Deindividuation case study

• Deindividuation / Crowd behaviour

  • When an individual loses their identity to take on the identity of a group
  • Makes them more likely to be antisocial as they are at less risk of being identified
• Aim of Zimbardo's study (1969)

  • To see whether deindividuation impacts whether someone hurts another person
• Method of Zimbardo's study (1969)

  • Copied Milgram's electric shock study with differences
  • All participants were female
  • Group 1: Participants wore their own clothes with name tags
  • Group 2: Participants wore a large coat and hood that hid their face
• Results of Zimbardo's study (1969)

  • Participants in group 2 were more likely to give the learner a shock because they didn't feel responsible for their actions
• Conclusion of Zimbardo's study (1969)

  • Anonymity and deindividuation increases the likelihood that people will act antisocially
• Evaluation of Zimbardo's study (1)

  • Weakness
  • Participants were volunteers
  • Zimbardo would have extroverts who were willing to take part
  • Not sure if other personality types would act the same way
• Evaluation of Zimbardo's study (2)

  • Weakness
  • Only used female participants
  • Cannot generalise findings to males
  • Study is ungeneralisable
• Evaluation of Zimbardo's study (3)

  • Weakness
  • Participants may have realised it was fake
  • Participants would show demand characteristics