Lock Him Up

 

An article titled  “Is  Life  Better When  We’re  Together?”  in the New York Times, December 26, 2021 edition was relevant.This article  was about a Hermit and a social  psychologist employing  Covid-19 and the January 6  criminal attack as examples .This disquisition critiques the article.

Serbian hermit Panta Petrovic, according to the article, has lived in a cave for approximately 20 years because he was aggravated by society and irritated by individuals' existence over the wretchedness of capitalism.The hermit seemed happy and commented, “Here, there is freedom, I was not free in the city.  There is always someone in your  way.”

It was pointed out that in 2021, there was a lack of connectedness from a record high number of drug overdose deaths .Also, as the academic and social emotional deficits incurred by kids who couldn’t be physically together in school. However,  it can be horrible when connecting to human beings because they can kill you by refusing to put on their mask; by politically denying adequate healthcare; allowing the homeless to live on the street ; and by being  shot with the guns with the excuse “ I felt  scared.”The question, “is life better when we are together?”   The article went on to  describe a few social psychology  group findings.

One experiment in the 1970’s occurred at the University of Bristol. 64 teenagers were divided into two groups.  The experimenter asked the subjects to estimate how many dots were flashing on the screen. Then classified them either as over estomaters or under estimators.  Then he instructed each person ,in isolation, to allocate money to members of their  group  and to members of the other  group.  He found that more  money was given to members of their own group than the other.   In another study, people were divided into group A and group B.  The researchers found that people essentially stuck to their group based on some arbitrary or superficial division.  In fact, their positivity toward  people in the group  even increased on a brain imaging machine that showed the picture of strangers In their group .

With the flip of the coin,are new identities formed in a matter of minutes or not? However, the expectations and probability of these subjects for receiving a reward or  possibility of avoiding failure was not present.  Further, they did not experience  social pressure or coherent  cohesiveness by being in the group. Social psychology  has demonstrated that a group can  easily originate.  Social psychology has also found  that groups come into existence : 1.  Group may be created deliberately by one or more people in order to accomplish some objective  2 Group may be formed spontaneously by the people who come to participate 3.A collection of individuals may become a group because they are created in a homogeneous way by other people.

Historically, group dynamics took hold  empirically just prior to America’s entry in World War II.  M . Sherif published a book containing a theoretical analysis of social norms among groups of people incorporating ideas from sociology and anthropology.T.M. Newcomb, building on Sherif’s  research, selected natural rather than laboratory settings in which to study social norms and social influences by interviewing students at Bennington College.  His research showed that the attitudes of individuals are strongly rooted in the groups to which they belong, and the influence of the group upon an individual’s attitude depends upon the nature of the relationship between the individual and the group; and the groups evaluate members, partially at least, on the basis of their conformity to group norms.

Examples of positiveness between people is evidenced  by the fact that people spend their time helping others. Every year Americans spend roughly 8 billion hours volunteering and  an estimated 200 billion worth of labor given for free. It was pointed out that it's a false myth that “we are socialized to believe that charity is selfless, that it shouldn’t feel good.”  The researcher  found out the volunteers that stuck with their volunteering longest were those who transcended altruistic motivation, enjoyed the inevitable or self-interested rewards, and  reaped benefits in the process as well.  Volunteering creates  friendships, expands social networks and gives volunteers a greater sense of belonging to the other volunteers in the community at large. 

 It was also pointed out that ``Togetherness is a fissile material  that we can’t necessarily predict or control what reaction it will set off.”  The process that leads individuals to take action-fulfilling their own motivations, connecting with other people with a shared sense of community-these processes work.  whether we approve or disapprove of the ends to which they are ultimately put. “ 

An historian  stated that he’s never seen antisocial behavior to this scale in his lifetime in the United States.  Never has he seen  it raised up to the level of mainstream politics on January 6.  There was a community of grossly misinformed  if not willfully misinformed insurrectionists who, although they had been unmistakably riled up by authority figures at the rally beforehand, were storming the capital as a self organizing group of volunteers.  Also, when  people feel that their group is in danger , that a disaster has occurred, It will take action in innovative ways.  it’s hard to imagine more antisocial behavior than attempting to undo a democratic election with mayhem and violence with these insurrectionists .They were  pretty joyous.They were snapping, selfies posting them to Facebook with stupid jokes in real time.  In essence, the article concluded that people can come together and respond for better or for worse.  Some will be volunteers and some will be vigilantes.This January 6 attack by the mob was a cohesive group with a clear identification component.  It was not a superficial group without meaning.

Yes, people do come together because it is simply a human need. In fact, people come together either to love or like , to inflict harm, hate or for safety, security and belongingness.  Of course the third choice is like the hermit, to isolate from others.  But you can predict motivational tendencies providing you know the detailed history of the individual. Was it  positive and/or negative self defeating behavior?. The two  social  psychology experiments demonstrated that even being assigned to a group randomly influences liking, being associated  in that artificial setting making a superficial decision.

But  joining or being part of a group has nothing to do with  identification.I defined identification as a transference process in which one adopts attributes of another based upon one’s own  anxiety,dependency, insecurity in fulfilling a deficit.  The identification fulfills  the emotional deficit . With that being said, becoming part of a group can be more  than the need for affiliation- identification. 

Anr example of a group without identification comes to mind.  In 1957, prior to the start of the football season, a group of players and former players met at the high school for a pickup game.  I do not remember how the players were selected, members of my team or even the score of that game.  However, I do remember that on one occasion the opposing team kicked off our team.  I did not  catch the kickoff so my task was to block the opposition.  I blocked  Mitch and knocked him to the ground.  Mitch got up  and told me I made a terrific block.  Later, at the start of the season, our team huddled on the field  prior to our first game.  Mitch, a team captain, said to our team that today was a Jewish holiday, and we’re going to win this game for Frank.  Final score was Denby six touchdowns and Southeastern, one touchdown.  Later in the season, our undefeated team was scheduled to play another  undefeated team.  Coach Rutherford, Moses to me,  told me to knock down their quarterback as often as I could so he would start thinking of me. Final score, Denby six touchdowns  and U of D one touchdown. I would’ve followed  Moses across the Red Sea.  Being part of that team, I identified with the coach.  Prior to the football season, that  pickup game was just a group that met at a time and a place with the one objective  to win the game.  No identification present.

However, when a group is exposed to any common source of external stress such as the loss of the game,disapproval from significant others like family, friends, teammates along with other various signs of potential failure, humiliation, loss of status etc., these are factors for group cohesiveness.as well as identification.

Yes, becoming part of a group volunteer or being a vigilante relates to either transference, benign or malignant narcissism; identification; a  moral or immoral conscience that expresses itself with altruism , humanism, hate or destruction.Clearly the January 6 insurrection was propagated by an insecure and threatened authoritarian .That  leader exhibited tendencies for illegal actions; lying; discrimination; hatred; love for money and power.  Many of those that identified ,over idealized and misperceived reality with this  leader , and were easily misled pawns. 

 In 1963, Irving Janis published  in the  British Journal of Medical Psychology the following : With group identification ,they develop a propensity for affectionate ties; become extraordinarily sensitive to his demands and directive; continually attempt to do and say things that will please him; and become disappointed or even depressed when they’re not protected by  him. This occurred last year under conditions of threat. Note, last year, comments like  “The election was stolen.  Take your  country back. We will march to the Capital and fight like hell “ were the threats for action. These  loyalists  seemed happy In their sadistic destruction  but overestimated his power, authority and control as they are now serving time or awaiting sentence.

Today, we have another example of the hateful repetition compulsion of man versus man.  Putin versus Ukraine has resulted in fear.  With fear, according to Hans Selye, behavior is exhibited in flight, flight , or freeze.  It's not clear what Putin fears, but it is clear what people of the Ukraine fear, which is the threat of the Russian military.  Pres. Zelinskyy and his fellow Ukrainians fear Putin's military might.  The Ukraine  president remains in his homeland.  While many prepare to fight and are fighting,these Ukrainian people have identified with their president, and are protecting their president, their country,families and their homes.  Their loyalty, courage, and will are apparent.  These brave individuals are risking their lives.Other Ukrainians  are fleeing the country to welcoming borders.  The people in   other countries are engaging in humanitarian efforts to help those Ukrainians fleeing from fear and danger.  Other fearful Ukrainians remain in their country.Russian military are following orders to inflict  destruction on the Ukrainians.  Obviously, following these orders is irrational. Putin is an authoritarian war crimes criminal.

Trump is clearly guilty of attempting to overthrow the 2020 presidential election.  He knew from the start that he, like other Republican candidates, are not likely to win the popular vote.  His plan was to overthrow the election results with a variety of illegal and erroneous claims and procedures.  The last ditch attempt. was to disrupt the constitutional ceremonial counting of electoral votes on January 6.  His mob , that morning ,was attended to and made up a cohesive group that identified with him.  It was not a pickup group.  The group knew what he needed from their leader without him saying a word.  However, he did say and he did instruct his followers to fight at the capital and that he would accompany them .  He reinforced fear which was easily apparent to the mob.  Affectionately, they wanted to please him by following his directive.  It didn't matter that they could possibly kill Pence. Pelosi etc. They might even have to give up their life.  What mattered to them was to be a loyal follower regardless of this idol.  He was in fact supreme and above the law.  And that he would protect them.  Yes, he's guilty, lock him up.

 

Reference 

 Cartwright,D and Zander, A. Group Dynamics  Research and Theory.

Janis, I.  Group Identification Under  Conditions   of External  Danger.

PS

A few comments regarding mob behavior within a cohesive group follows.  When there's obedience to this authority figure,it likely puts one's conscience out of action. So that impulses that were once inhibited become active . The behavior becomes  contagious when viewing the acting out of others. In other words, Internal law abiding  standards of control  are temporarily set aside or modified as the result of the  modeling interaction of others. These despicable behaviors are based on the illusionary belief of ethical validity with rationalizations such as "it must be okay if everyone else is doing it; we.re all in this together, so they can't punish any of us."