Deindividuation

• What is Deindividuation?

  A psychological state where the person loses their personal sense of identity
• Who proposed the idea of Deindividuation?

  • LeBon in 1895
• What are the reasons that Deindividuation occurs?

  • They are in a large crowd
  • They are wearing a uniform of some kind
  • They are using an alias
  • They are under the influence of drugs or alcohol
  • They are hiding their face
  • They are in darkness
• How does Deindividuation lead to aggression?

  In a deindividuated state, people are more likely to ignore social norms and even laws and become aggressive
• How and why does Deindividuation occur?

  • Most of the time our behaviour is rational and normative
  • This discourages aggression
  • However if we are part of a large crowd we can lose restraint and have the freedom to behave in ways that we wouldn't normally
  • We lose our sense of self-identity - We are just one person in a group of many
  • We lose our sense of personal responsibility - Responsibility is shared by the crowd
  • The bigger the crowd the more anonymous we are and therefore fewer opportunities to judge us
• What is Private Self-Awareness?

  • Concerns how we pay attention to our own feelings and behaviours
  • This is reduced when we are apart of a crowd
  • Our attention becomes focused on the external events around us so we pay less attention to our own beliefs and feelings
  • We are less self-critical and less thoughtful which promotes a deindividuated state
• What is Public Self-Awareness?

  • Refers to how much we care about what others think about our behaviour
  • This is reduced in crowds
  • We realise we are anonymous and that our behaviours are less likely to be judged by others
  • We no longer care about how others see us so we become less accountable for our aggressive actions
• Who carried out research into Deindividuation?

  • Dodd (1985)
• Describe the procedure of Dodd's research into Deindividuation:

  • 229 psychology undergraduates in 13 classes were asked anonymously what they would do if it were possible to get away with and have no responsibility.
  • Independent raters who were unaware of the hypothesis categorised any anti-social behaviour
• Describe the findings of Dodd's research into Deindividuation:

  • 36% of the findings involved some form of anti-social behaviour
  • 26% were actual criminal acts - most commonly 'rob a bank'
  • Some students opted for murder, rape, assassination of a political figure
  • Only 9% responses were prosocial behaviours
• Describe the conclusions of Dodd's research into Deindividuation:

  In terms of imagining how people think they would react this study demonstrates a link between anonymity, deindividuation, and aggression
• Limitation of Deindividuation - Contradicting Research:

  • Gergen et al (1973)
  • Selected groups of 8 participants who were all strangers
  • They were placed in a completely darkened room for one hour and they were given the guarantee that they would never see each other again
  • After a brief time of talking they started kissing and touching
  • The study was then repeated but this time the Ps were told that they would come face to face afterwards - Amount of kissing and touching declined
  • Of all the behaviours that deindividuation could have given rise to in this study, aggression was not one
• Strength of Deindividuation - Supporting Research:

  • Douglas and McGarty
  • Looked at aggressive behaviour online in chat rooms and uses of instant messages
  • They found a strong correlation between anonymity and 'flaming'
  • The most aggressive messages were those sent by people who chose to hide their real identities
  • This suggests a link between anonymity and aggressive behaviour

  COUNTERPOINT:

  • Correlational so can't explain causation
• Strength of Deindividuation - Supporting Research:

  • Zimbardo (1969)
  • Female students
  • Researchers clothed one group of Ps anonymously in oversized lab coats and hoods and a control group with typical clothes and name tags
  • Asked to gives 'shocks' similar to Milgram
  • Deindividuated group: Twice as likely to comply with giving shocks - they were also more intense
  • Individuated group: Delivered less shocks and for less time
• Strength of Deindividuation - Supporting Research:

  • Johnson and Dowling
  • Female undergraduates split into 3 groups:

  1. Masks and hoods over head (Klu Klux Klan type outfit)
  2. Dressed as nurses
  3. Control wore own clothes

  • Asked to shock a learner
  • Deindividuated group: Gave more frequent and intense shocks
  • Individuated Group: Nurses were compassionate and gave less shocks - Prosocial also an outcome of deindividuation
• Strength of Deindividuation - Supporting Research:

  • Mann - 'The Baiting Crowd'
  • Analysed 21 incidents of suicide leaps where a group had gathered.
  • In the majority of these the crowd were horrified and didn't know how to help
  • However in 10 of the cases the crowd started to urge on the suicidal person to jump
  • These instances tended to happen at night and when the crowd was large