1)I am looking for a psycological theory that holds that people in
general are mentally conservative and reluctant to disruption/change.

2)I am looking for a psycological theory that holds that people
resemble sheep in the sense that they follow eachother's opinions/lead
and tend to lack originality.

I would like an outline of both theories, and links to where I can
find more information on each. Ideally I would like these theories to
be held by well known psycologists.

Thanks very much.

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Request for Question Clarification by techtor-ga on 29 Jan 2004 07:48 PST

Hello Will_127,
For the first theory, I was unable to find anything yet. For the
second one, the closest theories I could find are deindividuation and
crowd theory. I wonder if those will pass for what you need in the
second one.

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Clarification of Question by will_127-ga on 29 Jan 2004 15:41 PST

They sound like they are along the right lines. As long as they
fulfill the required criteria I'm sure they are fine. I am no
psycologist so the names themselves don't tell me all that much.
thanks

Hello Will_127,
These are the websites I have found on the topics you brought up. 

On the first theory, it had been recognized since the 1950's that
there is a natural resistance to change in humans, though the theories
have not been specially named. It's just called "resistance to
change". The people though who started the theories are mentioned in
one of the websites listed below, and in the bibliography which one of
the sites are.

On the second topic, deindividuation is probably the best theory to
use to explain the "sheep mentality". The concept was first recognized
by Gustav Le Bon in 1895, though the name deindividuation was coined
later. Other names on this theory are Festinger, Pepitone, Newcomb,
and Zimbadro. I have included many sites below discussing
deindividuation theory.


About the Number 1 Question:
Social Continuity and Change, and Social Theory
by Christine Preston (Nagle College) 
for Society and Culture Inservice, 12th August  2000
http://hsc.csu.edu.au/pta/scansw/docs/preston.doc
- Document of a study about resistance to change in the social realm.

Resistance to Change - Zaltman and Duncan (1977)
http://ide.ed.psu.edu/change/zaltman-duncan.htm
- Good basic article

Anderson Consulting- Resistance to Change
http://www.andersonconsulting.com/org/resist.htm
- Contains a list of reasons why change is resisted, from the Andersen
Consulting perspective.

Employee Resistance to Organizational Change
http://www.newfoundations.com/OrgTheory/Bolognese721.html
- Mentions some names in psychology who coined theories on resistance
to change, like Alvin Zander, Zaltman and Duncan, and Piderit.

Resistance is rewarding with change - Literatures Review
by: Lukman Susanto - 2003
http://www.susanto.id.au/papers/OCM.asp
- More about solutions to change resistance.

Theories of Resistance:  A partial bibliography
http://wrt-howard.syr.edu/Bibs/Resistances.htm
- List of works and books related to resistance to change. 

Learning-Org May 2000: Resistance to Change LO24651
http://www.learning-org.com/00.05/0133.html
- This is a message board discussing resistance you change. You might
want to run through the many messages making up this thread to gain
more information.



About the Number 2 Question:
About Deindividuation Theory, a social psychological account of the
individual in the crowd and an attempt to explain anti-normative
collective action
http://www.ex.ac.uk/~tpostmes/deindividuation.html
- Very good article overview of the deindividuation theory.

Crowd Theory As a Psychology of the Leader and the Led
http://www.mellenpress.com/emp/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=1054&pc=9
- Discusses another theory.

ABCNEWS.com : Why Bridge Jumper Was Taunted
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/mob_psychology010830.html
- Example of deindividuation at work.

Archived Weblog Entry - 08/31/2001: "30-August-2001 -- Deindividuation"
http://webword.com/weblog/00000229.html

Deindividuation - Changing Minds.org
http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/deindividuation.htm

Psychlogy of Communication - social influence: deindividuation
http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/socinf/deind.html

Viral Deindividuation in the Government Meme by Paul Cridder
http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/crider/crider1.html

People are Lke Sheep
http://fog.ccsf.edu/~tkobayas/rants/020305sheep.shtml
- A blog article that talks about the sheep mentality.

sciforums.com - View Thread : Theory of the Hour
http://www.sciforums.com/archive/index.php/t-25337
- A message thread about sheep mentality.


Try to read this book if you can, which I found when looking up the
topic of crowd mentality myself. It's a classic work:
Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds
by Charles Mackay
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/051788433X/qid=1075458731/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-6481834-4280600?v=glance&s=books


Google search terms used:
crowd sheep theory
deindividuation
resist change theory
resistance change theories
reason resist change theory
sheep mentality theory
herd mentality theory
resistance change models

I hope this has been a most helpful answer. If you need anything else,
or have a problem with the answer, do please post a Request for
Clarification before rating and I shall respond as soon as I can.
Thank you.