Herd Mentality
As human beings, we often pride ourselves on being independent thinkers and usually knowing the difference between right and wrong. However, many studies on Herd Mentality and information cascades suggests that in spite of these abilities, we still often choose to take the safe route and go with the choice that the people around us make. The article below reveals the ease at which one can alter the behavior of a group just by manipulating a couple of its individuals.
In this specific experiment, people were asked to walk about randomly around a room. A number of people within that group were also told specifics on where to walk. No one was allowed to gesture or talk to anyone else in the group, but everyone had to stay within an arms length of the others. Despite these strict rules, the individuals with more information quickly became the “leaders” of the group.
The experiment not only looked at the initial effects of informed individuals but also looked at different group sizes and ratios of informed individuals. Although at first glance it seemed like it would take more informed individuals to alter a group’s behavior if the group was bigger, the research findings showed the opposite. According to the article, in groups of 200 or more, five percent of the group is all that was needed to influence behavior. This finding makes some sense because as the number of people in a group increases, so does the potential for the magnification of the signal. Therefore, you only need a few initial triggers to get the system going.
Information cascades and herd mentality can lead to extreme social situations as it did in Germany during World War II. Many officers who were put on trial reported that they were “just following orders.” Especially in time of war, there were significantly more than 200 German soldiers and Nazis magnifying the information cascade. Although I am not trying to justify the actions of the Nazis put on trial, if only 5% of informed individuals were needed to change the behavior of a group of 200 people who were not even aware they were following orders, it is understandable that these German soldiers would have been drawn into that mentality.
In the age of internet and technology, people are more connected than ever. This makes information cascades almost inevitable because people from all over the globe can share information quickly and widely. As can be seen in Nazi Germany, information cascades can be used in evil ways. However, if people learn how to use these cascades effectively and intelligently, they can be used for the common good.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/02/15/herd-mentality-explained/1922.html