First coined by Friedrich Nietzsche in his book, Beyond Good and Evil, the description of the “herd mentality” is that of all following the crowd.  Some marketers know this quite well when selling products or services.  They have discovered through this social psychology phenomenon that people tend to want to do what others are doing.  And the more that is doing it, the more that will want to follow.

In a University of Leeds study, Dyer, J.R.G., et al (2007), it was discovered that it took only 5% of a given population to influence the behavior of the other 95%.  Further in the study, the larger the crowd, the less informed it became and hence, the easier it was for a few to lead the masses.  In times of disaster this is good.  Knowing these stats, local governments can use this to help to get people to follow the leaders (5%) so that they may be safer.

This 5% is across most animal groups, including humans.  I remember years ago with one of clients that owned an electronics store.  It was not doing very well, so I had him get family, friends and as many people as he could to simply be in the store for one day.  Furthermore, I had him use his family members to carry out electronic goods, such as TV’s and stereo systems, as if they had bought them.  All of this drew other onlookers to the store.  It activated the herd mentality.  And my client sold out of all his goods in a matter of hours.

Reviews, that are used quite readily on places such as Amazon.com and Yelp.com often lead people to make decisions based on how many 5 star reviews there.  Newly released movies often use reviews from top reviewers to help draw in crowds.  This is everywhere.

This herd mentality is also seen in political elections.  Add to that the aspect of following like-minded people and you have a powerful example of following others.  We see many examples of the “herd mentality”, such as in the world of medicine.

60 years ago a noted American Scientist by the name of Ancel Keys had conducted, what became known as “The Seven Countries Study.”  From this study he had came up with a correlation that serum cholesterol was responsible for increased heart disease.  He stated that saturated fats was the main culprit and that a diet low in fats and high in carbs would lead to a decrease in heart disease.

His assumption was never founded in true science.  Modern medicine and the United States government went with his hypothesis and stated it as fact.  To this day, the American Medicine Association, dietary associations, the USDA and others still give credence to the cholesterol factor in heart disease, this despite evidence to the contrary.  Hence, another strong example of the “herd mentality” gone astray.  This thinking simply gets passed down to new MD’s and dieticians.

The more we start questioning what is told to us, the less inclined individuals will be to follow others like sheep.  Do I believe that the majority of people will take the initiative to become more informed on various subjects?  Probably not.  It takes effort to do so.  And the “herd mentality” will continue to live on, even among so-called educated individuals.  The majority will continue to follow the lead of the few.  It’s built-in to our nature.  Humans. for the most part, will act like sheep.

Bob

References:

Dyer, J.R.G, et al. (2007) Consensus decision making in human crowds, Journal of Animal Behaviour, May 30, 2007

Nietzsche, F. (1886) Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, Leipzig: Dreck and Verlag