Group Hysteria- explanation of the fits

[melissas2]

I was wondering what people's opinions were of the outbreaks of the young girls (Abigail, Betty, Mary, etc) and how they were able to make themselves faint, feel chills, and have fits. I know that some of these things can be acted but the way it is described, it seems that the girls were actually able to make themselves sick with their own anxiety. On pages 106-9, Mary Warren says that it wasn't spirits that made her faint, she did it on her own, but she can't just make herself faint right then because she has "no sense of it". And then moments later, Abigail starts to pretend that she is having "spirits sent upon her" and that she is chilled, and when other people do touch her, she is cold. I'm thinking that the only explanation for this could be that the girls could whip each other into a frenzy so extreme that they physically are made sick. It is as if when the girls are together and one is describing seeing a spirit, another girl will try to believe it so bad that she thinks she does see them. Is this just group hysteria, or is there another explanation for the girl's behavior--besides witchcraft of course? I also heard from someone that the real girls in history would be separated and still have fits with similar symptoms (like the feeling of being choked) even though they didn't know that the other girls were saying that they felt it too?

[danl02]

I would have liked to show you the scientific research they have on this, but I don't have any good links. Here are several generalizations of mental cases:

Bandwagon effect: If you see one person picking up a red ball instead of a blue ball, your probability of picking up a ball is greatly increased. If you see everyone only picking up red balls, you'll probably do the same thing too. Most people have trouble not doing things that they see somebody else do.

A mental disease (haha, I forgot the name): Scientific studies have shown that when close friends or associates believe in something, their belief bounces off each other.
For example, once a wife claimed that people were stalking her etc. Before long, her husband reported to the police the exact same thing that his wife told him, except he thought he was being stalked too. Eventually, they both believed that the dust on the carpet was signs of the stalkers entering and other crazy things. Once seperated, they slowly lost their belief, but once living together again, their paranoia appeared again. They had to be seperated for several weeks and then tell each other their new beliefs to be cured. Over the couple of weeks, they thought up of different explanations of things such as why the sky is blue and after realizing that the other beleiver now believed in something eles, they finally thought twice.

Mind over matter: Some religions have people proof their devoutness by suffering intense pain. Sometimes people drive multiple nails through their body etc. to the point that they should have long fainted/died from shock. In fact, they can act almost naturally despite the pain. If one has sufficient mental ability, one can cause the body to do almost anything.

Feelings like being chocked etc.: sometimes this is just mind over matter, mostly due to unwanted stress. However, it can also comes from consistently sleeping poorly, poor respiration, air quality, etc. If you live a good life, keep your body in good condition, and have no medical conditions (the body has too many to easily count), this should be virutally impossible. Of course, even if your body's near perfect, it's still possible if you're dreaming or really tired.

[jend02]

I agree with the idea that the outbreaks of the girls were a result of their mind overpowering themselves physically. As we were talking about in class, when you see a sensation occurring to someone else in TV or a movie, you normally for a short period of time believe that you have similar symptoms, etc. I think that the girls and their "fits" were simply a more extreme version of this. Although I believe they started off knowing what they were doing, especially Abigail, and having a motive in these outbursts, after a while it must have become second nature to their mind to allow themselves to perform instantly in court room settings especially because all the girls in the play were participating in these outbursts together. Mary Warren, however, when asked to faint on command was not in the appropriate mindset/setting and did not have the support of the girls fainting around her (what dan said to be the "Bandwagon effect") and therefore, found her self unable to faint.

[mikef7]

It is probably certain that the girls had a mind over matter experience, started to believe their own lies, and actually convinced themselves that they were suffering. However, is it possible that perhaps the men of the court and those that felt the girls to see if they were cold, for example, were also warped by the web of lies? When a whole town is screaming "Witchcraft Witchcraft" anyone can start to believe it, even if their better judgement tells them it is a lie. I think Parris for one is a man who gets so wrapped up in the girl's actions that he starts to believe them too and convinces himself that the girls are actually freezing cold. When he goes to touch them, he is already thinking in his mind that it is true, so she could have a high fever and he would find her freezing. I think there are two sides to this; the girls convincing themselves into their actions and everyone else convincing themselves the same thing.

[allil02]

The three girls were sure to have had a "mind over matter" experience, however, in the play Abigail is fully aware that she, nor any of the girls, is being possessed by witches. Abigail proved to be fully aware of their conditions by her manipulating the situations at hand to better her own circumstance. Her drvie for power originated when the Proctor’s fried her from their household, and strengthened when Proctor turned her down—and she was unable to inveigle him. She seeks to regain power by blaming all her previous recognized faults on witchcraft, and the outcasts of Salem who were already regarded inferior to her. For instance, Abigail places the culpability on Tituba for “Send[ing] her spirit on [her] in church, and [making her] laugh at prayer” (Miller 44). Abigail was never superseded by thoughts of witchcraft; she had realized that her attempt in the woods was unsuccessful and seized the opportunity to gain respect and clout in Salem.