OPINION

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By Matthew Rowe

Have you ever felt like you were turning into a sheep? Perhaps your hair grew thick and white, or your feet turned into hooves? Maybe you got scared when a predatory wolf or coyote threatened you? Maybe you felt safer being a part of the herd rather than venturing out on your own? 

A flock of sheep herd together. Photo credit: user schnurzipurz via Pixabay.

While humans are not physically turning into sheep, as a society we have fallen into the pack through herd mentality time and time again. Most people are wired to feel more comfortable within a group. The movement to do something as part of a group without considering the reasoning, motives, or potential consequences of their actions can easily occur for many people. 

The term “herd mentality” often is brought up when talking about stock investors in business, as well as in other contexts. According to the Corporate Finance Institute, “herd mentality bias refers to investors’ tendency to follow and copy what other investors are doing. They are largely influenced by emotion and instinct, rather than by their own independent analysis.” These stockbrokers get lazy, following others rather than making their own decisions and doing their own research. They become one of the sheep in the herd by following others’ actions.

Herd mentality has become a common way to describe actions in everyday life outside of the finance world. For example, almost everyone has a smartphone nowadays, including teenagers. Many of these teenagers have iPhones because they saw their peers have them, so they wanted to be part of the trend as well. They felt the need to fit in with the herd by getting their parents to buy them an iPhone rather than choosing another brand that could have suited them better. This phenomenon is also shown by parents buying their children toys because they saw every other kid with one. In what was dubbed the Tickle Me Elmo craze in 1996, thousands of parents hunted for the toys to satisfy their toy-hungry children.

A Tickle Me Elmo. Photo credit: user Chris Harrison via Flickr.

Furthermore, herd mentality was on full display in 2017 with what seemed like the entire nation obsessed over fidget spinners. Like the Tickle Me Elmos, store shelves were cleared as parents and kids alike scavenged for the addictive little devices. In all of these cases, many people felt the need to fit in with others instead of being independent.

Similar to parents flocking to toy retailers for Elmos in the 90s, the annual mass movement of crazy shoppers on a Friday in late November is certainly sheep herd-like activity (pre-COVID-19, at least). The event known as Black Friday has caused countless fistfights, mass brawls, and other physical altercations between shoppers. Many of these crazed customers lose their common sense in the hunt for a good sale, which has resulted in injuries and even deaths over the decades. Much of these insane Black Friday incidents are caused by manipulative media and corporations that take advantage of herd mentality. 

Through millions of dollars in advertisements, companies on Black Friday create a sense of FOMO, “the fear of missing out.” Their media makes it seem like everyone else is out there scoring a superb deal on a new purchase, while you’re missing out. Due to these companies’ manipulations, many people join the herd by going out on Black Friday. Shoppers go out year after year because they want to win. In their eyes, the day is a competition with other shoppers as well as retailers to score the best deal or find the item they want. They can often lose their sense of reason over competitiveness to buy their desired items.

Along with cases in real life, herd mentality is also often shown through literature. Many Collegiate Upper School students have read a classic example of herd or mob mentality in their English classes. William Golding’s 1954 Nobel Prize-winning novel Lord of the Flies presents a group of boys stranded on a deserted island. (In case you didn’t finish the book freshman year, spoilers ahead.). 

Without adult leadership, the boys eventually turn to Jack, a deranged leader. Jack manipulates the boys into a hunter cult of sorts, seeking out wild pigs on the island. As more and more boys join Jack’s tribe, the more reasonable characters—Ralph, Piggy, and Simon—are ostracized, and the tribe becomes more violent. Out of fear of a make-believe monster on the island, the tribe brutally murders Simon. As tensions rise and events escalate, Piggy is crushed to death by a boulder pushed by one of Jack’s followers, and Ralph is hunted through the forest like a pig. 

The tribe of hunters in Lord of the Flies blindly follows Jack due to intense fear. The boys are scared of dying, so they form a violent mob. The group follows their leader without question, as they are controlled by their emotions instead of their logical thoughts. Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are the only ones who do not join the herd. They chose to act independently rather than like sheep. 

The most recent large-scale example of herd mentality draws parallels to Lord of the Flies. A group of rioters from a pro-Trump rally were misled into storming the US Capitol building on January 6. The attack resulted in at least five deaths. Members of this mob were misguided into thinking that what they were doing was somewhat patriotic. They likely did not consider the illegality of their “patriotic” and violent actions while in the mob and have faced the consequences. 

The January 6th Capitol Riot. Photo credit: user Blink O’fanaye via Flickr.

The herds created by Black Friday and the Capitol mob are extreme examples of the negative effects of herd mentality. The world needs more individuals and leaders and fewer sheep. People who think independently and make their own choices are necessary if we want to get anywhere as a society.

I encourage you to form your own thoughts and opinions; don’t just pick or follow something or someone because it is what everyone else is doing. Be an autonomous individual backed up by facts and independent thinking rather than a sheep in the herd, fueled by emotion.