For a moment it seemed like everyone was watching the same thing. Classrooms have suspended their classes. Families gathered around the live stream. Social media covered with an image of a spaceship in flight.
That mission was Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed flight to the moon in more than 50 years. described as a new character “the golden age of space travel” with millions of people in one triumphant moment as one a rare unifying event.
What made the Artemis II so powerful went beyond its rarity and technical importance. Convergence of attention, feelingsand the meaning created a state that psychologists describe as collective power.
What is collective action?
The first one was defined by a sociologist Emile Durkheim in a religious context, collective pollution describes a shared emotional state of awakening when people participate in a social experience. More recently, it has been described as a state of “felt emotional synchronicity.”
The elements of collective pollution are described, which include:
- Positive, shared feelings
- A sense of involvement with something greater than oneself
- A feeling that is momentarily meaningful or even transcendent
Based on these criteria, it’s easy to see why Artemis II inspired the collective. Millions of people watched the flight, flight and crash with hope and excitement. It was made as a continuation of humanity’s return to deep space. For many communities, it had the added symbolism of Christina Koch, the first woman to walk on the moon, and Victor Glover, the first black astronaut to walk on the moon.
Researchers have attempted to measure the phenomenon of collective diffusion through the 16-item Emotional Synchronicity Scale (PES-S). Selected items from this scale include:
- “We felt stronger than we normally feel.”
- “We felt a strong sense of togetherness.”
- “What we were as a group is more important than what we are as individuals.”
- “We communicated without words.”
Collective action in everyday practice
Interestingly, mass extinction does not appear to be necessary to achieve rare, unusual, or extreme events such as historic rocket launches. Studies have shown that it can occur at normal times.
Some studies have shown that some types of pollution are collective surprisingly common. When asked to reflect on instances of collective diffusion, people listed everyday experiences:
- Drinking coffee in a coffee shop and feeling connected to the people there
- Waiting in line and making small talk with a stranger
- Run with other runners
- Watching a sports event
Or even:
- Seeing a bad driver, another driver also sees
Up to three-quarters of people experience this psychological phenomenon at least once a week, and a third of people almost every day. Appreciation and awareness of this experience is also associated with positive life outcomes such as a sense of social connectedness, greater meaning in life, panicand life satisfaction.
So collective pollution is probably a very common and positive human experience. Understanding and appreciating this phenomenon can enhance the experience of everyday life.
