Editing Crowd psychology (section)

===Emergent norm theory===
[[Ralph H. Turner]] and Lewis Killian put forth the idea that norms emerge from within the crowd. Emergent norm theory states that crowds have little unity at their outset, but during a period of milling about, key members suggest appropriate actions, and following members fall in line, forming the basis for the crowd's norms.<ref name=Ref.1/>

Key members are identified through distinctive personalities or behaviors. These garner attention, and the lack of negative response elicited from the crowd as a whole stands as tacit agreement to their legitimacy.<ref name=Ref.2/> The followers form the majority of the mob, as people tend to be creatures of [[conformity]] who are heavily influenced by the opinions of others.<ref name=Ref.4/> This has been shown in the conformity studies conducted by [[Muzafer Sherif|Sherif]] and [[Asch conformity experiments|Asch]].<ref name=Ref.7/> Crowd members are further convinced by the universality phenomenon, described by Allport as the persuasive tendency of the idea that if everyone in the mob is acting in such-and-such a way, then it cannot be wrong.<ref name=Ref.3/>

Emergent norm theory allows for both positive and negative mob types, as the distinctive characteristics and behaviors of key figures can be positive or negative in nature. An antisocial leader can incite violent action, but an influential voice of non-violence in a crowd can lead to a mass sit-in.<ref name=Ref.2/> When a crowd described as above targets an individual, anti-social behaviors may emerge within its members.

A major criticism of this theory is that the formation and following of new norms indicates a level of self-awareness that is often missing in the individuals in crowds (as evidenced by the study of deindividuation). Another criticism is that the idea of emergent norms fails to take into account the presence of existent sociocultural norms.<ref name=Ref.2/><ref name=Ref.1/> Additionally, the theory fails to explain why certain suggestions or individuals rise to normative status while others do not.<ref name=Ref.1/>