The herding instinct in humans may have some connection with group behaviours in other animals The so-called herding instinct is a social tendency in humans to identify with and model many behaviors and beliefs after a larger group of individuals with whom they identify. This is sometimes referred to as "following the herd." Such people are sometimes labelled with the derogatory term "sheeple." Categories: Animal stubs | Animal behaviour | Social psychology ...
Sheeple is a term of disparagement, created by combining the words sheep and people. ...
Since the herding instinct includes both behavior and belief, the term 'herd behavior' describes only a part of this complex phenomenon in humans. Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. ...
Belief is assent to a proposition. ...
Herd behaviour is the term used to describe situations in which a group of individuals react coherently without there being any co-ordination between them. ...
Although the results that come from the herding instinct can sometimes come from active choice to follow a particular group or style, it most often comes from subconscious choice, choices one makes without even being aware of it.
The herding instinct in humans manifests in a number of ways. Three of the largest/most evident manifestations are in:
- Buying and selling goods and services,
- buying and selling financial assets, and in
- religio-cultural group affiliation and practice.
Buying and selling goods and services—whether it be clothes or cars, the places one eats out or the kinds of foods one chooses to prepare at home, or the choice to purchase therapeutic massage, acupuncture or manicures, the human tendency to herd is a significant factor in all of our choices. While much behavior in the modern developed world tends toward conspicuous consumption or consumerism, the herding instinct in humans is often quite contrary among different groups. For example, others are influenced by the herding instinct in their choice to be anti-consumerist or anti-globalist. While some buy to enhance their status, others buy/wear to lower their apparent status, while others avoid drinking coffee at Starbucks or eating at Planet Hollywood for reasons that are not wholly rational; i.e., are in some part to identify with their herd. Conspicuous consumption is a term introduced by the American economist Thorstein Veblen, in The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899). ...
Consumerism is a term used to describe the effects of equating personal happiness with purchasing material possessions and consumption. ...
For other meanings of the name Starbuck, see Starbuck A Starbucks coffee shop in Leeds, England Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) is a large multinational chain of coffee shops, often serving desserts, with a reputation in the US as a center for socializing, particularly among students and young urban professionals. ...
Categories: Stub ...
Buying and selling financial assets—herding belief, and behavior, is seen in the majority typically seen in the financial markets who tend to "move with the market," or "follow the general market trend." Similarly, there is a much-smaller contrarian or 'counter-trend' herd that may be observed in most financial markets. The financial markets are markets which facilitate the raising of funds or the investment of assets, depending on viewpoint. ...
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Religio-cultural group affiliation and practice is also greatly influenced by the human instinct to herd. While humans are complex, and thus can and do make rational (and irrational) choices counter to their current group identification, especially in adolescence, this is not the norm for most. The more typical result seen in human society is to stick with the 'herd' (cultural identification, ethnic identification, religious identification, tribal/clan identification, etc.) that one was born into and raised with. Furthermore, even when, say, the adolescent choice is to leave the cultural-religio herd they were raised in, they virtually always settle into a new herd rather than living life as a loner or hermit. The Abduction of Psyche by William-Adolphe Bouguereau Adolescence is the transitional stage of development between childhood and full adulthood, representing the period of time during which a person is biologically adult but emotionally not at full maturity. ...
This article is in need of attention. ...
A hermit (from the Greek for solitary) is a person who retires from society and lives in solitude; a recluse; an anchorite or anchoress; especially, one who so lives from religious motives. ...
The herding instinct in humans can have both positive and negative effects.
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