核心词汇 (Target Vocabulary)

学习 7A 群体社会心理学核心生词，点击语音按钮可听纯正美音发音，掌握核心释义与真题例句。

evident [ˈevɪdənt] adj.
Easily seen or understood; obvious.
明显的；明白的
"The positive psychological impact of shared religious rituals was evident among the pilgrims."
faith [feɪθ] n.
Great trust or confidence in something or someone; religious belief.
信念；信仰；信任
"Millions of Hindu devotees demonstrate unwavering faith during the Kumbh Mela pilgrimage."
harmony [ˈhɑːməni] n.
A situation in which people live and work together pleasantly and peacefully.
融洽；和睦；和谐
"Despite immense crowds, pilgrims move together in remarkable harmony and mutual care."
organized [ˈɔːɡənaɪzd] adj.
Planned or arranged well and efficiently.
有组织的；井井有条的
"Festival grounds were meticulously organized with medical camps, sanitation, and clean water."
participant [pɑːˈtɪsɪpənt] n.
A person who takes part in or becomes involved in an activity.
参与者；参加者
"Each participant in the ritual immersion reported reduced physical aches and lowered anxiety."
progress [prəˈɡres] v./n.
To develop, advance, or move forward gradually.
进展；推进；前行
"As the sacred morning progressed, waves of bathers stepped calmly into the chilly river."
prospective [prəˈspektɪv] adj.
Expected to happen or arrive in the future; potential.
预期的；未来的；潜在的
"Researchers surveyed prospective pilgrims weeks before they embarked on their journey."
sacred [ˈseɪkrɪd] adj.
Considered holy and deserving of great respect in religion.
神圣的；庄严的
"The confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers is regarded as India's most sacred waters."
society [səˈsaɪəti] n.
A large group of people living together in an organized community.
社会；群体
"Modern urban society often atomizes individuals, increasing loneliness and alienation."
suspect [səˈspekt] v.
To think or believe that something is likely to be true.
怀疑；猜想
"Psychologists suspect that shared social identity transforms random crowds into supportive units."
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A Crowd in Harmony

步调一致的群体：印度大壶节千万人狂欢中的集体认同与身心疗愈奇迹

Paragraph A
reading seven A, a crowd in harmony. It is before dawn on the second major bathing day of the festival, and fog shrouds the river. In a single day, tens of millions of people will bathe in the Ganges River here in Alahabad, India. In the moonlight, the crowds begin to swell in the riverbank. There are thousands here already, but the crowd is calm and united. There is no pushing or panic, only a sense of purpose, as pilgrims enter the icy water to bathe and come out again. People cooperate and help one another. Afterwards, they are joyful.
Paragraph B
As the day progresses, the number of people stepping into the river increases. Some splash in the water, some drop flowers into it, and others light oil lamps and set them floating on the river. There are men who splash into the water theatrically with swords in hand. There are unwilling children whose parents drag them in fully clothed. There are holy men dressed in bright orange robes with skin covered in sacred white ash. There are other devout men wearing the ash, but little or no clothing, as their religion requires. There are people everywhere, but somehow, incredibly, no one is stepped on, no one is drowned, and no one is heard screaming for help. All is harmony.
Paragraph C
It is the cummella, the largest and most sacred gathering of all Hindu pilgrimages. It is also considered to be the largest peaceful gathering of people anywhere in the world. Each year, as part of the cum, several million Hindus bathed here in the Sacred Ganges River. Every 12 years, the gathering becomes much larger, and a giant tent city is set up to house the participants. In 2013, the cum lasted 55 days, and it is estimated that 120 million pilgrims participated in activities such as ritual bathing, praying, singing, feeding the poor, and religious discussion. The cum tent city covered more than 25 square kilometers. It was divided into 14 areas, each with its own hospital, police station, roads, grocery store, and supplies of electricity and drinking water, an extraordinary achievement. The basic crowd control strategy was to avoid dangerous overcrowding at hotspots, such as bridges and train stations.
Paragraph D
Incredibly well organised, incredibly clean, very efficiently run, said Rahul Maratra, a professor of urban design and planning at Harvard University who observed the festival. The scientific approach Psychologists like Stephen Reicher from the University of St Andrews in the UK suspect that crowds have a positive impact on the health of the individuals within them. What our research shows is that actually crowds are critical to society, he says. They help form our sense of who we are. They help form our relations to others. They even help determine our physical well-being. Reicher and his colleagues came to this, the largest Hindu festival to test the idea that crowds are beneficial and to confirm the helpful effects of the cum on its participants. Before the start of the 2011 festival, his researchers went out into the Indian countryside to question a group of prospective pilgrims about their mental and physical health. They also questioned people who didn't plan to attend.
Paragraph E
The researchers returned to question both groups a month after the cum had ended. Those who stayed in the villages reported no real change over the period of the study. The pilgrims, on the other hand, reported a 10% improvement in their health, including less pain, less anxiety and higher energy levels. What's more, the good effects lasted long afterward? Why should belonging to a crowd improve your health? Psychologists think a shared identity is the cause. You think in terms of, we, rather than I, explains Nick Hopkins from the University of Dundee in the UK, this way of thinking altered human relationships. Members of the crowd support one another, competition becomes cooperation, and people are able to achieve their goals in a way they wouldn't be able to alone.
Paragraph F
The power of crowds. Unfortunately, in spite of the mutual support so evident elsewhere at the cum, 36 people died in a stampede at the Alahabad train station on February 10, 2013. Somehow, the crowd had lost its harmony. Riker wrote that one possible cause was that the pilgrims no longer formed a psychological crowd. They no longer saw those around them as fellow pilgrims, but rather as competitors for seats on a train. Strangely, before this unfortunate incident, Riker had interviewed a pilgrim who was asked to describe the feeling in the crowd at the station. People think they are more powerful than you. They can push you around, she said.
Paragraph G
She was then asked to describe the feeling at the cum. People are concerned about you. They treat you in a polite manner. The stampede was an example of what can happen when the psychological cooperation of a crowd breaks down. Incidents such as the stampede are rare at the cum, and this one is unlikely to deter pilgrims from attending the event in the future. The police will undoubtedly learn from this experience and make the station safer. But in crowds as large as those at the cum, individuals must put their faith in the power of psychological cooperation, as Stephen Riker calls it. In other words, love thy neighbor.

课文配套练习 (Reading Exercises)

严格对应教材 Page 116–121 官方练习：Before You Read、Reading Comprehension 及集体身份影响分析。

1.
Definitions (p.116) people who travel to a holy place for religious reasons
2.
Definitions (p.116) containing too many people or things
3.
Definitions (p.116) to wash oneself in a body of water
4.
Main Idea (p.120) What is the main finding of the psychological study at the Kumbh Mela?
5.
Definition (Para C, p.120) What is a 'psychological crowd' as defined by researchers?
6.
Detail (Para E, p.120) What surprising physical benefit did surveyed pilgrims report one month after the festival?
7.
Inference (Para F, p.120) Why did commuters at central London train stations report feeling safer in dense crowds?
8.
Main Idea (p.120) What does the passage conclude about the nature of crowds?
9.
Detail (p.120) Effects of Shared Identity: Health benefits among pilgrims lasted:
10.
Detail (p.120) Effects of Shared Identity: Strangers at the festival treated each other with kindness due to a:

Critical Thinking · Shared Identity & Well-being
Why did pilgrims report lasting physical pain reduction and anxiety relief after immersion in cold, crowded river water?
Have you ever experienced a powerful sense of harmony and mutual belonging in a massive crowd? Note your thoughts below.