Some benign examples of social contagion include: yawning, laughing, and smiling. | {{course.flashcardSetCount}} With the support of others, an individual feels that the goal is within reach. In the end, the crowd has assumed a life of its own, stirring up emotions and driving people toward irrational, even violent action. Study.com has thousands of articles about every The Contagion theory riots: crowd that erupts in generalized destructive behavior, the purpose of which is social disorder. The theory says that ideas or behavior transfers through and from his network and can be unreasonable and inconsistent for a brief amount of time. Earn Transferable Credit & Get your Degree, Types of Mass Behavior: Definitions & Examples, Collective Behavior: Crowd Types, Mobs & Riots, Convergence Theory: Definition & Examples, Mass Hysteria & Moral Panic: Definitions, Causes & Examples, Prejudice, Discrimination & Personality Theory, Attribution Theory: Causes of Behavior & Errors, Practice Analyzing and Interpreting a Journal, Social Development of Adolescents: Identity, Social Movement Stages: Emergence, Coalescence, Bureaucratization & Decline, Social Psychology and its Applications in Environmental Efforts, Group Behavior in Social Psychology: Definition & Influences, The Newborn: Capabilities, Growth, and Developmental Milestones, Social Exchange Theory vs. Empathy-Altruism, Collective Action: Definition, Theory, Logic & Problems, Researching Personality Traits: Nomothetic and Idiographic Analysis, What Is Ethnography? For hundreds of years prior to the acceptance of germ theory, public health officials, scientists, physicians, and other writers had been observing and explaining the incidence and prevalence of health and disease without any awareness of disease-causing microorganisms. There is a debate on contagion to be conscious (deliberate imitation or prior motivations) or unconscious behavior (uncertainty). Crowds are common occurrences and can be seen in sporting events, music concerts, shopping sales, and amusement parks. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2005. Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. This includes non-verbal cues and through media communication. You can test out of the One variation of this theory suggests that no single dominant norm is accepted by everyone in a crowd; instead, norms are specific to the various categories of actors rather than to the collectivity as a whole (Snow, Zurcher, and Peters, 1981). Emotional Contagion Theory Explained Many diseases are contagious. Enrolling in a course lets you earn progress by passing quizzes and exams. During the course of their protest, a few highly agitated members of the crowd start shouting profanities and start throwing rocks at the Capitol building. Convergence theory was formulated by many leading sociologists, and it assumes that when a critical mass of individuals with the same desire to affect change come together, collective action occurs almost automatically. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you He asserts, 'by the mere fact that he forms part of an organized crowd, a man descends several rungs on the ladder of civilization.' Each individual student assumes that he would be individually caught and punished for this disrespectful action. O’Brien’s book captures the long and difficult history of the hunter’s point neighborhood. 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