Charles MacKay Quotes: Fascinating Insights on Mass Psychosis and Groupthink

„We see entire societies suddenly fixate their thoughts on a single topic and lose their minds; millions of people are simultaneously gripped by a single delusion until their attention is captured by a new absurdity more fascinating than the first.“

Charles MacKayDiscover Charles MacKay's profound quotes on mass psychosis and groupthink – deep insights into collective behavior.
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Charles MacKay was a Scottish writer, poet, and journalist best known for his investigations into mass psychosis.

This quote reminds us how easily crowds fall into collective irrationality—a warning to stay vigilant against groupthink.


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Quote by Charles MacKay about societies fixating on single topics and mass delusions

Charles MacKay (1814–1889) was a Scottish writer, poet, and journalist. He is best known for his work 'Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds', in which he analyzed various forms of mass hysteria, economic speculation, and collective delusions. MacKay is considered a pioneer in studying the psychological mechanisms behind crowd behavior.

Quote by Just.A.Thought about mass hysteria as a way people share fears and anxietiesCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"People are addicted to mass hysteria because it’s a way for them to funnel their very real anxieties, fears, sadness and neurotic behaviors into something relatable to other people. It doesn’t feel so lonely if everyone collectively loses their grip on reality together." Just.A.Thought
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Quote on psychological gain through collective anxiety by Mattias DesmetCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"This process yields a psychological gain. Firstly, the anxiety that previously roamed through society as a tenebrous fog is now linked to a specific cause and can be mentally controlled via the strategy put forward in the story. Secondly, through a common struggle with “the enemy,” the disintegrating society regains its coherence, energy, and rudimentary meaning. For this reason, the fight against the object of anxiety then becomes a mission, laden with pathos and group heroism (for example, the Belgian government’s “team of 11 million” going to war against the coronavirus). Thirdly, in this fight all latent brewing frustration and aggression is taken out, especially on the group that refuses to go along with the story and the mass formation. This brings an enormous release and satisfaction to the masses, which they will not let go of easily. Through this process..." Mattias Desmet
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Quote by Sergei Petrowitsch Kapiza about society manipulation and media influenceCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"Society sees nothing because it is kept in a state of deep hypnosis. Never before have people been manipulated as much as they are now. A person is given no chance to pause and understand what is happening. Endless series, each dumber than the last, vulgar pop music, lustful or aggressive films that gently influence the subconscious, foster a spirit of selfishness and violence. An ordinary person quickly becomes a principle-less animal living an absolutely meaningless life." Sergei Petrowitsch Kapiza
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Quote by Mattias Desmet on control, fear, and totalitarianism during coronavirus crisisCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"The coronavirus crisis did not come out of the blue. It fits into a series of increasingly desperate and self-destructive societal responses to objects of fear: terrorists, global warming, coronavirus. Whenever a new object of fear arises in society, there is only one response and one defense in our current way of thinking: increased control. The fact that the human being can tolerate only a certain amount of control is completely overlooked. Coercive control leads to fear and fear leads to more coercive control. Just like that, society falls victim to a vicious circle that inevitably leads to totalitarianism, which means to extreme government control, eventually resulting in the radical destruction of both the psychological and physical integrity of human beings." Mattias Desmet
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Quote by Hannah Arendt about the psychology behind mass propaganda and how people believe contradictory statementsCopyright © yoice.net – Quote Artwork
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"In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. ... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness." Hannah Arendt
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