《乌合之众·第一编·群体的心理·群体的情感与道德》第1节
Having indicated in a general way the principal characteristics of crowds, it remains to study these characteristics in detail. I now proceed to the successive consideration of the different characteristics that may be observed in the majority of crowds. When studying the fundamental characteristics of a crowd we stated that it is guided almost exclusively by unconscious motives. Its acts are far more under the influence of the spinal cord than of the brain. In this respect a crowd is closely akin to quite primitive beings. The acts performed may be perfect so far as their execution is concerned, but as they are not directed by the brain, the individual conducts himself according as the exciting causes to which he is submitted may happen to decide. A crowd is at the mercy of all external exciting causes, and reflects their incessant variations. It is the slave of the impulses which it receives. The isolated individual may be submitted to the same exciting causes as the man in a crowd, but as his brain shows him the inadvisability of yielding to them, he refrains from yielding. This truth may be physiologically expressed by saying that the isolated individual possesses the capacity of dominating his reflex actions, while a crowd is devoid of this capacity.
注释摘要
勒庞在这一段里论述的是群体心理的第一个具体特征，即群体的冲动性、易变性和无法进行理性抑制。他的核心论证是：群体行为几乎完全受无意识动机支配，其行动更接近脊髓反射而非大脑的审慎判断。他在这里提出了一个生理学式的比喻，认为孤立的个体拥有支配自身反射行为的能力，而群体则完全丧失了这种能力。这意味着群体是外部刺激的奴隶，任何偶然出现的刺激都可以决定群体的行动方向，…