In psychology collective hysteria is the name given to a phenomenon of the manifestation of the same hysterical symptoms by more than one person. It normally begins when an individual shows a hysteric manifestation in front of others who "contagiously" acquire the same symptoms.

Examples include cases of accidents in which people act "irrationally", screaming, running in the wrong direction, etc; cases in which a person who is suspected of a crime is caught by a group and one of the members throws a stone or gives the first kick, and the rest join the action; etc.

Writer Jerome Clark--while recognizing that mass panic can undoubtedly be genuine and widespread--argues that mass hysteria can be “a classic blame-the-victim strategy” in cases where authorities or experts can find no explanation for puzzling or frightening events.

See also

• Hysteria
• War of the Worlds
• New Delhi monkeyman
• Satanic ritual abuse
• Salem witch trials
• folie à deux
• The Mad Gasser of Mattoon
• Stock market bubble, Stock market crash
• craze
• panic

Sources

• Jerome Clark, ‘’Unexplained! 347 Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences, and Puzzling Physical Phenomena’’, Visible Ink Press, 1993.

External links

• Mass Hysteria