Herd behavior is the behavior of individuals in a group acting
collectively without centralized direction. Herd behavior occurs in animals in
herds, packs, bird flocks, fish schools and so on, as well as in humans.
Voting, demonstrations, riots, general strikes, sporting events, religious
gatherings, everyday decision-making, judgement and opinion-forming, are all
forms of human-based herd behavior.
Raafat, Chater and Frith proposed an integrated approach to herding,
describing two key issues, the mechanisms of transmission of thoughts or
behavior between individuals and the patterns of connections between them.