Is there such a thing as Group Moods?

Ten top cases of Mass Hysteria

The demonic possession in 1634 of The Nuns of Loudon

“In 1866, Jean-Martin Charcot analyzed the case of the Loudun Possessions. His belief was that the nuns were victims of hystero-demonopathy; sexually frustrated, they had turned their erotic desires into dreams of demonic possession by (Father) Grandier, a handsome, charismatic man who was known as a seducer of women.”

Thre certainly seems to be shared energy or lack thereof at work sometimes. Seems like everyone is draggy all at once. Some of it is definitely tied to the weather; some to an inordinently slow day.

I feel like the same holds true on Fluther at times; some days there is a lot of energy and sparking; some days all the questions seem uninspired and the discussion trivial. Maybe it’s just the energy I’m bringing to it – don’t know.

could this be related to Fluther questionomics? How all of a sudden there will be a spurt of Marijuana questions?

wow – look I have five fingers on that hand. far out baby!

There is definitely groupthink where people go along with the crowd. The same applies to moods.
For example, when Heath Ledger died, many people who weren’t even fans mourned perhaps more than they would have otherwise because some perceived it was “expected” by popular opinion.

You must read about the 1962 laughter epidemic in Tanganyika. Amazing.

@Harp: That is number 9 in the Top Ten.^^

@Harp That’s amazing; sounds like a subplot for a Woody Allen movie. I wonder what the joke was?

There is a wonderful book called Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. I’m sure you can find it for less than $1.00 on Amazon. Great fun to read, documents a lot o’ weirdness.

I had $5.52 left on a gift card so i ordered it for $6.70, so close. hasn’t research been done on low and high pressure systems affecting lots of human systems?

Absolutely. The Republicans and their idiotic hysteria over the health care bill is a perfect example.

I have read a couple of books by Robert Bartholomew, they are about mass hysteria, it is interesting stuff.