Herd Mentality and the Notorious Salem Witch Trials

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When you think of the word ‘herd’, you may visualise a group of cows or sheep walking together. That’s because herd literally means ‘a large number of animals that live and feed together.’ Herd or mob mentality refers to when the beliefs or attitudes of a group are adopted by the individuals of the group, usually resulting in deindividuation. One loses their sense of identity and responsibility, relating so strongly with their group that the group’s norms and beliefs become one’s own, regardless of the individual’s previous beliefs. 


Does this mean that we are all cows in a herd with no individuality to call our own? Not necessarily, but the devastating prevalence of herd mentality can be seen throughout history, most notably in the Salem Witch trials in Massachusetts; occurring between 1692 and 1693.


Salem was a colonial town populated by the Puritans, a group of people heavily reliant on their belief in supernatural powers and very superstitious regarding the devil. 

Two young girls, Abigail and Betty began to display erratic behaviour in the form of screaming fits, contorting their bodies and complaining of crawling and prickling sensations on their skins. The physician assisting them claimed that they were possessed by the devil. Soon, many others appeared to have similar symptoms. 


The erratic behaviour could have been caused due to infections from fungi, Asthma, Lyme disease and other illnesses that were not known at that time but the symptoms were said to be the result of witchcraft. Three women were blamed for inflicting such symptoms on the others- Tituba, Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good. Osborne and Good maintained their innocence but Tituba confessed to working with the devil and pleaded for repentance. She was released thereafter. The two other women were arrested but Osborne died in prison and Good was hanged. 

Tension and paranoia in Salem skyrocketed as the fear of the devil’s influence permeated their society. 


The Special Court of Oyer and Terminer was established to judge the accused. Any form of evidence; including ‘spectral evidence’ was accepted by the court and people were sentenced to death based on paltry accusations. The church’s influence was strong and confessions and repentance were preferred over attempts to prove innocence.



The witch hunts in Salem claimed the lives of 19 convicted witches but the number of deaths outside Salem (especially in Europe) were around 40,000 to 60,000. 


When the wife of the governor of the Massachusetts colonel, Governor Phips, was accused, he stepped in to shut down the trials and proceedings. The convicted were pardoned and the trials finally came to an end. 


Herd mentality is also known as groupthink. The word itself gives away its main characteristic. In some cases, the feeling of solidarity and loyalty to the group runs so deep that its norms are adopted by all the members to an extreme degree. The group does not accept any questioning of the norms or wavering of loyalty. Opposing perspectives are silenced; even though there were some who didn't support it, they didn’t speak up against it and went along with the group. Any note of dissent from them would spark suspicion and place them under the scrutiny of the religious ministers; however, many believed that the execution of the witches would save them from the devil’s influence.


The puritans community in Salem was conservative and religious, allowing the ministers to exert their jurisdiction over the people. The people strongly believed in their God and any deviation from the path to salvation was considered to be a  punishable act. They were against the concept of secularism as it would lead to a loss of religious values. They believed that the only way to protect their community from deviants was to eradicate them altogether. Witchcraft was considered to be a direct link to the devil, something that the people greatly feared and the church strictly prohibited. 


Other factors such as one of Salem’s harshest winters in 1692, the greedy and strict minister of the village (Samuel Parris) and the isolation of the community caused by strained relations with their western neighbours and native Americans led them to be highly distrustful of outsiders. The townspeople only had themselves to rely on thus increasing loyalty to the religious officials who gave them security. Disloyalty to the group (in this case, by practising witchcraft) was punished and those who strayed from the group’s norms were displayed as examples to others. People wanted to protect the group’s integrity so they accused anyone who seemed to deviate from the norms. They were all bound together by their strict belief in God and fear of the devil and witchcraft. 

 (maybe connect it a little more with herd mentality?)


The Salem witch trials are an allegory of the past but its proceedings are relevant even today. They extend a word of caution about the damages that groupthink or herd mentality can bring about. People can be in a group while retaining their individuality as well as adhering to the group’s norms. Individual beliefs can differ from the group and sometimes those beliefs could save other people from oppression. If the power of herd mentality in Salem was not as strong as it was, perhaps the trials could have been avoided. We have unique individual characteristics and will not be reduced to mere sheep following along with the ideals of our herd. 



References :



Blumberg, J. (2022, October 24). A brief history of the Salem Witch trials. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/


Janis, I. L. (1973). GROUPTHINK AND GROUP DYNAMICS: A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF DEFECTIVE POLICY DECISIONS*. Policy Studies Journal, 2(1), 19–25. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0072.1973.tb00117.x


Jen. (2014, October 31). The Salem Witch Trials: Groupthink at its worst. Social PsyQ. https://socialpsyq.com/2014/10/31/the-salem-witch-trials-groupthink-at-its-worst/


King, E. W., & Mixon, F. G. (2010). Religiosity and the political economy of the Salem witch trials. Social Science Journal, 47(3), 678–688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2010.01.008


Nickerson, C. (2023). Deindividuation in Psychology: Definition & Examples. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/what-is-deindividuation.html


Ohwovoriole, T. (2023). How herd mentality explains our behavior. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/how-herd-mentality-explains-our-behavior-7487018


Salem witch trials | History, Summary, Location, Causes, Victims, & Facts. (2023, August 16). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials/The-trials


TED-Ed. (2020, May 4). What really happened during the Salem Witch Trials - Brian A. Pavlac [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVd8kuufBhM




About the author:


Aameya Kapoor

Member of the PsyCreative Column

Second-year, B.Sc. Applied Psychology student, SDSOS, NMIMS


Aameya Kapoor is an avid reader and writer who enjoys researching about any topic under the sun. She constantly watches analogue horror even though she knows that she won't be able to sleep that night. A word of advice from her- singing Yeh Jawani hai Diwani by Kishore Kumar will distract you enough to ignore that lingering feeling of dread when you’re alone in the dark. When she’s not scaring herself to death by watching horror shows that she shouldn’t even be watching at night, you may find her engrossed in a sketch or painting that she may not ever finish. (She says that she’ll get back to it but it will never see the light of day). 



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