What's that word where one is so absorbed into the environment around them and is unable to think, judge and decide as they would normally do by themselves? And no I'm not talking about indoctrination or brainwashing; more like going to a party and doing crazy shit because others are doing it without second guessing yourself, even when you're sober. In reality, when you look back on it, you realise how subtly but potently influenced you were by your friends or the atmosphere. Encapsulating that psychological phenomenon, what word sums that up in and of itself?
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1Probable duplicate of Single word for “going along with the crowd”.– tchrist ♦Commented Sep 26, 2015 at 19:41
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1enthralled is a good word to describe being absorbed into the environment, however it does not specify either way about a crowd.– DrZ214Commented Sep 27, 2015 at 5:06
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5 Answers
Peer pressure could be the word you're looking for.
Peer pressure is influence on a peer group, observers or individual exerts that encourages others to change their attitudes, values, or behaviors to conform to groups.
I think that you are describing what is often referred to as the bandwagon effect:
- a phenomenon whereby the rate of uptake of beliefs, ideas, fads and trends increases the more that they have already been adopted by others.
(Wikipedia)
A less technical way of saying that you did something you might not otherwise do due to emotion or external circumstances, is that you were carried away or got carried away. You can also be swept up in the moment or caught up in the moment
Perhaps group dynamics
Definition: the interactions that influence the attitudes and behavior of people when they are grouped with others through either choice or accidental circumstances. Based on the Random House Dictionary
Or with a negative connotation deindividuation
Definition: Deindividuation is a concept in social psychology that is generally thought of as the loss of self-awareness1 in groups, although this is a matter of contention (see below). Sociologists also study the phenomenon of deindividuation, but the level of analysis is somewhat different. For the social psychologist, the level of analysis is the individual in the context of a social situation. As such, social psychologists emphasize the role of internal psychological processes. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
one word only, any one of these--> mindless, distracted, drunk, drugged, unconscious, unfocused, purposelessness, unmotivated, immature, childlike, recklessness, dangerous, impulsive, suicidal. or any combination of 3, 4, 5 would do nicely. Serious problems though. suggest they get some serious help.
