LIKE WATER AND VAPOR - CONFORMITY AND INDEPENDENCE IN THE LARGE GROUP

Conformity and independence in the large group may, in part, be due to collective phenomena analogous to those producing different physical phases like solid, liquid and vapor. This phase model of the large gro up explains several previous anecdotal observations: It predicts a sud denness in the decision-making, it explains the apparent contradiction between crowd suggestibility on the one hand and the difficulty of co ntrolling a crowd on the other hand, and it provides a new rationaliza tion for the phenomenon of splitting. The model is of use to both lead ers and members of the large group. For example, it suggests what soci al parameters to change to disperse a violent crowd, and why ''crowd c rystals'', a concept examined by the writer Cannetti, can suddenly mak e the large group conform.