3. THE EXAGGERATION AND INGENUOUSNESS OF THE SENTIMENTS OF


CROWDS. Crowds do not admit doubt or uncertainty, and always go

to extremes--Their sentiments always excessive. 4. THE

INTOLERANCE, DICTATORIALNESS, AND CONSERVATISM OF CROWDS. The

reasons of these sentiments--The servility of crowds in the face

of a strong authority--The momentary revolutionary instincts of

crowds do not prevent them from being extremely

conservative--Crowds instinctively hostile to changes and
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progress. 5. THE MORALITY OF CROWDS. The morality of

crowds, according to the suggestions under which they act, may be

much lower or much higher than that of the individuals composing

them--Explanation and examples-- Crowds rarely guided by those

considerations of interest which are most often the exclusive

motives of the isolated individual--The moralising role of

crowds.





Having indicated in a general way the principal characteristics

of crowds, it remains to study these characteristics in detail.



It will be remarked that among the special characteristics of

crowds there are several--such as impulsiveness, irritability,

incapacity to reason, the absence of judgment and of the critical

spirit, the exaggeration of the sentiments, and others

besides--which are almost always observed in beings belonging to

inferior forms of evolution--in women, savages, and children, for

instance. However, I merely indicate this analogy in passing;

its demonstration is outside the scope of this work. It would,

moreover, be useless for persons acquainted with the psychology

of primitive beings, and would scarcely carry conviction to those

in ignorance of this matter.



I now proceed to the successive consideration of the different

characteristics that may be observed in the majority of crowds.



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