INDIA, February 2, 2007: The largest single gathering of people on Earth may hold the key to living together in harmony, researchers from St. Andrews and Dundee believe. Psychologists from the two universities have been studying the 30 million-strong crowd at the Kumbh Mela, in Allahabad, northern India. And despite the noise and crowds–which would normally create stress–people at the month-long Hindu festival became more generous, supportive and orderly. The Ganges festival–which ended yesterday–provides a unique opportunity to observe mass psychology. Psychologists, who worked with peers from Lancaster University, have just returned from the Mela. Dr. Clare Cassidy, of St. Andrews University said, “Many people argue that crowds are bad for you. “But in the Mela we found that people become more generous, more supportive and more orderly rather than less. “This is the opposite of a ‘walk on by’ society. It is a community where people are attentive to the needs of strangers.”
Her colleague Professor Steve Reicher said the festival had fundamental lessons for our understanding of how society works. He said, “Despite the fact that the Mela seems designed to increase stress in every way–it is very noisy day and night, very unhealthy, and very packed–what we found was that actually people feel serene, peaceful and unstressed. “These various findings raise very important questions about the nature of collective participation and how it can affect both individual well-being and social cohesion.” The professors have been studying the Mela in collaboration with colleagues from several Indian universities.