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Examples Of Herd Mentality In The Crucible

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Camryn Sharpe Mrs. Wenshau English 11 Block 4 3/10/23 The Consequences of Herd Mentality in The Crucible and in Modern Society The knowledge that one’s actions are their own is something that most desire and feel comforted by. Everyone wants to be able to think for themselves and form opinions based on their personal experiences and values, but that is not always the case. Many who find themselves caught in the snare of groupthink are blissfully unaware of their position. They believe that they are genuinely doing what is right, which can lead to loads of social issues caused by the adherence to ‘bad’ perceived opinions by ‘good’ people. Others affected by this psychological phenomenon know that what they’re doing is not necessarily ‘good’, …show more content…

The only real way to combat the negative effects of groupthink is to cast aside your surrounding society’s norms of what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’, and to take a personal stance against that society no matter what the cost may be. The Salem Witch Trials as represented in The Crucible by Arthur Miller are a perfect, if slightly extreme, example of what herd mentality can lead to if left long enough to fester and grow. John Proctor is the character who takes a stand against his surrounding society, losing his life in the process but also breaking the thrall of groupthink for the town of Salem, effectively setting them free from the Witch Trials. There are two main types of people affected by groupthink: those who unconsciously go with the crowd and are unaware, and those who are simply too scared to speak up. Unaware victims are the most dangerous type, especially when the crowd consists of mostly these people. Sometimes, it can be easier for someone to grasp onto one idea and stick with it firmly no matter what they learn, and to let others form opinions for them. This doesn’t require much thinking, which some are not very skilled in. These people are often outspoken in the group and like to claim authority. An example of this type of groupthink in …show more content…

Entrapment in herd mentality is a tricky thing. It is easily taken advantage of by self-centered people, it’s not always easy to identify, and it takes courage and personal sacrifice to break free. Usually it takes some sort of death, if not always in the literal sense. Death of reputation, death of friendships, death of social safety. This is true both in The Crucible and in modern-day real life, with the ‘herd’ being comparable to the government, society, corporations, religion, and more. Recognizing that one is participating in groupthink is the first step to getting out of it, and it’s always important to take a step back from any polarizing situations to assess how one really feels, and if their actions reflect their true opinions and morals. Everyone will find themselves in a herd mentality situation at some point in their lives. The true test is: will they find the courage to break free? Or will they sit idly by as injustice after injustice happens around them? That, of course, is for the individual to

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The way groupthink is portrayed in “The Crucible” changes our interpretations of how a character is influenced by society, and changes one’s views on life. Groupthink is a major theme that comes up frequently in the play through the work of Salem’s society. A character who is persistently a victim of groupthink is Mary Warren. Mary Warren is a seventeen year old girl who is the servant of the Proctor’s house, and is influenced by groupthink by Abby’s group.

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In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller utilizes the motif of mass hysteria. In the play townspeople panic about the accusation of people they know of being witches. In today's world we are surrounded by technology which allows news to travel fast. Recently, when a deadly disease called Ebola was found people began to panic and they were scared of being infected. The accusation of witches in the town and the Ebola found caused the same reaction in people.

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Have you ever been in so deep that the only way you could get out was to confess. Mass hysteria is a phenomenon that spreads fear among a group of people. In The Crucible, hysterical fear becomes an unconscious means of expressing the resentment and anger suppressed by strict Puritan society. Some citizens of Salem use the charge of witchcraft willfully and for personal gain, but most are overcome by the belief that the devil is attacking Salem. Danforth could have prevented Salem by realizing he was wrong and accepting the pleas and confessions of the innocent, This compares to the AIDs epidemic of the late 70’s and 80’s because everyone assumed without using facts.

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When push comes to shove, everyone makes a tough decision, but in the end the decision was either out of fear to protect themselves, or a strategy to gain a designated amount of authority. In today 's society, many of the decisions people make lead to riots in the streets and people getting hurt. Similarly, the Ferguson riot in Missouri years ago, where many civilians were injured because of decisions made by everyone involved. Whether it turned violent because they wanted to prove something or because they feared the police when they showed up. In the story, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, the characters also illustrate the fact that it is human nature to defend oneself, to strive to survive despite the harm such actions can cause to

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Martian Luther King Jr. had people follow him to help get rid of racism. Adolf Hitler used groupthink by speaking to the crowd that didn’t like the Jews and thought that they didn’t have a reason to be on earth. He made people believe that was the right thing to do. David Koresh used groupthink by telling people he was the “Spiritual Heir” and people believed him so they thought it was the right thing. The adults that followed him had made their children follow him to.

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It is a natural human instinct to want to be acknowledge by your peers, yet it is also important to be a critical thinker. Irving Janis in 1972 created the term groupthink. He believed groupthink occurs inside a group of similar people that want to keep from being different, resulting in incoherent decision-making. The 1957 film "12 Angry Men," uses groupthink, which influenced the verdict vote in the case of a teenager accused of murdering his father. The purpose of this essay is to examine groupthink and to represent Dr. Irving Janis’ symptoms of groupthink in the film.

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Psychologist Irving Janis explained some alarmingly bad decisions made by governments and businesses coined the term "groupthink”, which he called "fiascoes.” He was particularly drawn to situations where group pressure seemed to result in a fundamental failure to think. Therefore, Janis further analyzed that it is a quick and easy way to refer to a mode of thinking people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members ' striving for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action. According to Janis, groupthink is referred as the psychological drive for consensus at any cost that suppresses disagreement and prevents the appraisal of alternatives in cohesive decision-making groups.

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Thus this shows us how mob mentality is evident in the crucible and encompasses characters to turn from the truth and ends in the demise of the Salem Community. It is clear that mob mentality in “The Crucible” resulted in the

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