The Herd Mentality
Its Origin And The Part It Plays In The Modern Age
B. N. Dent
Imagine you are just a random civilian who knows nothing about Shore and unfortunately possesses some eyesight issues, so you consequently require glasses in your day-to-day life. Suddenly, you are teleported to level five of Benefactors at approximately 9.12am when boys are moving from period 1 to period 2. For some reason, your glasses, quintessential to your ability to see, weren’t teleported with you. You look down onto Benefactor’s quad, and in witnessing a harmonious sea of white forms moving in various directions, you instinctively recognise the collective movement as a herd of sheep. But you can’t hear any “baaing.” Strange.
The idea of the herd mentality relates to “the tendency for people’s behaviour to conform to those of the group to which they belong.” It is a notion that was first put forward in the 1800s by French social psychologists Gabriel Tarde and Gustave Lebron, and the concept plays out more in today’s world than ever. I’ll expand more on this later, but let’s first look into the evolutionary origins of the herd mentality in order to understand its unavoidable presence in all forms of animal life.
Although the idea may have only been recognised in the 19th century, its residence within the natural world is likely timeless. Within the wild, herd behaviour is a biological tool that allows multiple organisms to act in unity. Evolutionarily, this is greatly beneficial as it allows individuals to act efficiently to potentially evade dangerous scenarios. In essence, the adoption of the herd mentality allows for individuals within a species to maximise their chances of survival based upon the premise that the instinct or intuition of the herd is superior to that of the individual. However, just as the monkeys can blindly follow towards a utopian forest of banana trees, they can also be steered to the edge of a cliff, facing their own demise.
In today’s day and age, as we are engulfed by the advent of mass media, with content being force-fed to us, I believe that popular culture is becoming increasingly homogenised, and the permeance of the herd mentality within humanity is ringing louder than ever. I feel as though, no matter who you are, the broad framework for the rest of your life is already set out somewhere, and deviation from the course seems improbable. Whilst we may not be following the herd, most of us are certainly following an inevitable predetermined course that has almost become engrained within us to a point where we no longer question it. Through evolution and our adoption of herd behaviour, we’ve been hardwired to resist this questioning and simply follow the course that seems most natural as it is often the safest. But we are no longer in the wild, and with all the pollutants that seek to corrupt our society, blindly following the herd is a more perilous task than ever.
Of course, I still acknowledge the inherent benefits of adopting the herd mentality in today’s world. If you are dealing with some monotonous tasks, such as not knowing whether to go to tutor group or Chapel, then by all means, follow the herd. However, when faced with more important or perplexing issues, including the guiding principles you would like to live your life by or what you want to do in the future, do not put on your woollen coat and look to the others. Exercise your agency and embrace your own decisions.
“If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” – George S. Patton.