can be a virtual one, bounded only by cyberconnections to a shared source of misinformation. The recent upsurge in vocal flat-Earth proponents, for example, is not the result of geographical neighbors whipping each other into a near frenzy. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-social-media-fires-peoples-passions-and-builds-extremist-divisions-86909">Social media makes it easy</a> to find like-minded others, serve distorted information to the curious, and stir up excitement about events such as the 2017 eclipse, celebrity endorsements, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/you-dont-need-to-build-a-rocket-to-prove-the-earth-isnt-flat-heres-the-simple-science-88106">a proposed rocket launch by a flat-Earth proponent</a> intended to prove once and for all that we are all living on a disc.</p>
<p>Collective delusions emerge under a combination of several conditions. Each of these precursors is straightforward enough, but it’s harder to foresee when they might occur in concert. In turn, this makes predicting delusional outbreaks a very inexact science.</p>
<p>The most obvious precursor is the presence of multiple people who are sufficiently connected so as to share information or experiences. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199473/original/file-20171215-17889-jwk6gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199473/original/file-20171215-17889-jwk6gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199473/original/file-20171215-17889-jwk6gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199473/original/file-20171215-17889-jwk6gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199473/original/file-20171215-17889-jwk6gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=879&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199473/original/file-20171215-17889-jwk6gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1105&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199473/original/file-20171215-17889-jwk6gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1105&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199473/original/file-20171215-17889-jwk6gq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1105&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 1978, Rev. Jim Jones orchestrated a ritual of mass murder and suicide of his followers, isolated in Jonestown, Guyana.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Jonestown-Remains/7ac740d31fe246208412db8b9f757208/96/0">AP Photo/File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, just as an isolated individual may develop some beliefs and behaviors that depart from prevailing norms, collective delusions and responses are more likely to occur in relatively insular groups or networks. </p>
<p>Third, a collective delusion is more likely to take hold if the group is undergoing some kind of distress. This could be rising unemployment, political destabilization or an enemy’s threats of warfare. On a smaller scale, a town may lose a crucial employer, or a fire-and-brimstone minister can instigate a satanic panic with rumors of baby-killing cults. </p>
<p>And fourth, the stressors are potent enough to trigger, in at least some individuals, either a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/11635758/Psychosomatic-disorders-When-illness-really-is-all-in-the-mind.html">psychosomatic response</a> or <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hide-and-seek/201312/the-psychology-scapegoating">scapegoating behavior</a>. Psychosomatic reactions – physical symptoms with psychological causes – may be as mild as itching or as severe as blindness. Scapegoating involves blaming a group of innocent (or possibly nonexistent) others for causing problems – psychosomatic or otherwise. </p>
<p>When conditions are ripe, this catalyzing subset of group members <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=WVNrDys7cyIC&oi=fnd&pg=PA163&dq=Imitation+as+entrainment+Brain+mechanisms+and+social+consequences&ots=aeSUUGQfAl&sig=anvDTaHKs6fEdQwIhK0j5N6QEhw#v=onepage&q=Imitation%20as%20entrainment%20Brain%20mechanisms%20and%20social%20consequences&f=false">sets off a chain reaction</a>. They begin to seek and identify external causes for their distress, or sources for its relief. Psychosomatic responses spread; contempt for the scapegoats grows. People become hypervigilant and toss critical thinking out the window, looking for and finding imagined threats. Conspiracy theories are spawned, angels and demons invoked, fears stoked, panic induced. The supernatural may start to seem natural.</p>
<p>As more and more group members become ensnared in a positive feedback loop, the perceived threat is legitimized, only broadening and deepening social distress further. Because they are inherently newsworthy, mass delusions are picked up by mass media, which <a href="https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/publication/panic-attacks/9780750937856/">fan the flames</a> even more.</p>
<p>In these ways, a nonexistent threat can set off a self-sustaining cascade of irrationality that lasts until the perceived threat recedes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199306/original/file-20171214-27597-khjcfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199306/original/file-20171214-27597-khjcfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199306/original/file-20171214-27597-khjcfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199306/original/file-20171214-27597-khjcfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199306/original/file-20171214-27597-khjcfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199306/original/file-20171214-27597-khjcfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199306/original/file-20171214-27597-khjcfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/199306/original/file-20171214-27597-khjcfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Will they look back and wonder what they were thinking?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Visual_kei_1.jpg">Jacob Ehnmark</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Delusion everywhere, to different degrees?</h2>
<p>While descriptions of mass hysterias make great reading, they represent only the far end of a continuum of what sociologists like me call social diffusion processes. For the most part, these are quite mundane – you might recognize a few from your own daily life. While around the world stock market bubbles and bank runs make news, less frenetic responses to perceived threats and conspiracies abound: the <a href="https://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_9_11_truth_movement_the_top_conspiracy_theory_a_decade_later">9/11 “truthers</a>,” the recent uptick in <a href="https://www.theflatearthsociety.org/home/">flat-Earth beliefs</a>, <a href="https://www.prevention.com/eatclean/read-this-if-youre-still-afraid-of-eating-gluten">fears of gluten</a> and <a href="https://www.csicop.org/si/show/no_health_risks_from_gmos">genetically modified foods</a>, <a href="https://www.skeptic.com/insight/signs-of-hope-and-despair-on-climate-change/">climate change deniers</a>, <a href="https://www.skeptic.com/magazine/archives/22.4/">wars on science</a> on some liberal college campuses, and more. Even the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Fashion-Critical-Cases-Anxiety/dp/9198038885">desire to be fashionable</a> can be seen as a response to the fear of being excluded. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.24.1.265">Simple mathematical equations</a> can quite elegantly describe the speed, duration and extensiveness of the spread of beliefs and behaviors. A typical “diffusion model” shows how the penetration through a population of such things as beliefs, behaviors, illnesses, innovations or products is determined by just a few parameters. These typically include the group’s size, the density of its members’ interconnections and the inherent contagiousness of the thing being spread.</p>
<p>Irrational beliefs, and the often ill-considered responses they engender, can spread like an infection across groups as large as nations or as small as nuclear families. Sunshine, as they say, is the best disinfectant. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.36.4.343">Social impact theory</a> would suggest that the best approach to administering social disinfectant is via large numbers of geographically nearby, authoritative nonbelievers.</p>
<p>In the case of the supposed sonic attacks in Cuba, one approach to stemming the scare would have been a rapidly deployed on-site investigation by acoustic experts, neurologists, psychiatrists and military strategists. A folklorist as well wouldn’t hurt. Short of such a full-frontal counterattack, disseminating easy-to-digest skeptical information as early as possible in the process should help to slow the diffusion process and quell a mass delusion.</p>
<p>It’s easy enough to be caught up in a mass delusion. Fads and fashions are great examples, though their most harmful consequence may be our embarrassment when we look back on some of our previous style choices. As long as people are stressed and living in groups, most of our mass delusions will remain invisible to us until they have already run their course.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on Dec. 18, 2017.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87493/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Markovsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sociologists know what conditions make it more likely a mass delusion will take hold and spread through a group – whether adherence to a fashion fad or belief in a doomsday cult.Barry Markovsky, Professor of Sociology, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.