Psychological Factors As Predictors Of Susceptibility To Mob Bera Vi Our Amongst Undergraduate Students In Fuoye

ABSTRACT

The menace of mob mentality has posed flagrant concerns in recent times, since time

immemorial various scholars have begged the question of why human individuals defy the laws

of morality to do inconceivable things. In this research, another scholastic attempt is being made

to unravel. the dynamics· of the psychological factors that predicts susceptibility to mob

behaviour. The genesis of this research began with the development of a susceptibility to mob

behaviour scale, of which its psychometric soundness recorded a tremendous reliability

coefficient of .79. Afterwards, the research, of which was conducted within the spheres of

Federal University, Oye-ekiti, Ekiti state, recruited 300 students from various academic faculties,

of which 119 were males and 181 were females, respectively. These students were administered

a survey to measure their performance on big five personality inventory, emotional contagion

scale, guilt and shame proneness scale and susceptibility to mob behaviour scale, to determine

which of the first three scales devised to measure psychological factors best predicts

· susceptibility to mob behaviour. The results gleaned from the statistical analysis of the obtained

data provided us with a double edged information, in that some psychological factors actually

did predict susceptibility to mob behaviour, such as personality dimensions, some sub scales of

emotional contagion scale and guilt and shame proneness scale, likewise, these psychological factors could also inhibit ones susceptibility to mob behaviour.