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A Quantitative, Nonreactive Study of Mass Behavior with Emphasis on the Cinema as Behavioral Catalyst
Abstract and Figures
The quantification of several fads is reported. Quantifying data through use of an unobtrusive method demonstrated that fads can be objectively studied as examples of mass behavior. It was also noted that a fad is qualitatively different from a panic or a fashion. Generalizations of fads were noted. Implications of the findings were discussed, especially as they relate to news bias and the social/political fields.
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... In addition to ticket sales for the film, public fascination of sharks grew. Simón's (1981) study of Jaws as a "fad" that influenced mass behavior compared data before and after the release of the movie. Simon noted dramatic increases in the sales of shark jaws and teeth, newspaper coverage on sharks, shark books being published, museum attendance, and shark books checked out of the library (Simón 1981). ...
... Simón's (1981) study of Jaws as a "fad" that influenced mass behavior compared data before and after the release of the movie. Simon noted dramatic increases in the sales of shark jaws and teeth, newspaper coverage on sharks, shark books being published, museum attendance, and shark books checked out of the library (Simón 1981). He states that a desire for shark teeth increased in particular, noting that "after Jaws individual orders for 20,000 to 100,000 took place with the heaviest order occurring in the summer of 1975" (Simón 1981, 776). ...
... Why the fascination with Jaws was successful while others failed to pique public interest is a key question that Simón (1981) considers. "Why will one film spark off a mass behaviour while another film (or television special or news story) will not" (Simón 1981, 782)? ...
This book examines the policymaking process following highly emotional events. It focuses on the politics of shark “attacks” by looking at policy responses to tragic shark bites in Florida, Australia, and South Africa. The book reviews these cases by identifying the flaws in the human-shark relationship, including the way sharks are portrayed as the enemy, the way shark bites are seen as intentional, and how policy responses appear to be based on public safety. Flaws identifies politicians as the true sharks of this story for their manipulation of tragic circumstances to protect their own interests. It argues that shark bites are ungovernable accidents of nature, and that we are “in the way, not on the menu.”
Christopher Pepin-Neff is Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Sydney, Australia. His research looks at theories of the policy process by focusing on highly emotional issues such as LGBTQI politics and the "politics of shark attacks."
... In addition to ticket sales for the film, public fascination of sharks grew. Simón's (1981) study of Jaws as a "fad" that influenced mass behavior compared data before and after the release of the movie. Simon noted dramatic increases in the sales of shark jaws and teeth, newspaper coverage on sharks, shark books being published, museum attendance, and shark books checked out of the library (Simón 1981). ...
... Simón's (1981) study of Jaws as a "fad" that influenced mass behavior compared data before and after the release of the movie. Simon noted dramatic increases in the sales of shark jaws and teeth, newspaper coverage on sharks, shark books being published, museum attendance, and shark books checked out of the library (Simón 1981). He states that a desire for shark teeth increased in particular, noting that "after Jaws individual orders for 20,000 to 100,000 took place with the heaviest order occurring in the summer of 1975" (Simón 1981, 776). ...
... Why the fascination with Jaws was successful while others failed to pique public interest is a key question that Simón (1981) considers. "Why will one film spark off a mass behaviour while another film (or television special or news story) will not" (Simón 1981, 782)? ...
This chapter examines the history and social construction of shark of “attacks” from a social-political point of view. I highlight how shark “attack” was an invented term that replaced “shark bite” and “shark accident” in the academic and media lexicon. I note that the phrase is being used to describe events with no injury because shark “attack” has been solidified in the social consciousness with a vivid fatal outcome. In summary, this chapter challenges the continued use of shark “attack” language, pushes back on sensational media reporting, and informs public perceptions regarding human-shark encounters.
... Using the unobtrusive method, the aftermath of the Columbine massacre was examined to ascertain whether copycat crimes fcdlow a pattern similar to that of fads. Fad theory simply states that fads, although varying as to subject matter and duration, nonetheless follow a predictable pattern (Simon, 1981). Let us first differentiate between two types of lads, the Frivolous fads, that is, fads on subjects like UFOs, and Socio-Political fads, like airplane hijackings, product tampering, etc. ...
... For example, the UFO fad of the mid-1960s was multifaceted in its manifestation including an increase in the reporting of sightings of unidentified flying objects and the initial stimulus was, indeed, a particular UFO sighting; the Jaws fad of the 1970s, although also multifaceted, was not characterized by either an increase in attacks on humans on the part of sharks, nor an increase in movies about sharks (cf. Simon, 1981). In the present study it will be argued that, although there was no significant increase in actual school shootings following the massacre at Columbine, there was nonetheless a Socio-Political fad which was manifested by other illegal activities. ...
... Using the unobtrusive method, the aftermath of the Columbine massacre was examined to ascertain whether copycat crimes fcdlow a pattern similar to that of fads. Fad theory simply states that fads, although varying as to subject matter and duration, nonetheless follow a predictable pattern (Simon, 1981). Let us first differentiate between two types of lads, the Frivolous fads, that is, fads on subjects like UFOs, and Socio-Political fads, like airplane hijackings, product tampering, etc. ...
... For example, the UFO fad of the mid-1960s was multifaceted in its manifestation including an increase in the reporting of sightings of unidentified flying objects and the initial stimulus was, indeed, a particular UFO sighting; the Jaws fad of the 1970s, although also multifaceted, was not characterized by either an increase in attacks on humans on the part of sharks, nor an increase in movies about sharks (cf. Simon, 1981). In the present study it will be argued that, although there was no significant increase in actual school shootings following the massacre at Columbine, there was nonetheless a Socio-Political fad which was manifested by other illegal activities. ...
Copycat crimes have traditionally proven to be hard to both identify and analyze, although it has long been known that they occur. The present study analyzed the copycat crimes that followed the Columbine massacre of 1999 in light of fad theory and found that a copycat crime is, essentially, a fad. The pattern of development followed a particular progression with variations on the initial incident and reached a peak, whereupon the number of copycat incidents dropped radically. This pattern allows for predictability of copycat crimes.
... Having said that, I would like to now comment on one particular research paper that I submitted to numerous journals which went through a grueling gauntlet. In a nutshell, the paper (Simón, 2007) in question looked at copycat crimes in relation to the Columbine/Littleton massacre of 2000, in light of a fad theory that I had proposed earlier (Simón, 1981). The submission elicited increasingly bizarre comments by different journal editors (prior to it being finally accepted for publication) and illustrates the possibility that, sometimes, both editors and reviewers may not be very logical. ...
Editors of professional journals have published articles describing their hardships in editing a journal. The present author presents his personal experience to put forth the premise that sometimes the decision process for accepting or rejecting a manuscript for publication by editors and/or reviewers may actually – at times – not be the rational decision making process that one would assume would be the case.
Informed consent is not required on this study. There was no funding for it.
Cleve's first paper on Primary Perception in 1968
A case study of the modelling effects of the news media in reporting an unusual act of violence is presented. Using the naturalistic unobtrusive methodology, the double assassination attempts on President Gerald Ford in September 1975 resulted in an increase in the number of assassination threats for several months threafter. The implications were discussed.
In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of books and articles on death and dying. The ambivalence of some writers regarding the value of this proliferation of papers led the author to review and evaluate this literature; he found seven overlapping categories of death-related literature that were of both theoretical and practical value. He briefly explores possible reasons for the rise in this subject's popularity.