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The exhibited behaviours are episodic glossolalia, collapsing, fainting, trembling, jerking, convulsing, contorting and shaking. The individuals performing these episodic behaviours report experiencing overwhelming emotions of love, peace, ecstasy and euphoria. The exhibited behaviours are inconsistent with the claimed emotions, so perhaps another way to understand the question is to explain why individuals behave in a manner that is inconsistent with their emotions. Examples of behaviour associated with euphoria do not generally include glossolalia, collapsing, fainting, trembling, jerking and shaking. The exhibited behaviours are more congruent with the emotions of stress, anxiety, fear, and confusion.

The adoption by some Christian sects of the exhibited behaviours appears to be relatively recent with the "Toronto Blessing" in the 1990s appearing to be significant. In all cases exhibited, the behaviours and emotions appear to occur in the presence of, and behest of, a charismatic and captivating authority figure.

The exhibited behaviours are episodic glossolalia, collapsing, fainting, trembling, jerking, convulsing, contorting, and shaking. The individuals performing these episodic behaviours report experiencing overwhelming emotions of love, peace, ecstasy and euphoria. The exhibited behaviours are inconsistent with the claimed emotions, so perhaps another way to understand the question is to explain why individuals behave in a manner that is inconsistent with their emotions. Examples of behaviour associated with euphoria do not generally include glossolalia, collapsing, fainting, trembling, jerking and shaking. The exhibited behaviours are more congruent with the emotions of stress, anxiety, fear, and confusion.

The adoption by some Christian sects of the exhibited behaviours, and other behaviours such as laughing and drunkenness, appears to be relatively recent with the "Toronto Blessing" in the 1990s appearing to be significant. In all cases exhibited, the behaviours and emotions appear to occur in the presence of, and behest of, a charismatic and captivating authority figure.

1. Unidentified invisible force. No confirmatory evidence has yet been tendered supporting the existence of invisible forces, other than the four fundamental forces of gravity, electromagnetism and strong and weak nuclear forces. As the exhibited behaviours are widespread across non-intersecting religious and cultural groups, a further unanswered question is which of the unidentified invisible forces is capable of inducing the emotions and behaviours or whether all unidentified invisible forces are equally capable of inducing such emotions and behaviours. The Christian sects shown in the exhibited videos subscribe to their religion by way of faith, which is ordinarily defined as a belief in the absence of supporting evidence. There being no scientific evidence of the involvement of unidentified invisible force(s), this hypothesis is dismissed.

2. Hysterical state induced by the leader: The presence of a charismatic and captivating leader in all the videos provided suggests credence for this option. The causes of Mass Psychological Illness remain speculative. The psychological mechanism capable of inducing a hysterical state are not yet understood and the mechanisms used by the charismatic leader are not uniform between the ghost dance ceremonies, Hindu Kundalini Awakening ceremonies, particular martial arts and Christian sects. There being no identified scientifically established mechanism capable of inducing hysterical states, this hypothesis is dismissed.

3. Hysterical state induced by the individual: No established mechanism by which an individual may self-induce a hysterical state was identified, therefore, this hypothesis is dismissed.

4. Conformance to the social norms: There is strong evidence that individuals seek to conform with the directions of authority figures and social norms. Conformance is due to the desire to avoid behaviours that would exclude them from the group(Burger, 2019; Milgram & Gudehus, 1978; Philippe & Durand, 2011; Schmidt et al., 2019). YouTube records examples of individuals participating in such behaviours but later ceasing the behaviours. These individuals report conforming to the behaviours due to social and situational pressure. It seems inconceivable that individuals who can participate in activities (in some cases for many years) that reliably induce feelings of love, peace, ecstasy and euphoria would ever seek to depart from such behaviours, yet the internet abounds with stories of individuals ceasing to perform such behaviours. The prevalence of individuals reporting conformance to social and situational pressure and the abundance of established peer reviewed literature identifying the basis of socially conforming behaviour suggests that this hypothesis is not immediately dismissable and worthy of more rigorous scientific analysis. References to individuals departing from these behaviours can be found here, here, here, here and here.

5. Functional Neurological Disorder (FND): Individuals suffering FND exhibit behaviours for many years and do not describe the concurrent emotions as love, peace, ecstasy and euphoria. There being no similarity between FND and the relevant behaviours and emotions, this hypothesis is dismissed.

6. Paid actors: Given the number of observed occurrences of the exhibited behaviours, it seems inconceivable that at least one paid actor would not have published their experiences in either paid media or a blog. The absence of individuals claiming to be paid actors discredits this hypothesis and it is therefore dismissed.

7. Hypnosis: Hypnosis is defined as a human condition involving focused attention, reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion. It is unclear from the exhibited behaviours that the process of hypnosis matches the behavioural expectations of hypnosis (Williamson, 2019; Mayo Clinic) and nor does the hypnotic induction process appear to match those in the exhibited videos. For these reasons, this hypothesis is therefore dismissed.

8. Attention seeking:

9. Dissociative disorder:

10. Divine intervention:

Of the eight strawman hypotheses, only one avoided immediate dismissal. The hypothesis that avoided dismissal undoubtedly requires more formal scientific assessment, presumably by way of surveying a substantial number of individuals who have previously participated in such behaviours.

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1. Unidentified invisible force/Divine Intervention. No confirmatory evidence has yet been tendered supporting the existence of invisible forces, other than the four fundamental forces of gravity, electromagnetism and strong and weak nuclear forces. As the exhibited behaviours are widespread across non-intersecting religious and cultural groups, a further unanswered question is which of the unidentified invisible forces is capable of inducing the emotions and behaviours or whether all unidentified invisible forces are equally capable of inducing such emotions and behaviours. The Christian sects shown in the exhibited videos subscribe to their religion by way of faith, which is ordinarily defined as a belief in the absence of supporting evidence. There being no scientific evidence of the involvement of unidentified invisible force(s), this hypothesis is dismissed. For further discussions on divine intervention, see https://doi.org/10.1080/14746700802396106 , https://doi.org/10.5840/faithphil199714215 , https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2019.26106 , and https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501735295-074 .

2. Hysterical state induced by the leader: The presence of a charismatic and captivating leader in all the videos provided suggests credence for this option. The causes of Mass Psychological Illness remain speculative. The psychological mechanism capable of inducing a hysterical state are not yet understood and the mechanisms used by the charismatic leader are not uniform between the ghost dance ceremonies, Hindu Kundalini Awakening ceremonies, particular martial arts and Christian sects. There being no identified scientifically established mechanism capable of inducing hysterical states, this hypothesis is dismissed.

3. Hysterical state induced by the individual: No established mechanism by which an individual may self-induce a hysterical state was identified, therefore, this hypothesis is dismissed.

4. Conformance to the social norms: There is strong evidence that individuals seek to conform with the directions of authority figures and social norms. Conformance is due to the desire to avoid behaviours that would exclude them from the group(Burger, 2019; Milgram & Gudehus, 1978; Philippe & Durand, 2011; Schmidt et al., 2019). YouTube records examples of individuals participating in such behaviours but later ceasing the behaviours. These individuals report conforming to the behaviours due to social and situational pressure. It seems inconceivable that individuals who can participate in activities (in some cases for many years) that reliably induce feelings of love, peace, ecstasy and euphoria would ever seek to depart from such behaviours, yet the internet abounds with stories of individuals ceasing to perform such behaviours. The prevalence of individuals reporting conformance to social and situational pressure and the abundance of established peer reviewed literature identifying the basis of socially conforming behaviour suggests that this hypothesis is not immediately dismissable and worthy of more rigorous scientific analysis. References to individuals departing from these behaviours can be found here, here, here, here and here.

5. Functional Neurological Disorder (FND): Individuals suffering FND exhibit behaviours for many years and do not describe the concurrent emotions as love, peace, ecstasy and euphoria. There being no similarity between FND and the relevant behaviours and emotions, this hypothesis is dismissed.

6. Paid actors: Given the number of observed occurrences of the exhibited behaviours, it seems inconceivable that at least one paid actor would not have published their experiences in either paid media or a blog. The absence of individuals claiming to be paid actors discredits this hypothesis and it is therefore dismissed.

7. Hypnosis: Hypnosis is defined as a human condition involving focused attention, reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion. It is unclear from the exhibited behaviours that the process of hypnosis matches the behavioural expectations of hypnosis (Williamson, 2019; Mayo Clinic) and nor does the hypnotic induction process appear to match those in the exhibited videos. For these reasons, this hypothesis is therefore dismissed.

8. Attention seeking: Attention seeking seems very likely given the nature of the YouTube based individual testimonies. Attention seeking and Conformance to the social norms appear to be related when the individual seeks to draw attention to their conformance to the social norm (see DOI:10.1111/bjso.12196, DOI:10.1353/jip.2021.0002).

9. Dissociative disorder: It seems less likely that anyone with a dissociative disorder would post (or would be able to) post on YouTube.

Of the nine strawman hypotheses, only Conformance to the social norms and Attention seeking avoided immediate dismissal. Both hypotheses that avoided dismissal undoubtedly requires more formal scientific assessment, presumably by way of surveying a substantial number of individuals who have previously participated in such behaviours.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_seeking

1. Unidentified invisible force. No confirmatory evidence has yet been tendered supporting the existence of invisible forces, other than the four fundamental forces of gravity, electromagnetism and strong and weak nuclear forces. As the exhibited behaviours are widespread across non-intersecting religious and cultural groups, a further unanswered question is which of the unidentified invisible forces is capable of inducing the emotions and behaviours or whether all unidentified invisible forces are equally capable of inducing such emotions and behaviours. The Christian sects shown in the exhibited videos subscribe to their religion by way of faith, which is ordinarily defined as a belief in the absence of supporting evidence. There being no scientific evidence of the involvement of unidentified invisible force(s), this hypothesis is dismissed.

2. Hysterical state induced by the leader: The presence of a charismatic and captivating leader in all the videos provided suggests credence for this option. The causes of Mass Psychological Illness remain speculative. The psychological mechanism capable of inducing a hysterical state are not yet understood and the mechanisms used by the charismatic leader are not uniform between the ghost dance ceremonies, Hindu Kundalini Awakening ceremonies, particular martial arts and Christian sects. There being no identified scientifically established mechanism capable of inducing hysterical states, this hypothesis is dismissed.

3. Hysterical state induced by the individual: No established mechanism by which an individual may self-induce a hysterical state was identified, therefore, this hypothesis is dismissed.

4. Conformance to the social norms: There is strong evidence that individuals seek to conform with the directions of authority figures and social norms. Conformance is due to the desire to avoid behaviours that would exclude them from the group(Burger, 2019; Milgram & Gudehus, 1978; Philippe & Durand, 2011; Schmidt et al., 2019). YouTube records examples of individuals participating in such behaviours but later ceasing the behaviours. These individuals report conforming to the behaviours due to social and situational pressure. It seems inconceivable that individuals who can participate in activities (in some cases for many years) that reliably induce feelings of love, peace, ecstasy and euphoria would ever seek to depart from such behaviours, yet the internet abounds with stories of individuals ceasing to perform such behaviours. The prevalence of individuals reporting conformance to social and situational pressure and the abundance of established peer reviewed literature identifying the basis of socially conforming behaviour suggests that this hypothesis is not immediately dismissable and worthy of more rigorous scientific analysis. References to individuals departing from these behaviours can be found here, here, here, here and here.

5. Functional Neurological Disorder (FND): Individuals suffering FND exhibit behaviours for many years and do not describe the concurrent emotions as love, peace, ecstasy and euphoria. There being no similarity between FND and the relevant behaviours and emotions, this hypothesis is dismissed.

6. Paid actors: Given the number of observed occurrences of the exhibited behaviours, it seems inconceivable that at least one paid actor would not have published their experiences in either paid media or a blog. The absence of individuals claiming to be paid actors discredits this hypothesis and it is therefore dismissed.

7. Hypnosis: Hypnosis is defined as a human condition involving focused attention, reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion. It is unclear from the exhibited behaviours that the process of hypnosis matches the behavioural expectations of hypnosis (Williamson, 2019; Mayo Clinic) and nor does the hypnotic induction process appear to match those in the exhibited videos. For these reasons, this hypothesis is therefore dismissed.

8. Attention seeking:

9. Dissociative disorder:

1. Unidentified invisible force. No confirmatory evidence has yet been tendered supporting the existence of invisible forces, other than the four fundamental forces of gravity, electromagnetism and strong and weak nuclear forces. As the exhibited behaviours are widespread across non-intersecting religious and cultural groups, a further unanswered question is which of the unidentified invisible forces is capable of inducing the emotions and behaviours or whether all unidentified invisible forces are equally capable of inducing such emotions and behaviours. The Christian sects shown in the exhibited videos subscribe to their religion by way of faith, which is ordinarily defined as a belief in the absence of supporting evidence. There being no scientific evidence of the involvement of unidentified invisible force(s), this hypothesis is dismissed.

2. Hysterical state induced by the leader: The presence of a charismatic and captivating leader in all the videos provided suggests credence for this option. The causes of Mass Psychological Illness remain speculative. The psychological mechanism capable of inducing a hysterical state are not yet understood and the mechanisms used by the charismatic leader are not uniform between the ghost dance ceremonies, Hindu Kundalini Awakening ceremonies, particular martial arts and Christian sects. There being no identified scientifically established mechanism capable of inducing hysterical states, this hypothesis is dismissed.

3. Hysterical state induced by the individual: No established mechanism by which an individual may self-induce a hysterical state was identified, therefore, this hypothesis is dismissed.

4. Conformance to the social norms: There is strong evidence that individuals seek to conform with the directions of authority figures and social norms. Conformance is due to the desire to avoid behaviours that would exclude them from the group(Burger, 2019; Milgram & Gudehus, 1978; Philippe & Durand, 2011; Schmidt et al., 2019). YouTube records examples of individuals participating in such behaviours but later ceasing the behaviours. These individuals report conforming to the behaviours due to social and situational pressure. It seems inconceivable that individuals who can participate in activities (in some cases for many years) that reliably induce feelings of love, peace, ecstasy and euphoria would ever seek to depart from such behaviours, yet the internet abounds with stories of individuals ceasing to perform such behaviours. The prevalence of individuals reporting conformance to social and situational pressure and the abundance of established peer reviewed literature identifying the basis of socially conforming behaviour suggests that this hypothesis is not immediately dismissable and worthy of more rigorous scientific analysis. References to individuals departing from these behaviours can be found here, here, here, here and here.

5. Functional Neurological Disorder (FND): Individuals suffering FND exhibit behaviours for many years and do not describe the concurrent emotions as love, peace, ecstasy and euphoria. There being no similarity between FND and the relevant behaviours and emotions, this hypothesis is dismissed.

6. Paid actors: Given the number of observed occurrences of the exhibited behaviours, it seems inconceivable that at least one paid actor would not have published their experiences in either paid media or a blog. The absence of individuals claiming to be paid actors discredits this hypothesis and it is therefore dismissed.

7. Hypnosis: Hypnosis is defined as a human condition involving focused attention, reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion. It is unclear from the exhibited behaviours that the process of hypnosis matches the behavioural expectations of hypnosis (Williamson, 2019; Mayo Clinic) and nor does the hypnotic induction process appear to match those in the exhibited videos. For these reasons, this hypothesis is therefore dismissed.

8. Attention seeking:

9. Dissociative disorder:

10. Divine intervention: