2 Historical examples of mass hysteria.
3 Psychological analysis of mass hysteria.
How Does Mass Hysteria Affects Individuals.
1.0 Introduction.
Mass hysteria has always been an object of sociological question. A group of people that feel same emotions such as happiness, fear, or extreme excitement and follow each other we can see very often. When a large group of people start believing something, for example when people believe that they are suffering from some disease or become hysterical about any situation, this abnormal mental disease is called mass hysteria. It has always been a riddle because it is very interesting how people can be influenced by others and do things which they would never do normally. Throughout the ages, this phenomenon fascinated even the most astute psychologists and psychiatrists. But nowadays, there exist some interesting psychological explanations why people change their behavior so much and behave totally differently. There are also many events in history where mass hysteria affected huge masses of people mostly in a negative way and which would never happened without this disease. Outbreaks of this collective behavior are more common than we even think. .
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1.1 What is mass hysteria .
It is said that mass hysteria is almost every collective behavior. But in academic settings, the term mass hysteria seems very controversial. Hysteria is very unique disease. The most interesting fact is that this disease causes physical symptoms that a person would not normally experience. Mass hysteria is able to effect an entire community or even a country. But this phenomenon is most common in small, close-knit communities (WiseGeek). Typical settings are mostly enclosed areas such as schools, factories, and hospitals (WiseGeek). People are so much psychologically influenced and find themselves in a state of frenzy. People affected by mass hysteria are experiencing rapid breathing or even spasms of extremities.