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The Life Scientific: Episode 162: Stephen Reicher on the psychology of crowds

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Stephen Reicher on the psychology of crowds

Episode 162

Episode 162: Stephen Reicher on the psychology of crowds

BBC Radio 4 - The Life Scientific, Stephen Reicher on the psychology of crowds

Psychologist Stephen Reicher talks to Jim al-Khalili about how we behave in crowds.

Professor Stephen Reicher of St Andrews University and Jim Al-Khalili discuss the psychology of crowd behaviour at the Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead.

Stephen Reicher is a social psychologist at St Andrews University who has spent decades understanding how people behave when in a group. To do so, he's often had to immerse himself among the subjects of his studies, from the Bristol riots in 1980 to the millions of Hindu pilgrims who go to the Magh Mela. Stephen Reicher talks to Jim al-Khalili about the positive and the negative sides to a crowd and the role of a leader of a crowd. He explains how he gave up a place to read medicine, to the annoyance of his parents, to study psychology. Now, he says, his mother would be proud of him as he's publishing research on the health benefits of attending mass gatherings.

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Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires and motivates them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future

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Episode 162: Stephen Reicher on the psychology of crowds

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