Bendersky Joseph W
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
J Hist Behav Sci. 2007 Summer;43(3):257-83. doi: 10.1002/jhbs.20239.
The controversial crowd psychology of Gustave Le Bon has been both praised as an incisive contribution to social theory and also condemned as a doctrine of irrationality and mass manipulation associated with fascism. New archival documentation now demonstrates that Le Bon exercised significant influence on U.S. military thinking and practice through World War II. Army writings and officer training on morale, leadership, and battlefield psychology rested substantially on his theory of crowds, particularly regarding races and panic. Le Bon's racial psychology took on additional importance when the African-American 92 nd Infantry Division panicked during combat in Italy. This new evidence offers an excellent case study of the direct and enduring impact of a peculiar type of social psychology on the institutional culture of the army from the classrooms at the Army War College to the battlefield itself.
古斯塔夫·勒庞颇具争议的群体心理学，既被誉为对社会理论的深刻贡献，又被谴责为与法西斯主义相关的非理性和大规模操纵学说。新的档案文件表明，勒庞在第二次世界大战期间对美国军事思想和实践产生了重大影响。陆军关于士气、领导力和战场心理学的著作及军官培训，很大程度上基于他的群体理论，尤其是关于种族和恐慌方面的理论。当非裔美国第92步兵师在意大利作战时惊慌失措时，勒庞的种族心理学变得格外重要。这一新证据为一种特殊类型的社会心理学对军队制度文化从陆军战争学院的课堂到战场本身的直接和持久影响提供了一个绝佳的案例研究。
