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Historical Examples Of Mass Hysteria

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Our text defines mass madness as outbreaks in which large large numbers of people apparently share absurd false beliefs and imagined sights and sounds (Comer et al. 2014; p. 37). Mass madness, aka mass hysteria, has occurred throughout time and across the globe. Some historical examples of mass hysteria are the Salem witch trials (1600s), the red scare (1919-1920), and satanic daycare scandals (1980s). There are many examples of mass hysteria in recent times too. The most prominent examples that I can think of are the scares involving anthrax and a fear of muslims. In 2001, following the terrorist attacks, there was a series of mail-borne attacks where people received anthrax in the mail. Then the media got ahold of the story and caused a nationwide

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