《乌合之众·第一编·群体的心理·群体的一般特征·心理统一律》第2节
The disappearance of conscious personality and the turning of feelings and thoughts in a definite direction, which are the primary characteristics of a crowd about to become organised, do not always involve the simultaneous presence of a number of individuals on one spot. Thousands of isolated individuals may acquire at certain moments, and under the influence of certain violent emotions--such, for example, as a great national event--the characteristics of a psychological crowd. It will be sufficient in that case that a mere chance should bring them together for their acts to at once assume the characteristics peculiar to the acts of a crowd. At certain moments half a dozen men might constitute a psychological crowd, which may not happen in the case of hundreds of men gathered together by accident. On the other hand, an entire nation, though there may be no visible agglomeration, may become a crowd under the action of certain influences. But before occupying ourselves with the different categories of crowds, we must first of all examine the characteristics common to them all. We shall set to work like the naturalist, who begins by describing the general characteristics common to all the members of a family before concerning himself with the particular characteristics which allow the differentiation of the genera and species that the family includes.
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段要论证一个常被误解的关键命题：心理群体并不等同于街头上看得见的密集人群。他注意到，有时成千上万的人挤在一个广场上，各怀心思，只是偶然聚在一起，并不构成心理学意义上的群体；相反，分散在各地的无数个体，当受到某种强烈情感或重大民族事件的激发时，却可能同时呈现出群体心理的典型特征。他以此将“心理群体”从“物理聚集”中彻底剥离出来，强调真正起决定作用的…