The Nature of Panics

I have been asked my “opinion” with respect to the existence of a Collective unconscious in terms of the Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961), who disagreed with Freud and believed his personal development was influenced by factors he felt were unrelated to sexuality. Nevertheless, Jung’s work has led to many considering it to be a form of collective unconsciousness that exists whereby we are all connected somehow and respond in a herd manner.

I really have no opinion on Jung’s work. Nevertheless, there is clearly a sort of collective unconsciousness that comes into play creating panics. I tend to see it more as a herd of zebra. They are all clustered together and one on the fringe of the herd sees a lion approaching or may have thought he saw a lion approaching. Whichever the case, he starts to run and the others all panic and run as well without knowing why nor did they see the lion. They run because everyone else is running.

This is the same behavior that dominates a panic in markets. At the end of the day, everyone sells because everyone else is selling. There is usually no solid reason that can be asserted as a fundamental.