The Clown Panic Seen from a Social Psychology Standpoint
The article I chose was about the recent anxiety about clowns caused by the plague of aggressive individuals dressed as clowns in America. Ruben Castaneda, a staff writer of U.S. News, wrote this article on the 17th of October of this year. The best chapter to accompany this article would be chapter 12 Social Psychology. I used this chapter to understand why the mass hysteria has a spread, the reason behind people's behavior caused by the attacks, and what could happen if authorities don’t do their job.
Summary
The article begins with two examples of the panic caused by clown sightings. The first at Penn State, where students began hunting for clowns after a tweet reported a sighting …show more content…
In several states, there have police officers have arrested those who are clowns or pretending to be one that have also threatened harm or have harmed others. Psychotherapist Michelle Maidenberg answers why people would feel such a way about clowns. Per Maidenberg, clowns can be perceived as “dangerous” and “scary” especially since the makeup worn by clowns usually hide the face. The negative portrayals of clowns in recent media, such as books and movies, have done nothing to sooth the growing public fears. Lastly, Castaneda gives advice to officials and law enforcement. First, they should provide the public with “consistent, reliable information” through trusted forms of sharing, such as the department’s or school’s social media or email. Secondly, Maidenberg suggest that people’s fears not be dismissed, but instead given a safe place to air out. Finally, authorities should take quick, stabilizing behavior after tragedy has …show more content…
Why are there two vastly different responses to the same problem? The answer lies within the aggression of the group. The textbook defines aggression as any physical or verbal behavior that is intentionally harmful. The more aggressive members of the group would go out, phones in hand, searching for clowns around their campus. The less aggressive group does the exact opposite. Those not a part of the aggressive group hid, wanting to avoid all chances of encountering clowns. The difference in response would have to be furthered studied in this case, but most likely the more aggressive members had violent models in childhood, causing a flair of aggression at the threat of clown attacks.
What Could Go Wrong.
Lastly, I agree with Castaneda, officials and police officers handled the situation well. They kept the public informed, didn’t take any threat lightly, and are prepared for the worst, However, I fear the worst could have happened. Primarily, I fear the dreaded deindividuation. In this case, there is no individual, all members act as one. There is little self-restraint, which could have led to a riot, something even more dangerous than an army of clowns.
The article I chose was about the recent anxiety about clowns caused by the plague of aggressive individuals dressed as clowns in America. Ruben Castaneda, a staff writer of U.S. News, wrote this article on the 17th of October of this year. The best chapter to accompany this article would be chapter 12 Social Psychology. I used this chapter to understand why the mass hysteria has a spread, the reason behind people's behavior caused by the attacks, and what could happen if authorities don’t do their job.
Summary
The article begins with two examples of the panic caused by clown sightings. The first at Penn State, where students began hunting for clowns after a tweet reported a sighting …show more content…
In several states, there have police officers have arrested those who are clowns or pretending to be one that have also threatened harm or have harmed others. Psychotherapist Michelle Maidenberg answers why people would feel such a way about clowns. Per Maidenberg, clowns can be perceived as “dangerous” and “scary” especially since the makeup worn by clowns usually hide the face. The negative portrayals of clowns in recent media, such as books and movies, have done nothing to sooth the growing public fears. Lastly, Castaneda gives advice to officials and law enforcement. First, they should provide the public with “consistent, reliable information” through trusted forms of sharing, such as the department’s or school’s social media or email. Secondly, Maidenberg suggest that people’s fears not be dismissed, but instead given a safe place to air out. Finally, authorities should take quick, stabilizing behavior after tragedy has …show more content…
Why are there two vastly different responses to the same problem? The answer lies within the aggression of the group. The textbook defines aggression as any physical or verbal behavior that is intentionally harmful. The more aggressive members of the group would go out, phones in hand, searching for clowns around their campus. The less aggressive group does the exact opposite. Those not a part of the aggressive group hid, wanting to avoid all chances of encountering clowns. The difference in response would have to be furthered studied in this case, but most likely the more aggressive members had violent models in childhood, causing a flair of aggression at the threat of clown attacks.
What Could Go Wrong.
Lastly, I agree with Castaneda, officials and police officers handled the situation well. They kept the public informed, didn’t take any threat lightly, and are prepared for the worst, However, I fear the worst could have happened. Primarily, I fear the dreaded deindividuation. In this case, there is no individual, all members act as one. There is little self-restraint, which could have led to a riot, something even more dangerous than an army of clowns.