Psychologie des foules by LeBon (1895) - Article

Le Bon was one of the first people to write about the psychology of crowds. His approach is now called the classical theory about crowds. A lot has changed since then and nowadays, researchers don’t think that his view on the crowd was a correct one. In the following sections, the ideas and theories of Le Bon are put forward.

General characteristics of crowds

When people come together in a crowd, new characteristics will arise and these characteristics will be different from those of the individuals who are present in the crowd. The conscious personality of all the participants makes place for a collective mind. The psychological crowd is a single being. When a hundred people are accidentally present in a public place without a determine object, they will not form a psychological crowd. Turning thoughts and feelings in a certain direction will make a psychological crowd. Because the organisation of a crowd varies according to composition, race and the causes, it’s difficult to describe the mind of crowds in a precise manner. Crowds have some psychological characteristics in common with isolated individuals, but they have many characteristics that only arise when people form a collective whole. One of the most important psychological characteristics of a crowd is that, whoever the persons are that compose it, whatever their daily life looks like or their characters are like, once in a crowd, they think, feel and act differently than they would have thought, felt and acted in isolation. The crowd is not the sum of all the elements. People put together in a crowd will show new characteristics. In crowds, the unconscious elements become stronger than the conscious ones and individuality is weakened. Because a crowd only possesses ordinary qualities, it can never accomplish acts that demand high intelligence. The stupidity in crowds is accumulated.

How do crowds acquire new characteristics? Crowds slowly acquire invincible power and this power grows when the number of crowd member grows. This power allows a person to show instincts that he would not have shown, had he been alone. The crowd allows a person to be anonymous and takes the responsibility away and thus one’s control over his/her actions disappears. Contagion is another cause of the new characteristics. Every act in a crowd is contagious and a person sacrifices his personal interest for the collective interest. People in crowds are not conscious in their acts. When a person in a crowd is suggested to do something, he will act accordingly. The suggestion is the same for all crowd members and the more people show this behaviour, the higher the chance that even more people in the crowd will show his behaviour as well. A person is a crowd is no longer himself and he is no longer guided by his free will.

People who are part of crowds, drop in the level of civilisation. In crowds, even people who are cultivated individuals turn into barbarians. Crowd members act upon their instincts and they show the violence and enthusiasm of primitive beings. But not only in their acts do individuals in crowds differ from their isolated selves. Their feelings and ideas have transformed. The crowd is always intellectually inferior to the individual. But a crowd can, depending on the suggested to which it is exposed, be better or worse than the individual. Crowds can be rather heroic.

Sentiments and morality of crowds

Some characteristics of crowds, like impulsiveness, no reasoning, no critical judgment, irritability and the exaggeration of sentiments are also present in other beings that belonging to the inferior forms of evolution, like women, children and savages (remember, this is what Le Bon thought in the 19^th century, this is not what researchers nowadays think). The acts of crowds are more under the influence of the spinal cord than of the brain. This resembles primitive beings. A crowd can be seen as a slave of its impulses. When an isolated person sees certain signals in his environment, he doesn’t always yield to them. This person can control his impulses. However, when this person sees the same signals when he is in a crowd, he will yield to them and he can’t dominate his reflexes. Crowds can obey to different impulses and because of this, their actions can be good or bad. However, whatever exciting causes they may act upon, the interest of the crowd will always dominate the interest of the individual. People in crowds also think that they can do everything. This is a consequence of the feelings of power that arise when the crowd consists of a large number of people. Ethnicity always has an influence on the impulsiveness, irritability and the mobility of crowds. All crowds are irritable and impulsive, but some are higher in irritability and impulsivity (for example, Latino crowds).

Crowds are suggestible and these suggestions are contagious. They change the sentiments of the crowd and send the crowd in a definite direction. Crowds can’t really distinguish between subjective things and objective ones. The images that are evoked in its mind, are accepted. It doesn’t matter how many people are present in the crowd. As soon as they are in the crowd, they will fall into this hallucinate way of thinking. That’s why crowds shouldn’t be believed when they give statements. They are as unreliable as women and children. Children shouldn’t be put in court to make a statement about an accused person. The fate of that person could better be decided by the toss of a coin than by the evidence of a child. The collective observation of a crowd are erroneous and most arise from the illusion of an individual who has influences the other members via the process of contagion. Legends and myth about people also arise because of crowds. First, people really liked Napoleon and they saw him as a philanthropist. Thirty years after he arose to power, he had slaughtered millions of people and destroyed liberalism. The imagination of crowds continually transforms stories about legends.

The feelings of crowds are very simple and exaggerated. An individual in a crowd acts like a primitive being. He is only able to see the things as a whole and can’t make fine distinctions between the parts. Sentiments are exaggerated, because they are spread through suggestion and contagion once they arise. The feeling of violence is also increased, because of the absence of responsibility. It’s also increased because of the big number of individuals. Foolish and envious people in crowds are freed from their sense of powerlessness. The crowd also exaggerates in the sentiments of its heroes. Crowds are also extreme in opinions and ideas. They either believe something completely or they absolutely don’t. The crowd isn’t tolerant towards discussions and contradictions and dictatorialness is therefore also common in crowds. However, in some races (Latin crowds) the intolerance is higher than in others. Crowds are always prepared to revolt against something and they will always bow down before a strong authority. Crowds have conservative instincts and they respect tradition absolutely.

If morality means respect for social conventions and the repression of selfish impulses, then crowds are not moral. If morality refers to certain qualities like self-sacrifice, devotion and the need for equity, then crowds may exhibit morality at some times. Most psychologists that have studied crowds in the time this book was written, looked at their criminal acts. They came to the conclusion that crowds don’t have morality. Although most crowds are guilty of certain crimes, they are sometimes also capable of devotion and sacrifice. People sometimes join crowds because the glory and patriotism of crowds appeals to them.

Ideas, imagination and reasoning of crowds

The ideas that are suggested to crowds only have an influence if the ideas are absolute and have a simple shape. The ideas are image-like and they aren’t connected to a logical succession. Some ideas are only accessible to crowds when they have been transformed into something simples. Even if ideas has undergone transformations that make it easier to understand for crowds, the ideas can only influence crowds if they have entered unconsciousness and have become sentiments. When presented with evidence that a certain idea is wrong, an educated person might accept this evidence, but crowds will not really pay attention to this evidence and they will go back to their unconscious self. The crowd is always under influence of anterior ideas that have become sentiments. It takes a long time for ideas to get established in crowds and it will also take a long time for the ideas to be eradicated. Because of this, crowds are always a couple of generations behind philosophers and educated men.

It’s not completely true that crowds aren’t influenced by reasoning and that they do not reason. Crowds use arguments and are only influenced by arguments that are of an inferior kind and these can’t be described as reasoning. This reasoning of crowds is based on the association of ideas, but there is not really a normal bond of succession of these ideas.

Crowds have a strong figurative imagination. Their imagination is very susceptible and active. Images in their head are for them as life-like as reality. Appearances are more important than reality and the legendary side of stories strikes a crowd strongly. Because crowds only think in images, they can only be impressed or scared by images. The great statesmen of history have used the popular imagination as the basis to their strength. Crowds have clear images in their head that are free from explanation.

Convictions of crowds

The convictions of crowds can be seen as religious sentiments. Crowds worship a being that is superior and powerful, whether this sentiment is a God or hero or even a political concept. Crowds always ascribe a mysterious power to the leader, god or concept. This religious sentiment will result in fanaticism and intolerance. Political and religious founders have established their religions or politics by inspiring crowds with fanatical sentiment. Many examples of religions or politics throughout history have all come into existence because they were formed as a new religious belief in the mind of crowds. The Reformation, the Inquisition and the Reign of Terror have all been brought about by crowds, who were appealed by their religious sentiments. Absolute despots were all the products of crowds.