How Ideas and Behaviours Spread in A Crowd

In collaboration with psychologists at University College London, we conducted a live experiment during our mediator-led sessions. The researchers aimed to unearth a detailed understanding of the group dynamics of a riot, asking the question: how does individual discontent accumulate into group anger, and what turns collective action into societal self-harm?

With the support of the Nuffield Foundation, they created a game, Parklife, to investigate these issues. It is played by two groups of people in teams. Each team works together, tapping on their mobile phones, to build their park. Or they can act—individually or as a group—to vandalise the other other team’s park. Crucially, the game is sometimes unfair. One team has to work harder than the other. This simple game captures the moment that individual frustration leads to collective, antisocial action.

Some of the findings and implications of the study:

• Intergroup hostility is not just caused by particular types of people (for example, a riot is not necessarily caused by a ‘criminal minority’ as we usually assume).

• Inequality between groups has a direct, causal effect on levels of intergroup conflict. It is not just the economic resources that an individual has that predicts their outcome: the resources that others have matters too. This distribution of resources in society has a psychological impact on individuals.

• The social identity of a group has a profound effect on their response to social inequality.

• Inequality and social identity can be used to model the outbreak and spread of collective action.