collective delusion
Mass false belief
Collective delusion is a false belief shared by a group, maintained through social reinforcement rather than evidence.
Unlike individual delusion, it persists because members confirm each other's mistaken perceptions: The tulip mania was a collective delusion about flower bulb values.
The term appears in discussions of cults, market bubbles, and mass hysteria, though calling something a collective delusion often implies the speaker stands outside it.
- mass hysteriaShared irrational public fear
- groupthinkConformity-driven poor decisions
- mob mentalityCollective irrationality in groups
- cultFervent fringe group
- brainwashingCoercive psychological manipulation
propaganda · echo chamber · false consensus · shared belief · blind faith · herd mentality · paranoia · moral panic · witch hunt · conspiracy · mania · panic · fever · contagion · social contagion · bubble · mirage · hallucination
- conformityconformity, conforming, conform, conformist, conformism
collective delusioncollective wisdom
Shared understanding of groups
common knowledge · scientific consensus · accepted truth · received wisdom · conventional wisdom
collective, collect, collected, collecting, collector, collectors, collection, collections, collectively