Mob Mentality In Lord Of The Flies

The brain works in mysterious ways, and to this day, scientists cannot fully decode it. Think back to your experiences Have you ever begged your parents to get you a toy because all your friends had it? Have you ever voted in favor of the majority opinion because you didn’t want to be the “odd one out”? And have you ever avoided sitting in an empty seat on the subway because everyone else was standing up? These are all examples of mob mentality that are found in our daily lives. It is the nature of humans to want to be a part of a large group, leaving behind the independent mindset and adopting behaviours and actions of the surrounding people to fit in. This begs the question of why does this occur? And how does this impact our lives? While

Psyche is defined as all parts of the mind that affect personality. Firstly, Sigmund Freud proposed the idea of Id, Superego and Ego. The characteristics of these three aspects can be seen in characters of the book, Jack, Simon and Piggy, and Ralph respectively. The turning point in Lord of the Flies is when Simon and Piggy are killed, this causes an imbalance in the representations of the psyche. Ultimately, it leads to the rest of the boys following with what Jack wants as he holds most of the power. However, Ralph, acting as the Ego, is not completely affected by Jack’s power as he represents the balancing force. Secondly, Alfred Adler proposed the idea of the superiority and inferiority. Throughout the book, Jack makes himself seem superior by bullying those weaker than him. This creates the superior/inferior dynamic amongst the boys, in which it has established Jack as the superior member. The boys that feel inferior to Jack will follow his orders, considering the fact that following Jack around will make the rest of the boys appear to be less inferior. Finally, Carl Jung proposed the idea of archetypes, which are the fundamental units of the