Editing 1947 flying disc craze (section)

===Behavioral===
{{see also|Mass psychogenic illness|Psychosocial hypothesis}}
[[File:Dance at Molenbeek.jpg|thumb|right| [[Dancing mania|Dancing plagues]] of the [[Middle Ages]] are thought to have been caused by mass hysteria.]]
During the 1947 craze, experts in human behavior argued the reports were best explained as a [[psychology|psychological]] or [[anthropological|social]] phenomenon.  The flying disc craze was compared to Scotland's [[Loch Ness monster]], the panic caused by the Orson Welles broadcast of War of the Worlds, and a [[May 1947 Tokyo Sea Monster broadcast|sea monster panic]] caused by a US Armed Forces Radio hoax in Japan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cdn.centerforinquiry.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/29/2000/05/22164854/p20.pdf|title=Mass Delusions and Hysterias : Highlights from the Past Millennium|quotation=Over the past millennium, mass delusions and hysterical outbreaks have taken many forms. Sociologists Robert Bartholomew and Erich Goode survey some of the more colorful cases.|author1=Robert E. Bartholomew and Erich Goode|website=Cdn.centerforinquiry.org|access-date=June 24, 2022}}</ref>

On July 3, the International News Service suggested a sociological component, arguing that Arnold had "broken the ice" and induced "trained observers to tell stories they had hesitated to relate before in the fear nobody would believe them".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/723487772/|title=4 Jul 1947, 2 - The Idaho Statesman at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref> As early as July 5, press featured speculation that the disc craze was the result of [[mass psychogenic illness|mass hysteria]].<ref name="auto18"/>

On July 9, psychiatrist [[Edward Adam Strecker|Edward Strecker]] described discs as the result of "pathological receptiveness".  Strecker argued that initial witnesses "may have seen something, such as the glint of an airplane" while subsequent sightings were likely illusions brought on by hysteria.  Strecker argued that 'the emotional state of many person had been over-active since the first atomic bomb exploded'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/773565938/|title=9 Jul 1947, 18 - The Seattle Star at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  [[Winfred Overholser]], nationally renown psychiatrist, described the reports as a "national hysteria".<ref name="auto79"/>

On July 9, it was reported that an Indianapolis woman was sent to a mental ward after she was discovered "hacking holes in the sidewalk with a hatchet" in an effort to 'drive the saucers away'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/540797971/|title=9 Jul 1947, 5 - The Herald at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>  The Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph ran a headline telling readers "If you're seeing those saucers -- call the psychiatrist, and quick!" after a Harvard professor proclaimed that flying disc mystery was "not a problem for meteorologists or astronomers, but one for psychiatrists."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/523992561/|title=9 Jul 1947, 1 - Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com}}</ref>