Mental Mobs

When you hear about Penn State, must people immediately think about our insane love for football. This American sport is the rally point of Penn State, but it doesn’t just stop at our own football team. As Super Bowl Sunday came closer, tensions between students rose to a new level. For once, we weren’t being united by cheering on our own team, but we were divided by becoming rivals while cheering for the Patriots or the Eagles. As the close game came to an end, hundreds of rambunctious students flooded the streets of Beaver Avenue, forming a riot. They shouted, they vandalized, they fought, and even threw snowballs at the cops.

Does this mean everyone in the mob were bad or even dangerous people? Of course not! They are just college kids who got a little too excited about football, but this does demonstrate how groupthink affects these impressionable adolescents into committing crimes/disturbances.

So, what is groupthink?

“Groupthink occurs when a group values harmony and coherence over accurate analysis and critical evaluation.”

Although this definition has a positive connotation, groupthink can happen even in a negative context like a riot. In this particular instance, these college students harmonized over winning the Superbowl. Their “accurate analysis” was not so accurate. Their “critical evaluation” was to commit violent acts and yell vicious things about Tom Brady. “The idea of ‘group think’ is that people think of themselves as a group, rather than a person” (decodedscience.org). By depersonalizing the situation, it causes people to go outside of their personal morals and do things they wouldn’t usually do. The riot environment projected its fierce characteristics onto even the most seemingly calm people. Even the fact that there was so many people doing these acts, played a role. “This collective of people provides protection and anonymity” (decodedscience.org). Anonymity frees an individual’s conscience of taking responsibility for their own actions and places the blame on the mob. Since, they are aware that the police cannot single out their personal actions and give them the proper consequences, a person is more likely to commit these delinquent acts since they have the opportunity to do so without being sanctioned. These adolescents are simply acting out as a product of the atmosphere at the time.

Staff, Collegian, and Christopher Sanders. “SEE IT: Penn State Students Riot Downtown Following Eagles Win over Patriots in Super Bowl 52.” The Daily Collegian, 5 Feb. 2018, www.collegian.psu.edu/news/borough/article_8804fbe2-0a23-11e8-9f8d-933fd6e0000d.html.

When did this assembly of cheerful kids turn into a malicious riot? Well, it only takes a few passionate leaders. Once, one person throws a punch, it results in a full out brawl. “Leadership emerges spontaneously and changes rapidly.” These leaders push others to their motives, and since the personal blame aspect is gone, why wouldn’t these people follow their leader? The raging hormones and emotions from their team either winning or losing, is enough to push them over the edge and act out on their impulses. Since these are college kids, their brains have not fully developed to make the best decisions. At the ages of 18-21, these students are not thinking rationally especially in an instance where snowballs and punches are being thrown. Quick and rash decisions are made in the heat of the moment, many times without thinking. It’s all groupthink. The mob is thinking for its participants, telling them what to do. Since these are still developing minds, they go along to the movement of the crowd. Rationality goes out the window, along with self-blame and sometimes morals during times like these. The sociological environment is to blame. It alters these student’s minds during the violent riot, but it does not reflect their personal values. It is groupthink that is at the root of this seemingly inexplicable behavior.

3 thoughts on “Mental Mobs

  1. The riot last Sunday was a perfect example of when “teamwork” is bad. I think something you mentioned– where people think of themselves as a group rather than an individual person– can be both positive and negative. On one hand, we want our groups to have united goals. However, if those goals miss the mark (like starting a riot, or even just not grasping what needs to be accomplished in an assignment), we put a lot of effort into something that isn’t worth it. Also, the idea that individuals can disappear in a group setting may mean that some people put in less effort. These problems of groupthink are definitely very important to consider!

  2. Mob mentality can have some pretty bad consequences. I know as soon as the Eagles won, I saw hundreds of kids flood out of East Halls screaming and making their way downtown to join in. Although many of them probably weren’t thinking of a riot, as soon as some people started doing things ultimately others joined in. If someone else is running around screaming and damaging property then other people will probably join them because of this mob mentality concept that manifested. I saw the snap stories of what was happening and you are right that their accurate analysis and critical evaluation were in the wrong place.

  3. I watched similar events to this happen last year after Penn State beat Ohio State in football. My sister lives downtown about a block away from Beaver Ave., and a lot of the property in her back yard was vandalized as a result of the mob mentality that students had. It’s one thing to have pride in your school and be happy that you just beat an impressive team, however it’s not acceptable to celebrate this accomplishment by destroying others’ property.

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