One of Sigmund Freud’s best-known works, written to develop ideas expressed by Gustave Le Bon in the book “The Psychology of Peoples and Masses.”
The Psychology of the Crowd: how is it different from the psychology of a single specific individual? Why, when people find themselves in a crowd, do they often abandon their own “self” and unleash instincts that they would never allow to show up in ordinary circumstances? Where do fear, conscience, and the sense of responsibility go? Why does conscious perception of reality shut down in a crowd, and individual traits are erased?