Mood Contagion: Mass Psychology and Collective Behaviour Sociology in the Internet Age

Over the past century, the twin fields of mass psychology and collective behaviour sociology have shared a rather marginal and episodic existence. They used to focus on crowd events and social movements, but seem to have lost ground. The author gives them new relevance and topicality by re-connecting them with some of the very latest findings from biology (social genes), neurology (mirror neurons), and social science (reproducing memes).

Through ten ever wider concentric circles, he takes us on a fascinating journey, from gregarious individuals to small groups, performance audiences and social movements, organizational culture and social networks, mass media and product markets, public opinion and finally contemporary internet research. Noting that both managers and policy makers are increasingly surprised by mental earthquakes and tsunamis suddenly rippling around the globe within mere minutes.

Topics covered in this publication include: Behavioural epidemics, Blockbuster movies, Fashion fads, Flash mobs, Mass Psychogenic Illnesses, Media hypes, Merger manias, Moral panics, Pop music hits, Product crazes, Protest movements, Rumours, Scandals, Social rebellions, Stock market crashes, Trends, Urban legends. Including case studies on the Arab Spring revolt, the Belgian Coke scare, the Chinese Twitter revolt, the Clash of Civilizations, the Mexican Flu scare, the Occupy Wall Street movement and a Sex toy fad.