Manipulação de multidões[1] refers to the deliberate use of techniques to change the behavior or perception of a group of individuals. This practice, rooted in ancient history, involves leveraging shared interests or circumstances to influence action or opinion. Notable figures in the development of these techniques include Quintilian, Aristotle, Edward Bernays, and Gustave Le Bon. The concept of crowd manipulation is not limited to a negative connotation; it can be employed for both beneficial or detrimental purposes across various sectors such as politics, religion, and business. Understanding crowd psychology, including the diversity and different phases of crowd behavior, is crucial for implementing effective manipulation techniques. Examples of crowd manipulation are evident in many areas, like political campaigns, advertising[2], and even organized public events like flash mobs.
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Manipulação de multidões is the intentional or unwitting use of techniques based on the principles of crowd psychology to engage, control, or influence the desires of a crowd in order to direct its behavior toward a specific action. This practice is common to religião, política e business and can facilitate the approval or disapproval or indifference to a person, policy, or product. The ethicality of crowd manipulation is commonly questioned.
Crowd manipulation differs from propaganda—although they may reinforce one another to produce a desired result. If propaganda is "the consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relations of the public to an enterprise, idea or group", crowd manipulation is the relatively brief call to action once the seeds of propaganda (i.e. more specifically "pre-propaganda") are sown and the public is organized into a crowd. The propagandist appeals to the masses, even if compartmentalized, whereas the crowd-manipulator appeals to a segment of the masses assembled into a crowd (such as a political demonstration or a congregation or a camp meeting) in real time. In situations such as a national emergency, however, a crowd manipulator may leverage meios de comunicação social to address the masses in real time as if speaking to a crowd.[need quotation to verify]
Crowd manipulation differs from crowd control, which serves a security function. Local authorities use crowd-control methods to contain and disperse crowds and to prevent and respond to unruly and unlawful acts such as rioting e looting.