Psychology tidbits

I was reading "Times of India" and saw the news that a 22-year-old woman instigated the arson attack on 42 buses of a Tamil Nadu-based operator in Bengaluru. More importantly, She was a daily wager and had joined the protest for rupee 100 and one plate Biryani.

Well, firstly hats off to her performance. She really paid off for her wages. Secondly, salute to her competence on the job. She was hired for rioting and she did it pretty well. However jokes apart, This prompted me to think about the psychological underpinning of the issue. What prompted her to instigate the violence? What ignited her leadership skills in the time of crisis? What would have unfolded at the site of the incident which propelled her at the center of things? I am sure, she was not much bothered about Cauvery sharing issue. Given her daily wager status and paid rioting, I am sure she would not have even understood the issue properly. So what was it?

Psychology often answers such question with the explanation of Group Behaviour, social influence and cult behaviour in our society. In crunch situations, people are pushed in fight or flight response. Encouraged by sloganeering and popular support around them, some people rise to the occasion and assume the de facto leadership of headless, directionless mob. The attention of camera, uncontrollable adrenaline rush in the veins further prompts them to throw leadership tantrums. Sometimes, they turn violent and facilitate carnage and arson.

However, what about the Mob? Why do they succumb to such an impromptu leadership? Mostly it has to do with our conforming behaviour. Have you ever observed the process of traffic jams or stampede in crowded places? It happens suddenly because people have no directions to follow and everyone wants to get out of that situation as soon as possible thus they start running helter-skelter and in the process creates a deadlock from which no one could come out without intermediation. But if there is one person who directs them to behave in a certain manner then everything gets resolved in a smooth manner. From my understanding, oftentimes Mob lacks direction and in such situation if someone orders them to do certain thing then they excitedly do so. They exhibit conformity behaviour either due to group obligation or obedience to authority. Suddenly it turns into "We vs. They" or ingroup vs. outgroup behaviour. The Mob starts seeing police and other authority groups as their adversaries and end up playing their role as rioters. We also see the "Eichmaan phenomenon" here where people often pass the buck of responsibility and consequences to their bosses and absolve themselves of all kind of guilt behaviour.

Possibly these factors combine together lead to rioting and mob violence. In such situation, the best strategy for authorities to calm the mob down is to give them clear directions which are not antagonistic to what their leadership is saying. Instead, the directions should be friendly and should show them a way out of the situation. Further, authorities should put people in the mob who can take the leadership role and direct the mob from inside.

Anyway, bidding adieu for now.