Oct. 19, 2008
Fear Factor: How Herd Mentality Drives Us
"Group Think" Has Its Advantages When Confronting Lions ... But What About Wall Street?
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Herd mentality can direct behavior, from the African Savannah to the jungles of Wall Street. (AP/Image Source; AP/Richard Drew)
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The Wiring Of The Brain
Find out what each part of the brain does, and when in a person’s life these areas are developed.
Birds do it. Bees do it. Even wildebeests do it.
One by one they gather in big groups - and think and act as one.
What is herd mentality?
"It's the idea that the individual members of a herd relate, behave in a similar fashion," said Pat Thomas, general curator at the Bronx Zoo. "And that's so that they don't stand out and appear different than their group mates."
"If they act too much out of the norm, more often than not they're singled out and identified by a predator - and don't survive very long."
Herds can be awesome, moving and flowing in masses, reminding us that in nature there's the quick - and the dead.
And those who stay scared are more likely to stay alive.
Fear: It makes animals run in herds. Could it also cause otherwise thoughtful people to stop thinking for themselves and follow the crowd?
Look at Wall Street …
See-sawing stocks. Rallies and crashes. Investors buying and selling before they've had time to think.
"We are mammals, just like the wildebeest in the plains of the African Savannah," said Andrew Lo, who studies emotions and economics at MIT.
He says when fear sets in, we have little choice but to behave like animals, using a different part of the brain - what some scientists have called the "mammalian brain."
At Emory University in Georgia, Dr. Gregory Berns showed us how the brain reacts to fear.
It comes from a part of the brain that's called the amygdala, the seat of the fear response.
That is what kicks into overdrive when your 401(k) tanks.
"Whether it's the fear of being the odd person out, whether it's the fear of uncertainty or the fear of losing your shirt in the market, the fear starts to compel you to do something, because a million years ago, that fear meant you probably had to run or fight," Berns said.
But reactions that saved our ancestors from saber-toothed tigers don't make as much sense on the floor of the Stock Exchange.
Financial historian Jeff Madrick says that's how we got into trouble in the first place - by developing the notion that the stock is highly rational. "That encouraged this herd behavior," he said. "People would say, 'The stock market is right. Let's get in here.' That was the mythology that fed the herd behavior."
So the group think that helped build the bubble is now leading the charge to pop it.
"I think there's probably a panic now," Madrick said. Berns agreed: "You could call it panic; I would."
But the Bronx Zoo's Pat Thomas says, "It's definitely a survival mechanism."
"The research that neuroscientists have developed seem to suggest that herd mentality, on the downside - that is, in reaction to panic and fear - is far more powerful than the herd mentality associated with greed - herd mentality on the upside," said Lo.
"Because fear trumps greed?" asked Landis.
"Fear always trumps greed, that's right," said Lo. "From an evolutionary perspective, it's a lot more important for you to be scared and run away from danger than for you to be excited and happy and thrilled about your life."
"It's better to be scared and alive than -"
"- Happy and dead, yeah," Lo laughed.
Yes, we may be smarter than beasts of burden, but we're still creatures of habit.
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An unthinking, instinctive mammalian reflex.
THAT explains it.
Appears we really have not traveled that far in our Modern World - especially the Tech Age of recent years
''Moo''
Posted by student1776 at 03:44 PM : Oct 19, 2008
Evolution is monkeys observing that if you beat the *** out of the lions with sticks and stones you can come down out of the trees and live better.
Evolution is seeing your nation raped and plundered by the Republicans a dozen times too many and voting Democrat.
In both cases the outcome is positive change for the human race.
We can all see it in action.
Look at the markets, look at Obama... It is this panic that will put this country at bigger risk.
All the stories, all the ads, all of the political reporting is nothing but propaganda.... If you have ever lived in a communist country this all looks very familiar,.
All the stories, all the ads, all of the political reporting is nothing but propaganda.... If you have ever lived in a communist country this all looks very familiar,.
Posted by zaniacloclo at 03:56 PM : Oct 19, 2008
You guys all sound alike...dire warning after dire warning.
What is patently obvious is that everything you say is designed to ensure that your victims - the American people - remain victims instead of choosing to stand up to you and kick you out of the way by voting as many Republicans as possible out of office.
Good luck with that tactic...you spewed far too much hate on the web, on the television, on the radio, and in your advertising to be viewed as "the good guys" by the American people.
Posted by msa123 at 04:02 PM : Oct 19, 2008
lollll...another very, very good reason not to vote for the Republicans: They are senile.
They forget THEY are the ones who pioneered the use of fear as a campaign tool by using the threat of terrorism coupled with a portrayal of Democratic candidates as being weak on national security.
What a joke that was...OBL is still running around loose, and our borders are still so porous that Mexican nationals can and do waltz in, dress up as cops, and kidnap people...
Posted by msa123 at 04:08 PM : Oct 19, 2008
I recommend high doses of the "B" vitamins.
Posted by msa123 at 04:12 PM : Oct 19, 2008
You must not be aware of current events. When the Captain runs the ship of State hard aground over and over again, mutiny is the only rational response.
You must get a new Captain.
Posted by msa123 at 04:16 PM : Oct 19, 2008
So you would have us believe that a Republican Administration that greatly desires the continuation of Republican control and Republican policies and has the vast resources of the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and various and sundry Homeland Security resources at their fingertips would never have run any discreet inquiries into such a paranoid portrait as you paint?
That is another reason you should not vote Republican, America...they allow their paranoia and lust for power to fly their fantasies far past the bounds of reality.
Sounds familiar, eh? Who said this? Saul Alinsky. His teachings influenced Barack Obama in his early career as a community organizer on the far South Side of Chicago%u2026
This was Alinsky''s outline of his strategy in organizing, writing in the prologue.
Posted by msa123 at 04:05 PM : Oct 19, 2008
You overlook something, undoubtedly because your disconnect from reality has created a chasm - a void - that is far too great for you to see across:
Namely, who created social and economic conditions so dire that they were sufficient to wake the American people and cause them to recognize what has been done to them...
And that would be the Republicans. Their unbounded greed has brought unmitigated disaster to their Party.
The he turns right around and lies about the horrors of Banking and Wall Street and once again the herd believes and are driven over a cliff. The public is incredibly gullible.
Once I realized that being part of the crowd was most often the wrong place to be, I found not only freedom but also an eternal source of amusement. People are mindless puppets and gladly give up their freedom, fortunes, family and their lives just to go along with the pack. From my perspective this is both sad and funny. Humans are not in any way superior to the very cattle supplying the beef you can no longer afford.
Wake up people. Until you can become independent, the human race will never achieve the next level of development, **** nexus.
Posted by ibsteve2u at 04:31 PM : Oct 19, 2008
... so voting out Republicans in favor of Democrats will make things better?!?! No, the Democrats are just as horrible as the Republicans. They may not favor low corporate taxes, but instead they favor big government where the people become yet MORE dependent on the government. Instead of the Patriot Act they favor taking away our guns... sounds still like a police state to me.
Fact is, either party is going to screw America over. The only difference is how they do it. They both want a police state where the government/corporations are all powerful. They want the PEOPLE to have no voice, but rather be submissive guinea pigs.
Voting Dem in this election will do nothing except repeat more of the same of 2000-2006, when one party controlled both the Legislative and Executive branches (and potentially with a filibuster proof majority). The best hope is to vote for Republican congressmen and Obama, or Democratic congressmen and McCain as to keep control of the gov split. This will slow the process of our doom.
This is "REPEAT " of the : The Savings and Loan Scam
which Occurred Under the : Nazi Fascist : Reagan-Bush Crime Regime
Where the NAZI Fascist Bush Crime family made Millions of Dollars
from a $100K - No Payback Loan (BRIBE)
NO CRIMINAL COMPLAINTS and NO CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS
So ...... DO IT AGAIN ...... This Time for : FOR EIGHT (8) LONG YEARS
The Political Criminal FBI out of : Politically Motivated, with Complete
Premeditated Gross Negligence and as a Gesture of NEPOTISM to :
The NAZI Fascist BUSH Crime Regime
The Political Criminal FBI Refused to
ACKNOWLEDGE or to ACCEPT any Complaints ! !
For (8) Years The Political-Criminal FBI - Had no intention of
Following any guidelines that would have protected :
Potential Homeowners and Investors
To Patronize and Fraternize -
The Bush Nazi Fascist Crime Regime and
Criminal Corporate Nazi Fascist America
Is the only Real - Job Description of - The Political Criminal FBI,
Outside Criminal Bankers and Criminal Lenders
The Political-Criminal FBI - Is the MAIN PREDATOR
That CREATED : ECONOMIC STRIFE
ECONOMIC STRIFE _ That is Being used as a Weapon to
ELIMINATE a DEMOCRACY and REPLACE IT With
The TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP of : A NAZI FASCIST RULE
Against the American People
(Research : The Bush Family and The Savings and Loan Scandal
(copy and paste (Google)
Posted by indivthinker at 04:44 PM : Oct 19, 2008
I disagree. Having the Republicans in control of ANYTHING is bad for America when the chips are down.
The Republicans gained control of the House in 1994 and held it until 2006. The Republicans held control of the Senate the vast majority of the time from 1994 until 2006.
The major initiative that hurt the American people during a Democratic Presidency - free trade - although backed and even championed by Bill Clinton was in fact a Republican initiative at the behest of that great enemy of America''s working people, the United States Chamber of Commerce, and our corporations.
We need to have Democrats in control of everything until we get the nation repaired, and only then begin the long slow cycle of prosperity occasionally interrupted by Republican attacks.
Inevitably, if history is any indicator, the Republicans will again eventually leverage themselves into a position of sufficient power to enable them to break us, once again.
But certainly there is no hurry to repeat the times of 1929 and 2008.
Wed Jul 30, 2008 12:24am EDT
CINCINNATI (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit with China cost 2.3 million
American jobs between 2001 and 2007, the Economic Policy Institute said
on Wednesday in a report likely to fuel debate about free trade ahead of
November elections.
Even when they found new jobs, workers displaced by job loss to China
saw their earnings decrease by an average of $8,146 each year because
the new jobs paid less, according to the report, funded in part by labor unions.
The EPI report showed more than two-thirds of the jobs displaced by
China trade deficits were in manufacturing and more than half came
from the top half of the U.S. wage distribution. U.S. factory jobs
typically pay well and include health insurance coverage and
retirement benefits.
Contrary to popular belief, jobs lost to China were not necessarily
low-skilled, the report showed. Thirty-one percent of the jobs lost
were among workers with college degrees.
"A dramatic example is the loss of 200,000 scientists and engineers
within the manufacturing sector
____
ECONOMIC STRIFE _ That is Being used as a Weapon to
ELIMINATE a DEMOCRACY and REPLACE IT With
The TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP of : A NAZI FASCIST RULE
Against the American People
Posted by msa123
*********
They won''t. Foolish Americans allowing themselves to be a heard. Thanks media.
Posted by msa123 at 05:09 PM : Oct 19, 2008
I do not think that I will, "msa123".
I find your speculations - with their somewhat strained threads of rationality and logic - to be much more amusing.
Washington, D.C. /10/2008
George W. Bush announced a decision over the weekend to
exempt the citizens of seven more countries from the need to
apply for U.S. visas;
President Bush, announced yesterday that the United States is
rescinding visa requirements for citizens of six European countries
Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia,
and South Korea - Israel was not among the seven
_____
The Republican NAZI Fascist Party
In The Never Ending Battle to : Destroy The United States
Definition of TREASON :
1 : The betrayal of a trust : treachery
2 : The offense of attempting by Overt acts to overthrow the
government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance
ECONOMIC STRIFE _ That is Being used as a Weapon to
ELIMINATE a DEMOCRACY and REPLACE IT With
The TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP of : A NAZI FASCIST RULE
Against the American People
Any Corporation or POLITICAL INFLUENCE
That has Supported and Assisted in
The Achievement of : PURPOSELY and INTENTIONALLY
DESTROYING : The DEMOCRATIC INFRASTRUCTURE and
The ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE of The United States
Is an : Act of TREASON
NO COMPLAINT From : The Political Criminal FBI
Fat chance ***, not gonna happen. You''ve stampeded enough trailer trash and closet Klan members over the years, but it''s all caught up with you.
In the face of total economic collapse and a major depression on the horizon, you''ve got zip, nada, nothing, zero, to help the situation.
Take your seat at the back of the bus.
Fat chance ***, not gonna happen. You''ve stampeded enough trailer trash and closet Klan members over the years, but it''s all caught up with you.
In the face of total economic collapse and a major depression on the horizon, you''ve got zip, nada, nothing, zero, to help the situation.
Take your seat at the back of the bus.
When are you : CHRISTIAN RACIST
Republican NAZI Fascist Supporters
Going to Learn
THE SOUTH - IS NOT - GOING TO RISE UP AGAIN ! ! !
THE STARS AND BARS - ARE NO MORE ! ! !
Posted by msa123 at 05:09 PM : Oct 19, 2008
Democrats PERSONIFY the "herd" mentality.
The Democrat plan has ALWAYS been
Do more to help the poor
Work to protect the environment and develop "clean" energy sources
Relieve the populations of any form of personal responsibility - even when they want to keep some.
But what they REALLY do is
Chase women
Drink
Kill a few people and call it an "accident."
Make themselves rich
Get re-elected by renewing promises to do the plan
When someone asks them how much of the plan have they actually accomplished, they say "What?"
The Clinton years would have been a GREAT time to start developing some alternative energy sources. But instead, people drove Hummers and monster SUV''s, because oil was cheap and the supply would NEVER END.
Opportunity lost...
9/11, Iraq holds weapons of mass destruction, axis powers of evil, your either with or against us, Threat level Orange, terrorist sneaking through our boarders, pay no attention to that VP hiding behind that curtain...
Democrats PERSONIFY the "herd" mentality.
The Democrat plan has ALWAYS been
Do more to help the poor
Work to protect the environment and develop "clean" energy sources
Relieve the populations of any form of personal responsibility - even when they want to keep some.
But what they REALLY do is
Chase women
Drink
Kill a few people and call it an "accident."
Make themselves rich
Get re-elected by renewing promises to do the plan
When someone asks them how much of the plan have they actually accomplished, they say "What?"
The Clinton years would have been a GREAT time to start developing some alternative energy sources. But instead, people drove Hummers and monster SUV''''s, because oil was cheap and the supply would NEVER END.
Opportunity lost...
Endorsed by each John McCain Supporter
The Bush NAZI Fascist Regine
Fabricated Reports - Intentionally Delivered to
the American people to Falsely and Fraudulently
Advocate a War !
Ordered Criminal Wiretaps - Criminal Surveillance Techniques
FDA = Lead Painted Toys - Defective Merchandise
Tainted and Poisoned Food - Destined for The American Family
Granting Immunity to Blackwater
(Murder of Women and Children-Smuggling Arms and Weapons
Halliburton - (No Bid Defense Contracts)
Kellogg, Brown & Root -
(Kidnapping - S*e*x*ual Assault and R*a*pe) Again
Selling of and Instructions how to use
Nuclear Weapon Technology
Allowing Millions of People into Home Foreclosure
because of Intentional Fraud
Financial BAIL OUT for Criminal Bankers and Criminal Lenders
The FBI - A Criminal Organization
Outsourcing good paying American Jobs for
SLAVE LABOR and CHILD FORCED SLAVE LABOR
An INSTITUTION of SLAVERY
Ordering and Approving of : Rape, Child Sodomy,
Torture and Murder of people within US Detention Centers
(Guantanamo Bay)
POLITICIZED The Federal Civil Service with Appointments
The Republican NAZI Fascist Party Created :
ECONOMIC STRIFE .. That is Being used as a Weapon to :
ELIMINATE a DEMOCRACY and REPLACE IT
With : The TOTALITARIAN DICTATORSHIP of : A NAZI FASCIST RULE
Against the American People
The DELUSIONAL of GRANDEUR DISORDER of each :
John McCain Supporter ! !
9/11, Iraq holds weapons of mass destruction, axis powers of evil, your either with or against us, Threat level Orange, terrorist sneaking through our boarders, pay no attention to that VP hiding behind that curtain...
Posted by FrogProphet at 06:49 PM : Oct 19, 2008
Spoken like a true member of the herd.
As far as the herd mentality? Speak for yourself because you certainly aren''t speaking for me. I didn''t give you permission.
Posted by OneAmerican7 at 09:09 PM : Oct 19, 2008
ALL Democrats try to do this.
Democrats ARE the herd.
That''s why we still need the GOP to stop them from doing EVERYTHING they want.
Why, poor old Slick Willy got so frustrated that he had to make himself feel better with a girl named Monica... or so he said.
Republicans good!
Ba-a-a-a-a-h
Democrats B-a-a-a-ad!
The herd at work
''Nuff said.
Posted by ObservantX at 09:23 PM : Oct 19, 2008
Just count how many anti-GOP posts there are, compared to anti-Democrat posts.
You ARE the herd.
MOO yourself.
NO-One Believes your Fabricated, Perverted and Deranged Statements
When are You and the rest of the Loyal : Republican NAZI Fascist Party
Going to get it Through Your Head
THE SOUTH __ IS NOT __ GOING TO RISE UP AGAIN ! ! !
THE STARS AND BARS - DO NOT - EXIST ANYMORE
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration."
And that, folks, is why the republican strategy this election is to make you afraid... fear the terrorists, fear the black men, fear everyone with a different religion, fear the socialists, fear the "liberals", fear... fear... fear!
If you buy into that fear, you become the kind of animal that yells out "kill him" at political rallies. You become a moron like "Joe the plumber", believing McCain will reduce your taxes (or make you safer, or whatever) EVEN THOUGH THE FACTS DISAGREE.
Isn''t about time for the people of this country to grow up, to start behaving like actual human beings, to use their God-given intelligence to pick a leader who has a chance to step away from the precipice, rather than continue the mad rush to destruction?
Obama isn''t perfect; no one is. But McCain is completely wrong about the economy, wrong about the war, wrong about EVERYTHING. And he can''t even make up his mind from one day to the next (or even from one hour to the next!) The choice this time isn''t even a close call.
In the upcoming election, sane people will vote for Obama and the suicidal and the delusional and the in.sane will vote for McCain. On election night, the numbers will tell us whether we''ve taken a step towards humanity or have descended into madness.
Good luck!
--- Posted by OneAmerican7 at 09:09 PM : Oct 19, 2008
You are COMPLETELY OFF BASE!
Obama plans to reduce the taxes of 95% of the working people in this country, and increase the taxes of 5%. McCain wants to reduce the taxes of the top 5%, and scr/ew the rest.
Posted by ObservantX at 09:23 PM : Oct 19, 2008
You ARE the herd.
9/11, Iraq holds weapons of mass destruction, axis powers of evil, your either with or against us, Threat level Orange, terrorist sneaking through our boarders, pay no attention to that VP hiding behind that curtain...
Posted by FrogProphet at 06:49 PM : Oct 19, 2008
You''re exactly right. The Rep''s still haven''t learned that we''re not gonna be frightened into voting Rethuglican again.
They''ve cried wolf too many times and used it to line their pockets at our expense.
We''ll hear em cryin wolf right up till Nov 4th, after that we''ll just hear em crying.
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by andrew_693
October 20, 2008 4:10 AM PDT
- The herd mentality can be seen when "David koresh told me he is a prophet and the other right wingers armed in the compound believe him, I guess i should believe too" or "the republicans told me that bill clinton was wagging the dog when attacking bin laden so I will believe that he was wagging the dog also" or "president bush is telling us that the economy is doing wonderful and that everyone should stop whining so I guess I will keep on investing in stocks because nothing will happen to us just like president bush told us, because he is christian and never lies" or the now classical "the GOP paid scientistslobbyists were telling us that there is no such thing as global warming so I said stop the global whining just like almost everyone else even though the rest of the planet and a few mavericks scientists said there was"....................
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See all 44 Commentsthese are the same people that believed the earth was flat or that the sun goes around the earth just because the church said so, these are the same folks that attended executions of witches hundreds of years ago, like a herd and they are the same ones that screamed and cheered in those events, today they direct that energy supporting the troops, the cowboys, the spiritual revival etc.....
the best part of it all is that they missed on their predictions and were indeed misled like the herd they are.