O hai! This is way off topic and concerns the reasons people feel compelled to do things in a group. The PDML is such an eclectic group, though, I figured someone would know something about it. Worst case scenario - half of you tell me to shut up and the other half gets into a flame war. <g>
I've been thinking about crowds, or rather the reasons people want to do things with other people. This stems from looking into events such as marathons. (I actually have no interest in running a marathon, but I'm going to use it as an example.) I'm curious as to what makes a person want to do these things under the watchful eye of a sanctioning body or event organizer. Also, I've noticed that there are people who will prepare for such events for the sole purpose of participating in the event. In other words, if the organized event, such as a marathon, didn't exist then there is a distinct possibility that the participants wouldn't have bothered training to run such a distance. These things seem obvious on the surface, but why wouldn't a person who is driven to prepare and participate in such events just do it anyway, even without the organization or other runners? I don't like crowds at all. The thought of spending money and dealing with the logistics of getting to and participating in a marathon, just so I can have a certificate and my name in a record book somewhere is completely foreign to me. Another example - there's the "Covered Bridge Metric Century" in Lancaster County, PA. It's a long, organized bicycle ride through some very scenic rolling hills. As the name implies, the ride passes by or crosses several covered bridges. The cue sheet is published and anyone can download it. I can go ride their metric century any time I want. Yet, every year hundreds of cyclists will pay money, deal with traffic and parking, and wait in lines just to ride this route with a bunch of other tourists. To me it sounds like a colossal headache. But to quite a few other people it is apparently enjoyable. I initially started looking for explanations with search terms like "crowd psychology", but that's something different. So what I'm asking for is the psychological terminology that applies to this behavior. I'd like to read more about it, but I'm unsure where to look. Thanks! -- Scott Loveless http://www.twosixteen.com/fivetoedsloth/ __o _'\<,_ (*)/ (*) -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
