Rev SM 6 Individualist Approaches to CB

Individualist Theories are a.k.a.. Convergence Theory, Learning Theory, Social Identity Theory all of which are used to examine phenomenon in addition to Collective Behavior

As with the S-I/B Perspective, Individualist Theories assume that collective behavior comes from w/in the individual

Collective Behavior reveals innate tendencies, learned patterns of behavior, or identity-based yearnings that the participants more or less possessed before entering the collective event

"Normal" people are "potentially abnormal" & collective events provide a context for expressing that abnormality

Individualist theories focus on the participants as the key to understanding why collective behavior occurs, assuming that the participants behavior reveals something about those people

The Situational & Structural Theories focus on the circumstances surrounding the episode, assuming that the participants behavior reveals something about the circumstances those people found themselves in

Like S-I/B theory, Individualist Approaches hold that people only engage in those behaviors that they have an individual predisposition for

Crowds simply allow people to engage in behavior that they desire that normal circumstances do not permit

If people act mad or insane, it is only because the presence of others allows them to do so

These theories are individualist in the sense that they place the drive for collective behavior w/in the individuals:

Situations do not create collective behavior, individuals do

Most individual approaches to Collective Behavior utilize processes & concepts of Convergence Theory

There are THREE major branches of Individualist Theories

- Floyd Allport developed Convergence Theory in 1924

- Neil Miller & John Dollard built on Convergence Theory & developed Learning Theory in 1941

- Michael Hogg & Dominic Abrams developed Social Identity Theory in 1988

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Outline on the Convergence Theory of Collective Behavior

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- Project: Convergence Theory

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Convergence Theory's main point is that similar types of people converge in a particular setting because they are attracted to the same events by pre-existing, or learned predispositions therefore, since the individuals have a common characteristic, & the group will have that characteristic

Members of any self-forming group share certain social characteristics & behavioral tendencies

Convergence Theory holds that a person's behavior in a crowd is ultimately dictated by their own inner drives

Since the individuals comprising different groups have different characteristics, different groups will have different characteristic

Within a crowd, people possess both different degrees of characteristics & different characteristics & thus some people leap at the chance to become violent, while others do not

Convergence Theory recognizes that people may be encouraged to act violently in some situations; however, those who do not have an inner tendency toward violence will not engage in violent behavior no matter how strongly they are encouraged

The typical US citizen put more emphasis on individualism than any other countries' citizens, thus we believe that individuals are responsible for their own behavior at all times

Individualism & individualistic responsibility is also our legal position in that we only allow escape from responsibility for insanity, i.e. not knowing right from wrong

A parallel for convergence theory is that in sentencing, the law allows evidence for extenuating circumstances such as emotionality, impulsiveness, etc.

There are FOUR Premises of Convergence Theory

a. People are not insane in a crowd. They retain their core personality traits

b. Even in a crowd, people behave in ways that match their individual predisposition

c. People w/ similar predispositions tend to converge at events that reflect their predispositions & thus people in a crowd have common characteristics & will behave in similar ways

d. Collective behavior is the mass release of internal, individual tendencies or predispositions & these tendencies may be brought out or encouraged by circumstances

Examples of Convergence Theory:

- People at an Art Museum have certain characteristics in common.... such as? Free time, love of art. What can the Type of art show tell you? traditional, avante garde: may be violent or radical

- People at a rock concert. Some concerts may be more gender specific. Some artists attract violent, peaceful, etc. participants

- People at political events usually have a lot in common

- Terrorists have characteristics that make them terrorists

An examples of individual responsibility can be seen in the belief that the rich have characteristics that make them rich while the poor have characteristics that make them poor

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An Overview of Floyd Allport's Convergence Theory

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- Project: Convergence Theory

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Floyd Allport developed convergence theory in 1924

Allport argues that certain kinds of people tend to gather or converge in certain kinds of places

Examples of Allport's convergence theory
- If violent people converge, the situation is ripe for group violence such as a riot
- If gullible people converge, the situation is ripe for a mass delusion or odd flights of fancy
- If a group of thoughtful people get together, the group will be thoughtful

The behavior of the crowd tells us all about the nature of the participants

Allport argues, 1924, p. 4, "There is no psychology of groups which is not essentially & entirely a psychology of individuals"

Although the excitement or confusion of a crowd may encourage individuals, people only engage in behavior that they are inclined toward in the 1st place

It is just this excitement & confusion that makes group behavior qualitatively different than individual behavior & it is the basis on which the analysis of group dynamics is based

There is no such thing as the "group mind" as LeBon & Park posited

For Allport, individuals are always responsible for their own behavior, even in crowd setting

It is also our legal position in that we only allow escape from responsibility for insanity where the person does not know right from wrong

In sentencing, the law allows evidence for extenuating circumstances such as emotionality, impulsiveness, etc.

For Allport, people only engage in behaviors for which they have a predispositions

For Allport, if people only gathered randomly, we would expect behavioral predispositions to be irregular, & collective behavior would never occur

Key to Allport's theory is the idea that many groups do not form randomly or by accident

Those who converge at a particular event also have a convergence of predispositions, & thus have a convergence of behavior

For Allport, the TWO basic types of innate human responses are avoidance & approach which are developed essentially from a behaviorist point of view

All behavior is a learned modification of avoidance & approach

Everyday behavior is a learned version of avoidance & approach

a. We avoid anything that is unpleasant

b. We approach anything that is interesting or desirable

Convergence occurs when people are brought together by a common interest w/ some responses they have learned in order to satisfy their drives

Social facilitation is the process in collective behavior where the people who are the least inhibited are likely to act 1st

Their behavior acts as a model for other members, encouraging them to drop their own inhibitions

The result of social facilitation is the appearance to the outsider that the entire group spontaneously decides to do the same thing

Although people are influenced by external facilitation, ultimately it is their own internal drives that determine whether or not they join in

Allport's position is that external cues such as social facilitation merely reinforce the internal impulse

The extent to which external cues reinforce internal impulses is a matter of degree for group theorists as opposed to an absolute for Allport's convergence theory & other Individualist theories

Crowd formation makes individuals much more likely to follow impulses that they would normally keep hidden or even remain unaware of

Humans are conditions to submit to the will of the majority

Collective behavior is affected by the primitive ascendance of direct physical power

The primitive ascendance of direct physical power holds that we instinctively follow the majority because we fear what they may do to us if we do not comply

People rationalize/justify their participation/ letting down of inhibitions through THREE beliefs:

a. Crowds can't be punished: "They" can't punish me w/o punishing everyone, which is impossible

A member in a crowd might feel safer from punishment & to the extent that the authorities can convince crowd members that they can be punished, they can control the crowd

b. Crowds are always right: Such large numbers of people cannot be wrong

c. This crowd will benefit society: People will benefit from this act: it is a public duty & a righteous deed

The belief that a crowd will benefit society could not be true from looting & many other violent acts, & yet crowd members may still believe that they are doing good

- Neil Miller & John Dollard built on convergence theory & developed learning theory in 1941

- Miller & Dollard's learning theory on collective behavior

- Michael Hogg & Dominic Abrams developed social identity theory in 1988

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Floyd Allport

19 - 19

Major Works
Allport, Floyd. Social Psychology. 1924

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Outline on Learning Theory

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Learning as the process by which changes in behavior result from experience or practice

Behavior is any response that an organism makes to its environment whether it is from learning or some other process

Thus, behavior includes actions, emotions, thoughts, and the responses of muscles and glands

Learning can produce changes in any of these forms of behavior

Learning taking place all the time, but there is no simple explanation of the process

There are four general paradigms of how we learn: (1) classical conditioning or respondent learning, (2) instrumental conditioning or operant learning, (3) multiple-response learning, and (4) insight learning

1) In classical conditioning, learning occurs when a new stimulus begins to elicit behavior similar to that originally produced by an old stimulus

(2) In instrumental learning, often a person learns to perform a response as a result of what happens after the response is made

(3) In multiple-response learning when we learn skills, we first learn a sequence of simple movement-patterns & then combine these movement-patterns to form a more complicated behavior pattern

(4) Insight learning often occurs suddenly, such as when a person looks at a certain problem for some time and then suddenly grasps its solution

Learning theory combines features of classical conditioning, instrumental learning & multiple-response learning

There are four main theories of child development that psychologists use in research on the behavior of children & adults: (a) maturational theory, (b) psychoanalytic theory, (c) learning theory, and (d) cognitive theory.

Learning theory says a child's development depends mainly on experience with reward and punishment

Children learn these responses primarily through their association with reinforcement (pleasant consequences following certain behavior)

If a mother smiles at her child each time the child is polite to adults, her smile reinforces the learning of manners

The task of the adult is to arrange the environment so that it provides suitable and effective reinforcements for desired behavior

Learning theorists base their ideas on two types of learning

- classical conditioning, discovered by the Russian physiologist Ivan P. Pavlov

- instrumental conditioning, studied by the American psychologists E. L. Thorndike and B. F. Skinner

Maturation and heredity have relatively little importance in the learning theory

Some theorists such as Miller & Dollard posit that these same processes continue throughout life, that we continue to learn

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Outline on the Types of Learning

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THE GENERAL PARADIGMS OF HOW WE LEARN, INCLUDE: 1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING, 2. INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING, 3. MULTIPLE RESPONSE LEARNING, & 4. INSIGHT LEARNING

1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONED LEARNING OCCURS WHEN A NEW STIMULUS BEGINS TO ELICIT BEHAVIOR SIMILAR TO THAT ORIGINALLY PRODUCED BY AN OLD STIMULUS

Classical conditioning is based on stimulus response relationships

A stimulus is an object or a situation that excites one of our sense organs; eg, a light is a stimulus because it excites the retina of the eye, allowing us to see

Often a stimulus makes a person respond in a certain way, as when a flash of light makes us blink

Social scientists say that the stimulus elicits (draws forth) the response

An example of the stimulus response relationship is when a person tastes some lemon juice, which makes the person salivate, if, while the person is tasting it, a tone is sounded, & if these two stimuli, the lemon juice & the tone, occur together many times, eventually, the tone by itself will make the person salivate

Classical conditioning has occurred because the new stimulus (the tone) has begun to elicit the response of salivation in much the same way as the lemon juice elicited it

Any condition that makes learning occur is said to reinforce the learning

When a person learns to salivate to a tone, the reinforcement is the lemon juice that the tone is paired with; & w/o the lemon juice, the person would not learn to salivate to the tone

The classical conditioning process is particularly important in understanding how we learn emotional behavior

When we develop a new fear, for example, we learn to fear a stimulus that has been combined w/ some other frightening stimulus

Studies of classical conditioning are based on experiments performed in the early 1900s by the Russian physiologist Ivan P Pavlov

He trained dogs to salivate to such signals as lights, tones, or buzzers by presenting these signals when he gave food to the dog

Pavlov called the learned response a conditioned response because it depended on the conditions of the stimulus

To emphasize the fact that a stimulus produces a response in this kind of learning, classical conditioning is often called respondent learning

Classic conditioning may occur at a social mvmt action when people become excited or enthusiastic merely as the sight of a social mvmt action because of their past experiences at such actions

	2. INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING OCCURS WHEN A PERSON LEARNS TO PERFORM A RESPONSE AS A RESULT OF WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE RESPONSE IS MADE
	Instrumental conditioning is also called operant conditioning because the learned response operates on the environment to produce some effect
	There is no one stimulus that elicits the response of begging
	A child may learn to beg for candy, & the child begs because such behavior occasionally results in receiving candy, & every time the child receives candy, the tendency to beg becomes greater, & candy, therefore, is the reinforcer
	The American psychologist BF Skinner performed important experiments w/ instrumental conditioning in the 1930s such as when he trained rats to press levers to get food
	In one experiment, Skinner placed a hungry rat in a special box containing a lever attached to some concealed food, & at first, the rat ran around restlessly, but eventually, it happened to press the lever, & the food dropped into the box
	In the rat in the box w/ a reward lever experiment, the food reinforced the response of pressing the lever, & after repeating the process many times, the rat learned to press the lever for food
	Skinner's experiments were based on those performed earlier in the 1900s by the American psychologist EL Thorndike
	In Thorndike's experiments, an animal inside a puzzle box had to pull a string, press a pedal, or make some other response that would open the box & expose some food
	Thorndike noted that the animal learned slowly & gradually
	He called this type of learning trial & error behavior
	Instrumental conditioning may occur at a social mvmt action when people are rewarded by others in the crowd for a particular behavior such as singing, chanting, shouting, becoming violent, or even remaining peaceful in the face of violence

	3. MULTIPLE RESPONSE LEARNING OCCURS WHEN A PERSON LEARNS A SEQUENCE OF SIMPLE MVMT PATTERNS, & THEN COMBINES THEM TO FORM A MORE COMPLICATED BEHAVIOR PATTERN
	In most cases, various stimuli guide the process
	Learning that involves many responses requires much practice to smooth out the rough spots
	Operating a typewriter requires putting together many skilled finger movements, & these mvmts are guided by the letters or words that we want to type.
	At first, a person has to type letter by letter, bu w/ practice, the person learns to type word by word or phrase by phrase
	In verbal learning, such as memorizing a poem or learning a new language, we learn sequences of words, & we then combine these sequences of responses into a complex organization
	To examine this kind of learning, social scientists have observed animals learning to run through a maze
	Starting at the beginning, the animal wanders through the maze until it finds food at the end
	Multiple response learning occurs when an animal runs a maze to find food & the animal periodically comes to a choice point, where it must turn right or left, only one choice is correct, eventually the animal learns the correct sequence of turns
	Social scientists have found that the two ends of a maze are learned more easily than the parts near the middle
	In the same way, when we learn a list of things, we usually find the beginning & end easier than the middle
	Multiple response learning may occur at a social mvmt action when people respond to multiple envl inputs such as the leaders/speakers, friends in the crowd, peers in the crowd, opposition to the mvmt, the police or other authority figures & more, & develop behavior to address the opportunities & threats posed by these envl inputs

	4. INSIGHT LEARNING REFERS TO SOLVING A PROBLEM THROUGH UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIPS OF VARIOUS PARTS OF THE PROBLEM
	Insight often occurs suddenly, such as when a person looks at a certain problem for some time & then suddenly grasps its solution
	The psychologist Wolfgang Kohler performed important insight experiments in the early 1900s
	Kohler showed that chimpanzees sometimes use insight instead of trial & error responses to solve problems
	When a banana was placed high out of reach, the animals discovered that they could stack boxes on top of each other to reach it
	They also discovered how to put two sticks together to reach an object that was too far away to reach w/ one stick
	The chimpanzees appeared both to see & to use the relationships involved in reaching their goals
	may occur at a social mvmt action when people suddenly feel or believe they grasp an important point of the mvmt or a charismatic leader

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An Overview of Miller & Dollard's Learning Theory

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- Project: Learning Theory

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Neil Miller & John Dollard built on Convergence Theory & developed Learning Theory in 1941

Like Convergence Theory, Miller & Dollard's Learning Theory assumes that people arrive at a common scene w/ common tendencies in place

However, unlike Convergence Theory, Learning Theory assumes that the tendencies are NOT innate & people learn these common tendencies

Prior responses to situations teach people to behave in certain ways under similar circumstances

People w/ similar interests pay attention to the same cues, learn similar responses, & thus were likely to engage in similar behaviors in response

Learning Theory takes Convergence Theory one step further & attempts to create an integrated science of human behavior

Leaning Theory has a much greater emphasis on learned patterns of behavior than does Allport's Convergence Theory, & this is the only major difference

As reflected in Miller & Dollard's Learning Theory, Social Attitudes changed btwn the 1920s & the 1940s to become less focused on innate tendencies & more focused on socialized tendencies

Where Allport argued that people are inherently predisposed to behave in certain ways, Miller & Dollard argue that people have learned to behave in those ways

Miller & Dollard believe there are FOUR Basic Behaviorist Steps of Learning

For Miller & Dollard in order to learn, a person must

a. Drive: People must have a drive for something, i.e. want it

b. Cue: People must be cued or stimulated as to how to satisfy the drive

c. Act: People must act in response to the stimuli

d. Reinforcement: If people are rewarded by their action, they are more likely to repeat a similar action & vice versa

Miller & Dollard are early thinkers in development of the THREE stages of the Deprivation-Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

When a person is deprived, they feel frustrated, which increases their tendency towards aggression

a. Deprivation: an individual or group is blocked from satisfying a drive

b. Frustration: a blockage or deprivation exhibits itself as frustration, anxiety, etc. to the person/group

c. Aggression: when deprived & frustrated, people tend to become aggressive

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Major Works
Miller, Neil & John Dollard. Social Learning and Imitation. 1941

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Outline on Miller & Dollard's Learning Theory on Collective Behavior

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- Project: Learning Theory

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Learning Theory is a general social psychological theory that can be applied to collective behavior

Miller & Dollard, 1941, p. 218: "People in a crowd behave about as they would otherwise, only more so."

For Miller & Dollard, people in a crowd follow the steps of learning & the stages of deprivation, frustration, & aggression

That is, whenever people encounter a situation, in or outside of a crowd they act in whatever way their learned patterns guide them

Drive Stimuli are the excitation that a person experiences inside, regardless of whether others are present

Crowd Stimuli are the excitation created by other crowd members that encourages, provokes, or modifies the strength of response from Drive Stimuli

A person experiences of Drive Stimulus, & how they respond to it depends on both the strength of the Drive Stimuli as well as the Crowd Stimuli

For all individualist theories, the Crowd Stimuli is never stronger that the Drive Stimuli

The Nature & Strength of The Crowd Stimuli is affected by the FIVE factors of interstimulation, proximity, numbers anonymity, & prestige

For Dollard & Miller's learning theory, the factors that affects crowd stimuli are interstimulation, proximity, numbers anonymity, & prestige

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a. - interstimulation is the learning theory factor seen whereby the actual excitement created by others simulates everyone

For interstimulation to occur, people must be able to communicate w/ each other
This is similar to what variables in other theories?

b. - proximity is the learning theory factor seen whereby the more intense the closeness of the crowd, the more intense the Interstimulation

c. - numbers is the learning theory factor seenwhereby the larger the crowd, the more individuals feel protected & anonymous, the lower the self-reference of responses (drives stimuli)

The larger the crowd, the stronger our sense that the crowd is correct

Numbers in a crowd are an important factor for learning theory because we have learned to obey the will of the majority

Numbers in a crowd are an important factor for learning theory because it is safer to go along w/ the crowd

d. - anonymity is the learning theory factor seenis the learning theory factor seen whereby the larger the crowd, the stronger the feeling of anonymity

Anonymity is a powerful learning theory factor because of the belief that we are less likely to be punished because our identity is unknown

e. - prestige is the learning theory factor seen whereby the crowd stimulation is stronger if a leader holds prestige

Prestige is a powerful learning theory factor because we are taught to obey authority & confer honor upon them

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a. Interstimulation: the actual excitement created by others For interstimulation to occur, people must be able to communicate w/ each other
This is similar to what variables in other theories?

Circular reference & focus of attention on each other

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An Overview of Hogg & Abrams' Social Identity Theory

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- Project: Social Identity Theory

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Michael Hogg & Dominic Abrams developed Social Identity Theory in 1988

Social Identity Theory is similar to Learning Theory, but has some major differences

Social Identity Theory postulates that crowds allow people to form a Group Identity similar to that in other non-individualist ( i.e. social ) theories & people have no innate self

People w/ similar self- & group-identities are likely to focus on similar issues & events

Under some circumstances large groups w/ similar identities have a sense of group identity may engage in unusual behavior

Collective Behavior is thus driven by individual personal characteristics, & thus Structural causes are ignored

Social Identity Theory holds that we are driven my the desire to maintain our Self-Image

Like social identity theory, symbolic-Interactionism argues that we are constantly receiving messages that create our self-image & that the Self is not a fixed or innate thing, but a relatively fluid social creation