deindividuation

• de-individuation is a psychological state in which an individual takes on the identity of a social group. Results may be to free the individual from the constraints of social norms and result in anti-social/aggressive behaviour.
• zimbardo distinguished between individuated and de-individuated behaviour

  • de-individuated: behaviours are emotional, impulsive, irrational. loss of self awareness
  • individuated: behaviours are rational and normative
• conditions of de-individuation which promote aggressive behaviours are:

  • dark
  • drugs
  • drink
  • uniform
  • anonymity
• private self awareness is how we pay attention to our own feelings and behaviours

  • reduced when we are part of a crowd
  • pay less attention to our own beliefs and are less self critical
• public self awareness is how much we care about what other people think of our behaviour

  • reduced in crowds
  • we become more anonymous in a crowd and our behaviour is less likely to be judged by others
  • we no longer care about how others perceive us and become less accountable for aggressive behaviour
• Research by Dodd (ANONYMOUS classroom post it study)

  • asked students that if they could do anything humanly possible without being detected or held accountable, what would they do
  • 36% of responses involved some form of anti-social behaviour
  • 26% were criminal acts
  • 9% were pro-social

  this demonstrates a link between anonymity, de-individuation and aggressive behaviour
• Douglass and McGarty (aggressive online chat room behaviour)

  • found a strong correlation between anonymity and sending threatening/hostile messages online.
  • the most aggressive messages were sent from those who chose to hide their real identities
  • this suggests a link between anonymity, de-individuation and aggressive behaviour
• Gergen et al (dark room study)

  • some research studies show that de-individuation does not always lead to aggression
  • put 8 people in a dark room, telling them that they will never see each other again
  • social and polite for 15 minutes then got physical 60 minutes in.
  • at least 80% of the group felt sexually aroused
  • study repeated but they were told they would see each other afterwards - physical interaction decreased significantly

  this study undermines ones of the fundamentals of de-individuation (the idea that de-individuation will lead to aggression)
• Johnson and Downing (women costume study)

  • female participants to give fake electric shocks to a confederate
  • condition 1 - kkk outfits. condition 2 - nurse outfits. condition 3 - control, ppts in their own clothes.
  • found that condition 1 gave more severe electric shocks whereas condition 2 gave fewer and were more compassionate towards the victim (prosocial behaviour)
  • this suggests that both aggression and prosocial behaviour are potential outcomes of de-individuation, depends on normative cues in the situation which is most likely to occur