Physical proximity amplifies mass nervous excitation toward its most passionate member

Evidence

This is even more true where the mass is in physical proximity. Here innumerable suggestions swing back and forth, resulting in an extraordinary nervous excitation which often overwhelms the individuals, makes every impulse swell like an avalanche, and subjects the mass to whichever among its members happens to be the most passionate. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 3110

Categorization

• XREF: Directly evokes Le Bon’s crowd psychology and later contagion theories of crowds; also connects to accounts of authoritarian rallies.