Herd Mentality

 The term herd mentality is derived from the word “herd,” meaning group of animals, and “mentality,” implying a certain frame of mind.Herd behavior describes how individuals in a group act together without planned direction. Research has identified herd behavior in humans to explain the phenomena of large numbers of people acting in the same way at the same time.

Herd mentality implies a fear-based reaction to peer pressure which makes individuals act in order to avoid feeling “left out” from the group. Fear makes animals run in herds. It makes otherwise thoughtful people to stop thinking for themselves and follow the crowd. It is a topic under the psychology of the aggressor in an "aggressor- bystander" situation.

Large stock market trends often begin and end with periods of frenzied buying or selling. Many observers cite these episodes as clear examples of herding behavior that is irrational and driven by emotion -- greed and fear. Individual investors join the crowd of others in a rush to get in or out of the market.

Herd mentality can be seen in behaviors, which may be frequent in everyday decisions based on learning from the information of others, as when a person on the street decides which of two restaurants to dine in. Suppose that both the restaurants look appealing, but both are empty because it is early evening; so at random, this person chooses restaurant A. Soon a couple walks down the same street in search of a place to eat. They see that restaurant A has customers while B is empty, and choose A on the assumption that having customers makes it the better choice. And so on with other passersby into the evening, with restaurant A doing more business
that night than B.

Unfortunately, “follow the herd” mentality isn’t always beneficial. If we’re not fully versed on a subject, we tend to follow the guy who appears or tries to show off that he/she knows more than we do. That sort of behavior applies to more than just random walking, we do it in everyday life from picking political candidates to deciding what type of car to buy.

There was this one guy who had all these seemingly strong opinions, which caused a whole lot of people to follow him. They looked up to him, bought the same stuff as him and never questioned his opinions. He was mostly a dork. All the lies blurted by that dork was gulped down by the followers, who never thought of using their brains or trying to find out the truth in his words. One fellow who questioned his opinions and right to de-grade everyone, was commented upon by this so-called
leader and his herd, and isolated from the group by that guy. The truth was that the leader of the herd wanted to show that he was strong, infact he was weak, he was no match for the one who was able to stand upto him & his breed of stupid followers, without becoming a victim of the herd mentality. The one who can stand up for his values is much stronger than the person/s who resort to herd mentality, either out of compulsion or out of choice.

We often change our decisions and judgements to conform with group behaviour. If a person has been genuinely good with us, why is it that we change our views based on inputs/comments by the leader of the herd. Do the followers really know what the leader of the herd has been saying about them? Definitely "NO".... Its better not to spend time in herds like these, because one ought to know that it won't be long before they (members of the herd) start talking trash about that particular individual.

The bigger problem with our race is that we think the majority is always correct and behave in a contradictory fashion when the need of the hour is rational behavior. Being a part of a herd means that an individual is expected never to disagree with the group. The members of the herd follow these rules for fear of being left alone or getting isolated from the group. Whats the point if you can't even voice your opinion on any topic, fearing that it may go against the expected line of the herd?

One needs to understand that an individual's self-respect is of utmost importance. Its no use being part of a herd which makes silly cracks and laugh at others. If you do realise that you have unknowingly hurt someone by indulging in wrong doings along with your herd members, have the spine to oppose it or atleast move away from such a herd.

Use your brains! Be Different! Leave the herd mentality!