Pheromones
Like most (if not all) sentient beings (and perhaps all organisms), humans are strongly influenced by what they smell. Specifically, there are six protein-coupled receptors in the human olfactory system (epithelium) that are particularly sensitive to certain chemicals (pheromones) emitted by other beings of the same species. Taken from the Greek words “I carry” (phero) and “simulating” (hormone), pheromones serve many attracting functions in animals, ranging from the food tracking of ants to the alarm signals initiated by wasps.
Among humans, the most notable impact of pheromones on human biological functioning is the reported synchronist cycling of menstrual periods among young women living together in a dormitory. However, the impact of pheromones might range far beyond the biology of young women. They may also help to create a loving relationship, set up territories, and, more broadly, promote aggregations.
Neighborhood effect
I would point to the behavior of flocking among birds and swarming among fish. These behaviors are being engaged so that predators can’t focus on a clear single target for attack given the many fish and birds that are moving together. When considering the mechanism that enables this coordinated movement to occur, recent studies have shown that this mechanism is quite straightforward. The bird or fish simply does what its neighboring bird or fish is doing. While there is a bird or fish at the outskirts of the group that first identifies the predator and being the movement away from the predator, there is no “lead” bird or fish to coordinate the entire movement. Rather there is a set of quick decisions made by each bird or fish based on the decisions made by the bird or fish located right next to it. A whole field called agent-based modeling has emerged from and found direction in this neighborhood effect.
One can’t help wondering if the movement and power of the assembled crowd, whether in Nuremburg or Oakland, is replicated this flocking and swarming. Are the Nazi-sympathizer and the daughter attending the U-2 performance moving in concert with other sympathizers and U-2 fans? Is binding and connecting often a matter not just of pheromones but also the proclivity to “do what others are now doing.” Do we model our behavior after that of people around us?
There appears to be neighborly binding. Ligato is related to interpersonal proximity.
Competing neighbor effect
It seems that people not only gather together to connect, they also congregate to compete. The spirit and juice of “one-upping” the other person or group is contagious. Many years ago, Gregory Bateson (2000) observed (as an anthropologist) and wrote about something he called “complementary schizogenesis”. This rather convoluted phrase is engaged to describe the tendency of individuals and groups to compete with one another by seeking to outdo the other. Annie Oakley competed with Frank Butler when singing that she can do anything better than him. National soccer teams compete with one another at World Soccer tournaments. Their national followers form an even more competitive spirit when singing songs over a flagon of their favorite national beverage at their local bar. The competition is “complementary” in that it tends to increase over time. As one individual, team or nation gets stronger, the other individual, team or national also attempts to get stronger – whether this be a shouting match between members of two tribes in New Guinea or an arms race between two powerful nations.
According to Bateson, the competition is “schizogenic” in that the two parties to the competition tend to grow apart from one another. They perceived the competitor as increasingly unlike them and as profoundly evil and alien—becoming Barry Oshry’s (2018) “Other”. Thus, there is a neighborhood effect that moves in an opposite direction from that identified by agent-based modelers. People next to one another begin to compete and they soon become un-neighborly. At this point, one of the “neighbors” is likely to move away from those with whom they are competing. The binding is undone with the “other” but it strengthens with other members of their own team, tribe or nation.
