De-individuation Flashcards
(9 cards)
What is de-individuation?
A psychological state in which individuals have lowered levels of self-evaluation (e.g. in a crowd or under influence of alcohol) and decreased concerns about evaluation by others
What is the nature of de-individuation?
Festinger et al - psychological state in which inner restraints are lost when ‘individuals are not seen as people’
Zimbardo - being in a crowd gave people a ‘cloak of anonymity’ that diminished any personal consequences for their actions
What happens in the process of de-individuation?
People refrain from acting in an aggressive manner partly because there are social norms inhibiting such ‘uncivilised’ behaviour + people easily identified
Anonymity in a crowd has psychological consequence of reducing inner restraints
Zimbardo - being apart of a crowd can diminish our own individuality - greater the crowd = the greater the anonymity
Individuals who believe their identities are unknown are more likely to behave in an aggressive manner
What research is there on de-individuation?
Zimbardo - stanford prison experiment - guards who became increasingly tyrannical wore mirrored sunglasses that increased their anonymity and in turn increased de-individuation
What was the procedure of Zimbaro study?
Groups of 4 female undergraduates were required to deliver electric shocks to another student to ‘aid learning’
Half wore bulky lab coats + hoods that hid their faces + sat in separate cubicles and were never referred to by name
Other half given large name tags and wore normal clothes + able to see each other at shock machines
What were the findings of zimbardos study?
Participants in de-individuation condition were more likely to press a button that they believed would give shocks to a victim in another room + held the shock button down twice as long
What evidence is there for anonymity increasing de-individuation?
Rehm et al - observed 30 games of handball in German schools
- One team all wore same orange shirts
- Others wore different coloured shirts
Found higher levels of aggression in uniformed team - supports side of de-individuation when anonymity is increased
Why is the support for de-individuation inconclusive?
Postmes & Spears: meta-analysis of 60 individuals - found disinhibition and anti-social behaviour are not more common in large groups and anonymous settings - found instead de-individuation increases responsiveness to situational norms (prosocial behaviour)
This demonstrates individual differences and that de-individuation does not always lead to aggression
What real world application is there of de-individuation in crowds?
Mann - analysed 21 suicide leaps reported in US newspapers in 1960s/70s
in 10/21 cases where a crowd had gathered, baiting had occurred (crowd urged jumper to jump) - mostly occurred at night night, when their was a large crowd and some distance from the person being taunted = de-individuation
Mullen - analysis of 60 lynchings in US 1899-1946 found the more people there were in a mob, the greater the savagery with which the perpetrators killed their victims
