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herd instinct

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Legal, Financial, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.02 sec.
instinct /in·stinct/ (in´stinkt) a complex of unlearned responses characteristic of a species.instinc´tive
death instinct  in psychoanalysis, the latent instinctive impulse toward dissolution and death.
herd instinct  the instinct or urge to be one of a group and to conform to its standards of conduct and opinion.
life instinct  in psychoanalysis, all of the constructive tendencies of the organism aimed at maintenance and perpetuation of the individual and species.

herd instinct
Etymology: ME, heord + L, instinctus, impulse
the basic need of social animals, including humans, for the companionship of peers and a tendency to find compatibility with the behavioral standards of others in the group.

instinct
a complex of unlearned responses characteristic of a species.

herd instinct
the instinct or urge to be one of a group and to conform to its patterns of behavior.


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The herd instinct was a prime factor in the 2000 to 2001 "tech wreck," the 1929 stock market crash and the Mexican currency crises of 1982 and 1984.
But in fact are our YA books moral imperatives, urging personal responsibility upon readers locked in place by the herd instinct of an omnipotent peer group?
The herd instinct and the lack of overseas investment opportunities in the 1980s caused developers to create a patchwork of shoddy, half-empty suburban malls.
 
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