Dangers of group mentality?

March 21, 2003 6:06 AM

Does anybody remember a link posted that referenced the dangers of group mentality? I've been looking for days now and its making me crazy that I can't find it. Thanks
posted by redhead to bugs at 6:06 AM (11 comments total)

We all decided not to tell you where it is. Sorry.
posted by machaus at 6:10 AM on March 21, 2003

ha, It must be makin me crazy since I posted it in the bug report... for cryin out loud.
posted by redhead at 6:22 AM on March 21, 2003

If you're into dead trees, you could try Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm, for starters.
posted by xiffix at 7:00 AM on March 21, 2003

Is this it?
posted by konolia at 7:13 AM on March 21, 2003

Lite group think or heavy group think?

Maybe it was troutfishing's excellent recent post Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing?
posted by madamjujujive at 7:34 AM on March 21, 2003

machaus, that is exactly what i would have posted had i been here first.
posted by th3ph17 at 8:29 AM on March 21, 2003

redhead, I strongly suspect you're thinking of my quoting of this essay {which has moved since the thread: toc}.
posted by dhartung at 10:53 AM on March 21, 2003

dhartung, yes your essay comes closest to what I was thinking.

madamjujujive, I'll be perusing troutfishing's post
much thanks
posted by redhead at 4:10 PM on March 21, 2003

madamjujujive - thanks. Konalia - I suspect it could have been a peer reviewed piece of academic research - on the convergence of group attitudes - which I noted at the time ("...hmm...Metafilter?") and saved to my absurdly large, poorly categorized files. I'll look for it.
posted by troutfishing at 8:01 PM on March 21, 2003

But here is a link which suggests the richness of the research vein on the subject: These search terms have been highlighted:  "group  attitudes  convergence" 
posted by troutfishing at 8:06 PM on March 21, 2003

Or it could have been The Wave: "The Wave is based on the real experience of a high school class in Palo Alto, CA (USA), in April 1967. History teacher Ron Jones came up with a seemingly innocent classroom experiment to explain his students why in the 1930's and 40's many (young) Germans were so under the spell of Adolf Hitler that they allowed or even helped the systematic murdering of millions of innocent Jews.
The experiment was successful beyond expectation: after only a few weeks, a movement called 'The Wave' had been founded, whose members at first sought for community-feeling and a healthy working-discipline, but soon after started to see the movement and it's mysterious leader as purposes in themselves. Those opposing the movement became enemies, life-long friends were seperated from each other. Worse still, criticism was met with aggression and intimidation. For some time, it seemed that Jones had lost control of his experiment, and was caught in it's momentum himself. Finally, he ended the nightmare by confronting the students with their leader, the man they had been following with such vigour. Many cried and all were shocked when they learned that it was Hitler, or Mussolini, or any other dictator responsible for many deaths...."
posted by troutfishing at 8:21 PM on March 21, 2003