fear and groups - the psychology

In this time of Corona Virus, we see a lot of anxiety on social media, which just feeds fear and hysteria on the part of the public. Thus we see everyone reaching for toilet paper for a respiratory virus and people buying all the hand sanitizer, thus causing the people who aren't panicking to panic because their retail store can't stock up on what they need when they run out. Do you see the problem here? Fear in groups is not an uncommon occurrence. Yes, Corona Virus is a pandemic and you should use common sense, wash hands, avoid large groups, etc. Just use common sense here and calm down.

Today we are going to explore fear and groups. Fear is your natural response to physical and emotional danger. If you feel threatened in any way, you feel fear. The response can be flight, fight, or freeze response. (Anxiety body language, a previous blog, gives you a window into that, so check it out in my blog archives!) Fear can become a disorder, called a phobia, and may become social anxiety.


Now that we know what fear is, let's go into how it affects large groups, although in this time we can probably see it for ourselves without an explanation. Nevertheless, here's what's happening. Groups work under several rules naturally, although this isn't spoken of often. There are unspoken social rules in every group.  Groups breed conformity from even the leaders, may improve each other, and can breed competition.

How This Plays Out

How does this play out in an environment of anxiety and fear? Well, fear becomes contagious. Conformity means if one person panics, then the others may join the panic party and it spreads from there. It ultimately depends on the unspoken social rules of the social groups themselves.

Unspoken social rules are rules that are in play, but invisible to those on the inside until an outsider or insider breaks them. You find out what the unspoken rules are when you break them and someone corrects you either by giving you odd looks or telling you not to do what you did again. These rules are seldom written anywhere, for reference, so if the rule is written it is spoken, not unspoken.

Examples of this include taking a slightly crude joke too far at a church social and getting the cold shoulder from the people around you. Unspoken rules are often a reason someone is left out of a gathering or event. If you don't fit in it may be because there is an unspoken rule you broke by being yourself. It happens, believe me. Another example of unspoken rules would be physical boundaries of where you are allowed to be and not be.

 I have several examples of unspoken physical boundaries. For one, my bedroom, because it is my personal space and my parents ask to come in unless they are holding laundry. Even then they leave right away. It isn't that I complained about them being there; it's just that it is my space. Another one is the way my family runs our bathroom. The door may be open, but if lights are on we call out to see if it is occuppied, rather than just rush in. In public places you can't do that, only our home.

An example of something I experienced in the theatre is the upstairs dressing rooms. There is no written rule or any complaints if a woman were to walk into the mens' dressing room when the door is open (and no one is changing), but yet, I felt that I couldn't because it was the men's dressing room, even though the men in the room wouldn't have had any objection to me coming in at the time. It was like an invisible fence. No women walk in there, just linger by the door.

To Make A Long Story Short

1961 Fallout Shelter Ad

As you can see, this makes group psychology quite fascinating, but complicated. Each group has different unspoken rules, as well as spoken rules. Some social gatherings may not be panicking on social media, but those who catch the wavelength and have anxiety already are going to keep it going until others panic. We see this in the reaction to the Corona Virus every day we go to the store for more toilet paper, soap, hand sanitizer, or any food staples. The people who are already mentally building panic rooms are the ones who run around screaming like chickens with their heads cut off because they were already full of fear. 

Another example from a different time period includes the cold war. The public actually did build panic rooms in case of nuclear war. People conformed to the most ridiculous ( in my opinion) family situations for fear of the red scare. Women were trapped in the domestic sphere. The ads and propaganda caused fear and panic by themselves. Let's learn from this and never do it again, okay society? Have common sense and do what is reccommended. As long as you do what is recommended you are doing your part. 

Pictures:
Flashback: Dallas
LA Times
North Star Church

Sources:
https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-psychology-of-groups/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/fear