Describe and evaluate two explanations of the behaviour of crowds.
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Describe and evaluate two explanations of the behaviour of crowds. Crowds are large groups of people. They lack organisation and communication between members, and often gather together on a meeting basis. Group life is the term we use to describe the overall emotional development of a group. The portrayal of the life of a group reflects a combination of the feelings, hidden agenda's and unconscious needs of individuals and how these interact to influence the development and feel of a group. There are many explanations why people act as they do in crowds. This includes deindividuation, bystander apathy, social contagion, and density-intensity hypothesis. Deindividuation, can be broken down into three components: 1. Inputs, 2. Internal changes, 3. Behavioural outcomes. Inputs (or causes of deindividuation) include feelings of anonymity, diffusion of responsibility, membership in large groups, and a heightened state of physiological arousal. The deindividuated state itself appears to...

