CROWD   PSYCHOLOGY                                                                              A  A   crowd   consists    of  a  randomly  selected group  of  people .As  these  people  don't  know  each  other , hence  people are wary  of  each  other .The  crowd  is assembled in a uncontrolled  environment --out  in  the  open ,which  means  physical discomfort , this  along  with  the  fact  that  the crowd  members  don't  k now  each  other means  that  the  crowd  by  nature  would always  be  restless .The  restless  nature  of  the crowd  means  that  the  crowd is  less capable  of  cool  and  calculated  analysis and judgment ,hence  the  message conveyed  to  the crowd mustn’t  be  highly  intellectual ,but  it  ought  to  be  predominantly  emotional ,and  if  possible also  amusing  ,but  intellectual  part  has  to  be  the  minor  part .However while  addressing in a hall/auditorium ,the  message  ought  to be  more  intellectual  as  the  audience

is  a selected /specialised one, the controlled  enviorenment,ie:hall,seating  arrangement would ensure  physical comfort ,making  it possible  for  the  audience to analize/scrutinise  your  message much  more  thoroughly  .In  a  seminar  lecture ,one  sees that  a  question  answer  after  the  lecture ,hence one's  message  ought  to  be earnest  and factually  accurate .

                       The  question  arises as  to  why  a crowd often  tends  to  be violent ? then  another  question  that  has  to  be  pondered upon  is how  can  one  influence  a  crowd  ?Tackling   the  first  question first : why  does  the  crowd tend  to  behave  in  a violent  fascion?this  has  a  lot  to  do  with  the  impersonal  nature  of  the  crowd people  know  that  when  they are members  of  a crowd they can  get  away  with any   illegal  act as  chances  of them  being  recognized  is very slim. Second  reason  for  the  crowd  becoming violent  is  the  inherent  human drive  for power ,everyone  wants  to  feel  powerful ,in  a  crowd  everyone  is  wary  of  each  other  but  their  is  a strong desire  to  unite, because  by  uniting  they  would  all  feel powerful, therefore  a  crowd  hence  likes  and  wants  to  united .Members  of  the  crowd  like  to  unite  and 

indulge  in  riots  and  arson  and  the  like . Coming to  the  second  question :how  to  influence  a  crowd ? A  leader  has  to  unite  the  crowd  and  then  direct  it as  per  his  own  interests   A  crowd can  be  united  by  giving them an  ideology, by slogan chanting ,by  giving  them a common  whipping  boy, and  by way of humor too a crowd can be united and influenced. A  anarchic  assemblage  of  people  who  don't know  each other --crowd, can  be given  a  degree of  uniformity if all of  them chant  certain slogans in  one  voice besides  uniformity  this  also  creates excitement among a already restless bunch of  people. A  leader  has  to  give  ideology  to  the  people  as  well this  ideology  has  to  be  packaged  as  the  practical  solution to all  the  problems  of  the  people ,people  are  unified  by  ideology  ,people  are open  to  such  solutions because most  of  the  people  have  this  habit  of depending  on  others for solutions i.e.:  they  want  others  to  do  the thinking  for  them  in  other words  they  like to be dominated .A  crowd  demands  a  whipping  boy, everyone  has  his  failures  and  frustrations  -- their  are  two  ways  of  dealing  with  this  either  one  ought  to  look  within  and improve oneself by  more  discipline and  hard  work and  the  other  more  commonly  followed  approach  ,the  simpler  and  shorter  method is  to  blame someone else  for  your  shortcomings--here  arises  people's  search  for  a  whipping  boy, a  soft  target. The leader has to provide the crowd with a whipping boy. India   is  the  favorite  whipping  boy for Pakistan ,Israel is the  favorite  whipping  boy in the  middle  eastern  countries  ,USSR  used to be  the  favorite  whipping  boy in  the US .Humor too plays a  role  in uniting  the  crowd  as  it  breaks  the  ice  amongst  the  members  of  the  crowd  and  also  makes the leader likable.