This is Australia, there really are posts and a wire is stretched (probably even under power).

In general, the concept of the herd instinct is familiar to everyone in various forms, but it is more commonly associated with the animal world, although it is also applicable to humans, but to a slightly different degree. Let's analyze its mechanism.

To begin with, a small digression "to the children." There is an obvious rule for all parents: do not do to your child what you do not want him to do. Want to reduce the chance of your child becoming a smoker? Do not smoke in front of him yourself and do not give him the opportunity to understand that you smoke. The principle is simple: if a person (child) does not know what is right and what is wrong, he learns by copying/imitating those whose behavior is right for him. If there is no way to filter out “right / wrong” behavior, then a person simply directly copies anyone who physically resembles him (“mirror”). A person (child) carries out such copying only in those cases when he does not have any behavioral strategies, there are no predictions for a specific situation, or any of his predictions seem too unlikely to him, and therefore threatening survival. Simply put: when you don’t know what to do, do as everyone who looks like you does.

This is what underlies the “herd instinct” of man. Of course, it is worth clarifying that this is not an instinct, it is only a mechanism for self-survival through learning by copying, which is based on the instinct of self-preservation.

For example:
The man works in the office. Every day at lunch, along with a stream of people, he goes to the dining room, turning left in the corridor, while almost no one ever turned right. One day, also leaving the office, he walks with a stream of people, but people start turning to the right.
There is a violation of the prediction. A person has no strategies for this behavior and the natural response to learning how to respond is to copy other people's behavior, trust them, go right.

The likelihood that a person will obey the “herd instinct” is determined by a number of factors:

1. Speed ​​of decision making
As already mentioned, the consciousness functions much more slowly than the subconscious. In cases where we are forced to make quick decisions, we tend to use the subconscious mind and the mechanism of copying / imitation learning just belongs to its area. Therefore, in the case of quick decisions, we are more prone to copy/imitate choice.

For example:
If we see that in a few seconds the walls around us will begin to collapse and we see a crowd running in some direction, then we will rather run after them than think “where to run”.

2. Criticality of decision making for self-survival
This moment closely intersects with the example of the previous paragraph. If we are faced with a situation where decision-making is strongly tied to our self-survival (“pure strategy” or “cant”) and we have no behavioral strategies for this situation, we tend to copy the behavior of other people more, as we subconsciously assume that they do not want their own death.

3. Level of development of prediction strategies
As already mentioned, the “herd instinct” is most pronounced in cases of weak development of consciousness and, in particular, prediction models. The less we can predict about a given situation, the less we can model possible outcomes and evaluate them, the more we are subject to the herd instinct. Very often it plays better side for us, but sometimes it hurts. There is a saying: "Millions of people cannot be wrong." From my experience, I can say that they can, and they do it regularly (although the concept of "error" is always subjective).

4. Level of identification with the mass
A very important role is played by the assessment of how much the “mirror effect” affects a person at the time of making a decision.

Examples:
If a flock of gophers runs past a person in a panic, he will not panic and will not run after them.
If a man in a business suit sees two people running in different sides crowds (one crowd is people in suits, and the other is in orange overalls), then he is more likely to run after people in suits.
If the person in the example about the office goes out not to go to the dining room (where everyone thinks they go), but, say, to throw out the garbage (where the trash can is to the left), then again, the probability of his submission to the herd instinct is much less due to the reduced influence " mirrors."

5. Internal state
It is obvious that internal state of a person also affects the degree of involvement, since it also determines the degree of submission to subconscious influence. For example, alcohol intoxication reduces conscious control and such a person follows the crowd more easily. This includes all methods of altering mind control, from trance to medication.

6. Individual features
In some cases, there are individual characteristics subordination to the “herd instinct”, for example, when, as a result of a jamb, a person becomes dependent on the opinions and actions of other people. It can also be attempts at self-realization by joining the masses, which occurs in the early stages of personality development (adolescence). There are a lot of such examples, but the general mechanisms are in the first five points.

findings
In general, the “herd instinct” is a fairly good and effective biological tool in the field of pure self-preservation strategies. However, it loses its effectiveness, and sometimes even plays to the detriment of the person himself when it comes to systems of complex social interaction, especially in a society with a high prevalence of joints.

When making decisions about the lack of behavioral strategies (prediction models), consider the fact that a massively accepted behavioral model may be inadequate and ineffective. If you have time to make a decision, then use it as resource-efficiently as possible and try to develop your own strategy.

If a we are talking about how to wash clothes, then here you can easily rely, without much harm to yourself, on the opinion of society. If we are talking about more individual things, in particular your personality or the social aspects of your life, then the decision should be taken more carefully and separately. It is precisely due to the fact that individuals delegate the adoption of personal mental decisions to the opinion of the "herd" that the opportunity has been created for the development of sects and other similar organizations and trends, which almost always feature an abundance of irrational strategies. ()

Something else for you from psychology: here for example, but for example. Here is another answer to the question and. Let me remind you about The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -

Array ( => 184 => 90 => 93 => 95)

Niche: 18+ Online sex shop

Tools: Quizzes, customer generator

Results: Increase in sales from the site

Elena, owner of the online store Intimi Si

I met your service by chance when I took a free online sales course. It is led by the founder of your company, Alexey Molchanov. He talked so interestingly about all the tools and about the conversion that I wanted to try them on my site.

And you know, I'm very glad that I did!

In general, I have an online store, so to speak 18+. Adult goods store. And initially I had a chat and a callback on the site. But the chat did not bring any results at all, it was as if for show. I can say the same about the call button - customers did not order them at all. It was simply inconvenient for them to call and clarify some questions, to consult.

Therefore, they wrote mainly to the mail indicated on the site. But it had a bad effect on sales.
Firstly, the procedure for ordering goods was very delayed.
Secondly, this is how I lost a lot of clients. I didn't check my email, I forgot to check spam. And in general it is difficult to monitor mail during the day. And clients, not having waited for the answer in time, as a result "left".

And here is a miracle! I'm taking a course that talks about different services and how they affect the site visitor.
In fact, Envybox specialists helped me choose services for the site. It is immediately clear that they are professionals in their field!

Alexander works with me. He suggested that I install a client generator, quizzes, on the site.

And when I started testing these tools on my site, I was pleasantly surprised how well each of them does their job!)

The quizzes were made in a comic form, which helped to smooth out the atmosphere on the site a little, so to speak, to get rid of the atmosphere of stiffness.

After installing your services on the site, the movement immediately went)) Sales increased! I am very pleased)
Thank you so much for making such cool website tools! They really do increase conversions.

“Insanely glad to meet and cooperate with Envybox”

Birman Alexander Commercial director and co-founder

prostoprelest.com.ua

Birman Alexander, commercial director and co-founder of the company. “Our online store specializes exclusively in professional cosmetics for face, body and hair care. We put the premise that we will sell only certified goods as the basis for the work of the store. And to this day, we adhere to this rule: a strict selection of brands, strict control of the expiration date of each unit and maximum attention to each client.

Envybox was known before it was so popular. We watched the service for a long time, but did not dare to connect it. As a result, on May 3, 2016, we implemented Envybox widgets and since then we have never disconnected from them. At first, we only had an Online Chat, but after a while we also connected the Client Generator with Stadny.

The most effective for us, of course, is Online Chat, because it is live communication with customers. The generator informs about promotions and discounts, Stadny performs the function of attracting, and through the Chat, direct contact with users is carried out.
For the convenience of our clients, our Live Chat is available 24/7. This increases the loyalty of consumers, and, accordingly, the sales of the company.

Envybox is developing dynamically and we really like it. Your team has developed such a service that you don’t even need to understand - everything is clear, simple and logical. All widgets installed independently and did not encounter any problems. It’s great that you didn’t need the help of your specialists when introducing products to the site. Envybox support is, of course, on top, but I don’t want to contact the guys with problems.

I was also very pleased with the results from the work of the service, which appeared within half an hour after its installation. However, we are not very fond of sharing numbers. I will say this - rather, the Envybox service did not directly increase sales from our site, but formed another channel for contacting customers, that is, it indirectly affected profits.

We are extremely happy to meet and cooperate with Envybox”

“We believed in Envybox from the very beginning and are happy that we were not mistaken”

Kapustin Yury Nikolaevich, CEO of Modernus

modernus.ru

“Our company is engaged in the manufacture and supply of designer furniture. Modernus specialists will help you choose unique, truly stylish and modern furniture, lighting and decor items for your house or apartment, study or office. Our online catalog presents furniture created by legendary world designers. We offer both modern developments and products that have already become furniture classics.

We have been using Envybox products for about two years. I found out about you when I monitored callback programs on the Internet. Such services on the Internet great amount, but Envy will stand out from the competition. The site alone is worth something - stylish, structured, and most importantly accessible for understanding.

In general, we considered the products of the service, studied all the chips and decided to stop at your services. We believed in Envybox from the very beginning and are happy that we were not mistaken. Aleksey Molchanov, not in words, but in deeds, confirms the quality of the system. It's a sin to leave Envy for another supplier when everything is so cool here!

On our site we use Callback, Online Chat and Herd. The call button is the most effective for us. It helps to attract additional requests from the site and establish quick contact with the buyer. In general, we are satisfied with all Envybox products. Working with the system is convenient and productive. It's also nice that the integration of the service with our site was quite fast and without problems.

Our statistics are positive. The first results began to appear in the first week of using the service. As I said, most of the applications fall from the Callback. For a month we get 35-40 new hits from it. With Online chat and Herd, the indicators are slightly worse.
We ourselves like to call more than write. Questions and problems on the tube are solved much faster.

The advantages of the service include an increase in the conversion of the site. I did not find any cons, everything is fine.
Thanks to"

“The customer generator almost doubled the conversion of our site”

Sergey Pynzar, founder of the project

2builders.rf

“Our company is engaged in the construction of houses from Sip-panels. Sip-technology in the construction of suburban residential buildings has been successfully used in Russia for many years.

Sip-panel houses have a number of advantages and meet all the requirements for comfortable housing:
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We learned about Envybox not so long ago. Literally four months ago, our managers accidentally came to the services of your service. Employees were very impressed with Envy products, but we did not immediately start trusting an unknown service.
Some time later, a friend called me - your partner and convinced me that it is still worth testing these unusual widgets. I agreed and began to choose the most necessary tools from the list.

Now on our site we use the Callback button, the Client Generator and the Herd Instinct. All widgets work in approximately the same way - and calls come in, and requests to the Generator fall, and they click on Stadny.
We used another company before Envybox, and to be honest, your products work much better. We never had a generator at all, but due to it, the conversion of the 2builder.rf website almost doubled.

They did not dare to install the Envybox service themselves, although all the settings are clear and simple. We hired a special person, so there were no extra problems here.

In just three months, our website statistics have improved significantly.

Weekly stats:
1. Callback - 15-20 calls;
2. Client generator - 3-5 applications
3. Herd instinct - 5 clicks.

In general, we are very pleased with the results. Now it has become much easier for customers to contact us, and managers are happy to quickly connect with them.

I also want to commend your support team. Not so long ago I ran into the problem of inappropriate calls from the site, but I still can’t block unnecessary numbers on my own. The Envybox guys happily agreed to help me and did all the work themselves.

Thanks a lot.Envybox"

HERD INSTINCT

It would be inaccurate to say that the human herd is opposed to individuality as such. A person with a strong herd instinct is not at all able to perceive individuality even as an abstract concept. For him, there are no personalities, but there are individuals, characterized only by gender, belonging to a certain herd and rank in the herd hierarchy.

This is well illustrated by the so-called "sex symbols" - high-ranking individuals whose images are replicated by human mass culture as a role model. You are unlikely to find information - what is the personality of another pop singer or actress whose photos filled the pages of magazines: what are her views on life and worldview, what is she interested in, what books does she read (if at all) - the herd is not interested.

The herd is interested in something else: what size of her breasts, waist and hips, as well as what male sex symbols she has affairs with - i.e. what is her rank as a female in the herd hierarchy. Beauty contests have the same origin, and in general everything that is built on the assessment human personality on only one parameter: this parameter is always herd rank or some of its secondary manifestations.

For the same reason, the herd man does not experience love as an attraction to the partner/shee's personality, but only shows an instinctive reaction to a high-ranking male/female. Moreover, for him there is no significant difference between different partners of the same rank (age also affects not directly, but through its influence on the herd rank).

A herd is a group of individuals who have similar features in appearance and instinctively follow the same standards of behavior. The one who follows other standards of behavior: dresses differently, listens to different music - is perceived by the herd man as a representative of another herd. And in nature, another herd is always competitors for food and territory, and, if possible, for females.

"Wars" between metalheads and rappers, between fans of different football teams, between gangs of gopniks from different regions are purely herd-instinctive in nature. "With whom you are?" - this is the question that their participants ask everyone they meet. The fact that you can be on your own, not belong to any of the opposing herds, does not fit in the head of a typical herd person. Another means: from another herd.

The herd man judges the strength of groups of people solely by their numbers. Therefore, when a small group of talented individuals (which he sees as "too weak a herd") acquires influence disproportionate to its size in society, the herd man immediately sees some secret intrigues and conspiracies, the connections of this group with more numerous and hostile towards his herd. communities of people - hence all the legends about the Jewish and Masonic conspiracy come from.

This is exacerbated by the fact that non-herd personalities usually do not look high-ranking; those. from the point of view of the herd, they occupy a place in society that does not correspond to their rank, which is unthinkable without the help of some powerful forces from outside.

Low-ranking people, dissatisfied with their position in the human herd, usually strive to build a new herd in their own way, i.e. gather around yourself a group of even lower-ranking people who obey the authority of the founder in everything and adhere to the same views and tastes as he.

We see this in the example of most leaders of totalitarian movements: Christ, Mohammed, Hitler, Stalin - all these are low-ranking people who have dedicated their lives to winning a high rank, using a crowd of even lower-ranking human individuals. It is very typical for such movements to impose the tastes of the leader on all members of the movement: for example, wine is forbidden in Islam because Muhammad once got into trouble because of it; the Nazis declared the Slavs subhuman because Hitler personally hated them (at first, other Nazi ideologists considered the Slavs a race related to the Germans).

Any desire to impose their standards of behavior, tastes, traditions on others is a manifestation of the herd instinct, as well as the desire to follow the standards of behavior accepted among those around them. The standards of herd behavior are determined by high-ranking individuals, and low-ranking ones obey them, subconsciously fearing to be expelled from the herd. Therefore, attempts to impose one's tastes and views on life on others is a form of struggle for a high herd rank.

In disputes and polemics, the herd man always sees in his opponent a being of a lower rank. "How well I lowered it!" he thinks, saying another portion curses at the opponent, and when he answers the same, he is sincerely perplexed: "And this nonentity is still trying to run into me!" Naturally, from the side of his opponent the situation is seen in the exact opposite way.

The herd man does not realize that there may be individual preferences and personal reasons for holding certain views. For him, any tastes and points of view are divided into "correct" (which he adheres to and which, in his opinion, is shared by the majority of the herd, all "normal people") and "wrong".

He sees the dispute as an opportunity to show his high rank, to increase his self-esteem. (This is especially noticeable when several low-ranking debaters at once, in a characteristic tedious and annoyed tone, without listening to each other, are trying for a long time and unsuccessfully to find a super-killing argument that will finally “shut up” opponents.)

In general, we can conclude that the herd man is obsessed with two subconscious fears: being expelled from the herd and being the last in the herd.

STEREOTYPES

stereotypes- templates, samples, models and patterns of behavior due to simplified thought processes. A person does not think, but uses the inference that he already has in his mind about this or that phenomenon. This happens automatically, unconsciously, without the ability to understand in detail what is happening.

If there are a lot of such simplified routes of thoughts, a person's worldview is limited, narrowed and acts as an obstacle to self-development and improvement. The stereotypes of our distant ancestors came to us in the form of laconic proverbs and sayings, which contain worldly wisdom. Such wisdom in the form of capacious figurative sayings for centuries helps a person to understand life.

Stereotypes of people appear and are fixed in modern society to make life easier, to help you navigate it, find the right path, and avoid mistakes. Without stereotypes of thinking, the knowledge of the world by a person would be difficult. Every time a person would have to use his mind to reach an understanding of the nature of phenomena, all life would consist of only knowledge.

At the same time, stereotypes help to understand the diversity of life manifestations, contribute to the successful adaptation of a person in society. The positive role of the stereotype as an adaptive phenomenon can shift towards a negative or limiting perception of life. Where is the line between a perception pattern that helps to live and a stereotype that infringes on thinking? To answer this question, you need to understand the diversity of stereotypes in society.

TYPES OF STEREOTYPES OF THINKING

The formation of stereotypes occurs from the moment a person is born. For babies, the colors of clothes “advising” their gender are selected, the boys are dressed in blue, the girls in pink. Many of the prevailing stereotypes of thinking can be classified according to the thought process that causes them:

Generalization.

In its normal manifestation, this is a useful logical operation, in its excessive manifestation it is a “stigma” that is superimposed on essentially different phenomena. Generalization involves drawing conclusions from several similar situations, overgeneralization draws conclusions from a single incident.

Such a generalization makes thinking rigid, inflexible, limited. Too frequent formation of stereotypes caused by the generalization of personal qualities and character traits can lead to self-doubt, low self-esteem and the consequences that follow from this.

Example. If a person failed to win at a talent contest once, he forms an opinion about himself as mediocrity.

Categorization by species and types is designed to structure a certain set, to divide it into groups. Excessive categorization leads to ignoring individuality, features, uniqueness. Categorization on a person is hung up with a “label”, gives a general negative assessment, without taking into account his experience and personality. There are categories of bad, dishonest, evil, deceitful, greedy people and so on.

Example. A mother-in-law is always a person who does not like her son-in-law.

"Black and white" thinking.

A diverse, constantly changing world is squeezed into the concepts of "good - bad", "true - false", "right - wrong" and other polar categories. If you use only two evaluations of "good" and "bad" in life to characterize phenomena, life becomes a series of black and white stripes and mixes into one continuous grayness.

Life is not good or bad, it is made so by polar thinking, the consequences of which are pessimism, maximalism, excessive perfectionism, depression, lack of meaning and values.

Example. When a person has learned the stereotypes of society that divorce is a negative, condemned act, that it is harder for divorced people to find a mate and afford new relationships, they can stay in a marriage that is burdensome and brings nothing but suffering, instead of seeking new love and becomes happy.

Perception errors.

A person mistakenly focuses on some aspects of the phenomenon and ignores others. Such biased selectivity leads to the fact that a person does not perceive an alternative, the possibility of a different opinion and the existence of other facets of the phenomenon, and does not know how to think critically. Egocentric thinking, egoism, dogmatism, stubbornness, conservatism, fanaticism develop. Personal or other authoritative opinion is defined as absolute truth and ideal, not subject to refutation.

Example. Unshakable, blind and reckless devotion to the idea of ​​any social movement.

High expectations.

Insidious social stereotypes lie in the inflated, unreasonable expectations of people. This is how utopias and unattainable ideals are born. The value and significance of individual phenomena is extolled and perceived as a desired goal.

As a result, stress, disappointment, resentment, frustration and a host of other negative experiences. High expectations of the other person lead to quarrels, conflicts and even breakups.

Example. The girl is waiting for her "prince on a white horse", who is necessarily handsome, rich and in love with her in advance.

BREAKING STEREOTYPES OF THINKING

The role of the stereotype can be negative in its impact, limiting thinking to such an extent that it interferes with the normal life of the individual. In this case, there is a desire to get rid of the stereotypes of life that interfere with life itself.

To get rid of patterns and cliches of thinking, you need to learn awareness of perception.

It is necessary to monitor the thoughts and emotions that arise here and now, focus on personal experience experiences of what is happening.

Ways to get rid of the negative influence of thinking stereotypes:

Comparison. Comparison involves analyzing the situation, comparing it with others, finding differences and contradictions. There is no need to rush to think in the usual categories, when you can think, reflect on what is perceived in this moment and compare it with what is already known.

Setting realistic goals. In order to be less influenced from outside, it is necessary to form personal positive stereotypes of life. They can be in the form of realistic, achievable life goals and values.

openness of perception. To be able to perceive the phenomenon as a whole, look at it as if for the first time, rediscover new facets of the known and carefully study everything new that provides the world.

Critical thinking. One must be able to ask questions: “Is this really true?”, “Does the thought contradict common sense?”, “Do I agree with what I used to think, hear, perceive as the truth?” and other similar matters of doubt.

Expanding horizons. You can get rid of stereotypes by developing, learning new things, expanding your horizons, going beyond the usual boundaries of the comfort zone. Interest in learning and acquiring new experience contributes to the formation of one's own views and opinions that differ from the generally accepted ones.

These techniques will help get rid of a specific stereotype that interferes with life, as well as the habit of thinking in a stereotyped, biased and narrow way.

It is logical to assume that the further evolution of man towards the improvement of the mind will lead to the gradual disappearance of the herd instinct and the excessive dependence of the individual on stereotypical thinking.

This will inevitably entail radical changes in the entire form of the existence of civilization on Earth, since the structure of modern human society is largely determined by the instinct of the herd hierarchy in people.

In addition to the instincts listed in the book "" let's consider one more so-called "herd instinct". We will understand it inexplicable desire of man(herd animal too) join your herd.

In fact, we explained in the book "", that this desire stems only from, since it is in the herd that the individual is most reliable to keep his gene. And the herd instinct does not carry anything fundamentally new for us.

However, faced the other day with the following definition of the herd instinct on Wikipedia:

herd instinct- this is the mechanism underlying the instinct of self-preservation, applicable equally to both humans and animals.

The herd instinct shows how people or animals in a group can act collectively, without centralized leadership. As V. Trotter noted in his work “The Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War”, it is pointless to look for the causes and derivatives of the herd instinct, since it is primary and cannot be resolved.

I realized that we need to take a closer look at this issue.

First of all, relying only on , we will show our complete disagreement with all the provisions of this definition.

• First, as shown in, there is no independent self-preservation instinct. There is only a corollary of the same name from the Law (or Instinct) of Gene Conservation.

• Secondly, it is NOT pointless to look for the causes and derivatives of the herd instinct, since it is NOT primary.

Let us recall in passing how primary and secondary statements (or instincts) differ. If statement A implies statement B, and statement B does not imply statement A, then statement A will be called primary, and statement B secondary or a consequence of A.

If the herd instinct were primary, then how to explain the regular breakups of the herd? Especially constant expulsions from the herd of young males that have entered the reproductive age, or vice versa, elderly males?

And they are explained very simply, through

• Young grown males begin to pose a threat to the genetic purity of the offspring of the harem of a dominant, but not yet old and strong male.

• The exiled young males leave the herd and begin to look for an opportunity to form their herd not from herd instinct, but for the sole purpose of preserving their gene.

“Why are the old males driven out?” -you ask. Yes, for almost the same reason.

• Usually this is an aged dominant male who has lost a tournament fight for his harem to a new young male applicant, but has not yet lost his reproductive power and therefore needs to be constantly monitored. In addition, the old male very soon turns into a burden and an extra mouth, unable to get his own food on his own. The end of such old lonely males is always sad.

As you can see, no herd instinct works and everything depends on !

And now the mischievous reader should ask: “Why then do they not expel aged females who are not capable of procreation?” The answer is again simple.

• Elderly females, as a rule, are excellent nannies and are often simply necessary for the care and upbringing of the offspring of the dominant male, i.e. the reason is always the same: !

Nevertheless, we shall henceforth use the term Herd Instinct, keeping in mind, however, that it is a simple consequence.

The situation described above can be observed especially well in a pride of lions or a herd of elephants. Such an unenviable final fate of male lions and elephants after they complete the program is no exception.

In other species, it can be even sadder: in bees, drones die immediately after copulation, in grasshoppers and spiders, males are immediately eaten by females after copulation. This sad list for males can go on and on, and it leads to even more unhappy thoughts.

Now I am tormented by vague doubts that the same or almost the same way in the distant historical past was treated with our brother "muzhik".

You ask: Foundations? I explain: Mankind lived for 3-4 million years, practically no different from the animal world surrounding it, driven only by the same. Scientists find traces of human cannibalism in all parts of the world and until very recently. The same is true of human sacrifice.

The rudiments of humanistic morality appeared, one might say, yesterday by historical standards, and there are no serious grounds for believing that in the human herd males were treated better in ancient times than males in the rest of the animal world.

Now we will begin to study the herd instinct in the most interesting herd - human society. In the most interesting, because a person has another important option that does not exist in the animal world. This is !

The herd instinct sits in a person in the same way as in any other herd animal, and in the vast majority of his people, he follows it. Is it good or evil? We will try to give here an exhaustive, as far as possible, answer to this question.

The list of these people in the entire history of mankind, in all types of its activities, is extremely small. Several thousand. Not more. In any case, a small fraction of a percentage of the total population.

I once asked a friend of mine when I was young, “If the whole of civilization was created by this small percentage, then why did God create all the rest?” The answer was wonderful: “In order to give birth to this small fraction of a percent!”

And in general, it is impossible to imagine a society consisting entirely of geniuses, completely free from the herd instinct! It would fall apart instantly!

Listened to TV the other day conversation-interview two smartest people, Dmitry Gordon and Viktor Shenderovich. They also talked about the herd instinct and came to the conclusion that this instinct is always evil, giving the right examples. destructive action this instinct in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and that everything right and good is done by single people without this instinct.

With all due respect to these interlocutors, I cannot agree with both of these statements.

• Firstly, what is wrong with the herd instinct when it raises a person together with all his people to defend the Motherland, to the Revolution?

• Secondly, people like Stalin and Hitler were also absolutely free from the herd instinct. But, at the same time, these people, who hated, skillfully manipulating the herd instinct of the crowd, led their peoples in the twentieth century to the most terrible disasters in the history of mankind.

Let us note that in all totalitarian societies, such as, for example, fascism or communism, following one's “herd” or, in other words, cultivating a herd instinct becomes state policy, and any deviation from it is severely punished. Those who lived under the communists or under the Nazis remember this very well.

The attitude towards the herd instinct in society, especially among the intelligentsia, is rather arrogant and contemptuous. If you open Google on this topic, you will immediately see a bunch of articles on how to get rid of the herd instinct. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of society, blindly and strictly obeying this instinct, is embarrassed to admit it.

The anthem of all who consider themselves free from the herd instinct was once the book "A Seagull named Jonathan Livingston", written by Richard Bach in 1970.

And now let's think about whether it is always necessary to be ashamed of the herd instinct? Why do we, without hesitation, run after the crowd in case of danger?

I remember TV pictures of the tsunami flooding in Thailand in 2004, when crowds of people began to randomly scatter in different directions. Only those who competently began to climb the hills or ran up the stairs of multi-storey strong hotels survived, as well as those who ran after them, following the herd instinct.

At the end of their conversation, Gordon and Shenderovich came to the same conclusion that when you see a huge crowd running somewhere, then immediately run away. As we can see from the examples above, this advice in general case wrong.

You need to know why the crowd is running, what are its slogans, are they encroaching on anyone's rights to or?

In textbook examples of communism and Nazism, their slogans quite openly called for the destruction of these rights from the nobles, the rich, the bourgeoisie in the first case, and from the Jews and other non-Aryan races - in the second.

The very Principle of Democracy, when the minority is obliged to obey the majority, is the most herd instinct! Who and when proved that the majority is right? Nobody ever! There is no other way to explain this than the herd instinct.

But, as the above examples show, Democracy does not always guarantee right choice decision, which happened in Germany in 1933.

Democracy's most recent mistake was Brexit, where its supporters won by less than 2%. A mistake, because Brexit does not give an increase in Freedom of Choice in anything, on the contrary, it lowers its level in Britain as a whole. This will become obvious to everyone immediately in a few years after its implementation, Brexit, unless it is canceled altogether by a second referendum. The most "advanced" Britons foresee this already today.

However, by democratically accepting the power of the majority, we expect that its decision will most often be correct, and history confirms this. Moreover, if Democracy has made a mistake, but the mechanisms of Freedom of Choice (democratic institutions) have survived, then this mistake can be corrected fairly quickly.

There are no, to hell with special historical paths and national characteristics! There is simply advance and lag. And it's easy to prove!

If, for example, there are two states A and B with different forms governments, ways of life, and after some time the form of government in state B and the way of life become the same as in A, then this means only one thing: state B is evolutionarily behind state A in development.

We know many examples of countries where women who have traditionally worn the hijab begin to take them off at the risk of losing their personal freedom (Iran), and we do not know of any country where the reverse process would take place.

Here, of course, the case when recently in Egypt on a short time Islamists came to power and forcibly put hijabs on women. It was a pure short-term fluctuation.

And one more interesting thought: the countries where the permanent presidents who came to power try to prolong their power by hook or by crook, forgery and fraud, resemble herds of animals or animal packs, controlled by permanent leaders, dominant males, too, until their weakened ones are overthrown males are younger and stronger. From here, draw a conclusion which society is closer to its primitive-animal historical beginning.

Well, now, let's formulate the promised answer to the question posed in the title: Is the herd instinct good or bad? Should I follow the herd instinct?

From all of the above, it follows that there is no deterministic answer to this question! There is only a probabilistic answer. It is best to always think with your own head.

But if you do not have your own solution, then it is best to join the group where you most of all see recognized authoritative and intelligent people.

Well, if you have to choose a solution randomly, then join the largest group, in the hope that there should be smart, experienced people there.

None of these tips will give you a 100% guarantee. Only probability!

Generally speaking, our surrounding world is fundamentally not determined. It is probabilistic and there are more questions with probabilistic answers than questions with deterministic answers. Physicists were the first to understand this at the beginning of the last century, when they climbed into the microworld.

In conclusion, I will give an example from a recent news feed about outbreaks of measles in civilized countries such as France.

The fact is that these outbreaks were the result of the fact that some parents refuse to vaccinate their children. Some for orthodox religious reasons, others for reading that vaccination has side effects. Both of them refer to the personal freedom of choice in what concerns their children.

However, if the probability of a side effect is one in thousands, then the probability of getting infected healthy child in close contact with the patient, almost one hundred percent. Moreover, with modern movements of people, it is almost impossible to ensure absolutely reliable quarantine.

So choose after that the probability that you prefer. In this regard, discussions are being raised in France about the forced restriction of personal privacy when there is a threat to society, i.e. the rest.

I remember that in the Soviet Union all children were vaccinated without asking either themselves or their parents. I would not object to such compulsory vaccination.

Karmak Bagisbaev, professor of mathematics, author of the book

herd feeling people, how much we know or guess about ourselves.
One of the educational channels took up the study of the law auto-sync,
the essence of which says that if in some society 5% of people simultaneously perform actions, then the rest of the majority starts after them repeat. In the story
social experiments are being carried out to show that one of the strongest instincts of most animals, the herd mentality, is also inherent in humans.

The plot included the following social and psychological experiments:

• - Everyone ran, and I ran to the red;
• - How to go with the flow in an elevator;
• - Do not believe your eyes, two white squares.

And although imitation instinct, as psychologists call it,
inherent in all of us, and all our lives we have something from someone copy, starting from birth, when we imitate language for communication,
we still stay individual personalities with their own unique set of borrowings. And as the story showed,
found in each experiment 10-15 percent who didn't follow the crowd. And if we imitate something, then choose the best people and the right directions for this.

herd instinct like animals

Let the herd mentality be manifested in the form of useful, necessary and developing habits.