Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature
Mark Earls
★★★☆☆
Plannery curiosity.
Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature by Mark Earls is a book I’ve been meaning to read for a very long time and I finally did it.
With a typical plannery curiosity (those who work in the industry know what I am referring to), Mark Earls combines modern cognitive and social psychology, primatology, game theory, Chinese logic, history and physics to explain what influences our behaviour. I can even see the Venn diagram that explains this book.
The book’s three parts provide a definition of the herd mentality and explore how it works, challenge our marketing theories and practices and make suggestions to advertisers and marketers as to how to use the herd mentality for the benefit of business.
Earls reveals that most of us in the West have completely misunderstood the mechanics of mass behaviour because we have misplaced notions of what it means to be a human being. Even though we may believe and feel that we make individual decisions and choose our own behavior, the truth is that in most situations we are influenced and motivated by the behavior of those that surround us. We are social apes. We are shaped through interaction with others from the moment we are born. Most of our lives are made up of other people (not brands, business or political concerns) and most of what we do is determined by this context. And this is the author’s point. Earls’ thesis is that human behavior is primarily governed by social rather than individual forces; we gain meaning and significance through our relationship with the herd.
The case of Herd is supported with numerous examples from Stanley Milgram’s notorious peer administered electric shocks experiment to urinal etiquette to Apple’s success and Desmond Tutu’s work. Although many of the pop culture/marketing examples are well-known in the industry, Mark Earls looks at them through a different lens and highlights the importance of the herd in mass behavior theory.
IMHO, the first part, with a variety of examples from science experiments, popular culture and marketing, and the bibliography are the most interesting and helpful parts of the book. The last two sections are a bit repetitive and circular with almost no insights. The bibliography is truly outstanding with a wealth of additional reading for anyone interested in human behavior.