Individual Susceptibility to Violent Mob Activity

Abstract

With the growing instances of civil unrest, it is important to understand what makes one more susceptible to performing violent acts that they would not normally perform. We will identify characteristics that can predict how participants will respond to emotionally-arousing vignettes in different social contexts, and correlate this to data from a self-report scale and the Big Five personality inventory. A biological measure of arousal will be used to assess physiological changes in the individual. The ability to identify the factors that predict a person’s involvement in a mob will be useful in diffusing situations before they become violent.