Spontaneous group

In any society, ideas do not exist separately from each other, but together, forming a mass consciousness. Mass consciousness is expressed in public opinion, which arises about certain events in public life. It is quite variable, as it is constantly updated with new information, which can change a person’s attitude to a specific event. ^{[2] [1]}

Public opinion is supplemented by information from the media, which may be misunderstood. But also in spontaneous groups, the source can be various rumors and gossip, which not only enrich public opinion, but also is a kind of way to verify the reliability of information from the media. ^[3] This further encourages action.

Crowd

The most studied variety of the spontaneous group. It may include people with completely different interests.

The main characteristics of the crowd:

• unstable
• momentary education (ad hoc) around an event
• the predominance of emotions over the mind
• hard to control
• lacks an exact final goal and thoughtful actions
• organizational elements may arise, but they are unstable

It can be formed about a variety of events, most often associated with some kind of unexpectedness that causes strong emotions. Therefore, it often happens that people fall into this group not of their own free will, the time of its existence depends on the reason for which it was formed. It can disperse as soon as the incident has ended, due to which a crowd has formed. Or, conversely, from simple observation can go to actions, most often this happens when expressing dissatisfaction about a social phenomenon. A crowd can turn into a mass if a leader appears who can consolidate his position and goals and ideas appear.

Mass

A sign of the mass is the union of people who care about the same topic and who deliberately gather for the sake of some kind of action. An example of the mass is various rallies and processions . As well as the crowd, different interests (heterogeneous) can clash in the mass.

The main characteristics of the mass:

• relatively stable (there is an organization, but heterogeneous)
• organized education with fuzzy boundaries
• there is an ultimate goal, tactics
• unlike the crowd, it is not necessarily a momentary formation
• there is a leader (may be known in advance)
• controllable

The mass, in turn, can become a crowd. This can happen due to an increase in emotional stress, in which the leader can no longer control a group of people, or because the proclamation of the goal initially became irrelevant.

Public

G. Tarde highlighted the following difference between the public and the mass: there is only a psychic connection between the members ^[4] , since it is fragmented, therefore it is more difficult to induce to action. The public always has a common and definite purpose - viewing, therefore it is controlled, it follows the forms accepted in this place. Examples of the audience include spectators at a concert, fans during the match. But, despite the organization and control of the public, it can become both a mass and a crowd, any incident is enough.

1. Andreeva G.M., Bogomolova N.N., Petrovskaya L.A. Modern social psychology in the West. - M., 1978.
2. Grushin B.A. Opinions about the world and the world of opinion. - M., 1967.
3. Moskovisi S. Society and theories of social psychology. Per. with fr. // Modern foreign social psychology. Texts. - M., 1984.
4. Parygin B. D. Fundamentals of socio-psychological theory. - M., 1971.
5. Tarde G. Laws of imitation. - M., 2011.

• Social Psychology
• Psychology of peoples and masses
• Social group
• Crowd psychology