What’s going on with the wildly fluctuating stock markets, in the U.S. and around the globe? As The New York Times explains, the motivating factors certainly are not about logic — they’re about fear:

Anybody searching for cause-and-effect logic in the daily gyrations of the market will be disappointed — even if the overarching problem of a crisis of confidence in the global economy is now becoming clear.

Instead, the market has become a case study in the psychology of crowds, many experts say. In normal times, it runs on a healthy mix of fear and greed. But fear now seems to rule, with investors often exhibiting a Wall Street version of the fight-or-flight mechanism — they are selling first, and asking questions later…

This, of course, is nothing new. Almost a century ago, in the classic 1919 work of social psychology Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War, Wilfred Trotter introduced the concept of “the herd instinct” in relation to human behavior and explored the fundamental importance of gregariousness among animals as well as among humans. Trotter drew incisively on the concept of social habit to provide a deeper understanding of the nature of human behavior as well as its affect on the national morale… particularly in times of war. As Trotter noted, these ideas may also be of use to “a tired nation seeking peace.”

Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War is available at Amazon.com and from other online booksellers.