Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Deindividuation
- Characteristics of D
- A01
- D = psychological state characterised by lowered
self-evaluation + decreased concerns about eval
- Leads to increase in behaviour that would
normally be inhibited by personal or social norms
- Psychological state aroused when indivi. joins crowds or large groups
- Contributing factors = anonymity (wearing uniform) +
altered consciousness due to drugs or alcohol
- Zimbardo
- Stressed these same conditions may lead to an increase in pro-social behaviour,
but focus of D theory has been almost exclusively on antisocial behaviour
- Crowds at music festivals + large religious gatherings
- A02
- Johnson + Downing
- Explored idea rather than D automatically increasing incidence of
aggression, any behaviour produced could be product of local group norms
- Same experimental
conditions as Zimbardo
- Ppts made anonymous by means of mask + overalls
(reminiscent of KKK), or by means of nurses' uniforms
- Ppts shocked more than control condition when dressed in KKK uniforms,
but actually shocked less than controls when dressed as nurses
- Findings illustrate people respond to normative cues associated
w/ social context in which they find themselves
- As was case in Zimbardo et al's Stanford Prison Experiment
- Ppts dressed as KKK clearly felt aggressive behaviour was
more appropriate than did ppts dressed as nurses
- Anonymity
- A01
- People refrain from acting in aggressive manner
partly because social norms inhibit such
'uncivilised' behaviour + partly because they're
easily identifiable
- Being anonymous (effectively unaccountable) in crowd has psychological consequence
of reducing inner restraints + increasing behaviours that are usually inhibited
- Zimbardo
- Carried out serious of experiments instrumental
in development of D theory
- A02
- Research support
- Zimbardo
- Groups of 4 F undergraduates required to deliver
electric shocks to another student to 'aid learning'
- 1/2 wore bulky lab coats and hoods that hid their faces, sat
in separate cubicles + were never referred to be name
- Others wore normal clothes, given large name tags +
were introduced to each other by name
- Were also able to see each other when seated at shock machines
- Both sets were told they could see person being socked
- Ppts in D condition shocked 'learner' for
twice as long as did identifiable ppts
- Rehm et al
- Investigated wearing
uniform when part of sports
team
- Randomly assigned German schoolchildren to handball teams of five
people, 1/2 wearing same orange shirts other 1/2 wore normal street
clothes
- Children wearing orange (harder to tell apart) played game
consistently more aggressively than children in everyday clothes
- IDA - Gender bias
- Apparent in Rehm's study
- Cannavale et al
- Found M + F groups responded differently under D conditions, as there
was an increase in aggression only obtained in all-M groups
- Diener et al
- Found greater D of aggression in M, suggesting M may be more prone
to disinhibiton of aggressive behaviour when D'ed
- Faceless crowd
- A01
- According to Zimbardo
- Being part of crowd can diminsh
awareness of our own individuality
- In large crowd, each person is faceless
+ anonymous - larger group, greater
anonymity
- Diminished fear of
negative eval of actions +
reduced sense of guilt
- Conditions increase anonymity, minimise concerns about eval by others, so
weaken normal barriers to antisocial behaviour based on guilt or shame
- Mullen
- Analysed newspaper cuttings of 60
lynching's in US between 1899 +
1946
- Found more people there were in mob, greater savagery
with which they killed victims
- A02
- IDA - Real-world application
- Mann
- Used concept of D to explain bizarre aspect of
collective behaviour - 'baiting crowd'
- Analysed 21 suicide leaps reported in US
newspapers in 1960s + 1970s
- Found in 10/21 cases where crowd had
gathered to watch, baiting had occured
- Incidents tended to occur at night, when crowd was
large + some distance from person being taunted
- These features were likely to produce state of D in members of crowd
- Cultural differences
- Robert Watson
- Collected data on extent to which warriors in 23 societies changed appearance prior
to going to war + extent to which they killed, tortured or mutilated their victims
- Those societies where warriors changed appearance were more destructive
toward victims compared to those who didn't change appearance
- Reduced private self-awareness
- A01
- Prentice-Dunn et al
- Offer alternative perspective to Z's
conclusion anonymity is important
determinant of D
- Claim reduced self-awareness, rather
than simply A that leads to D
- If indivi. is self-focused, tend to focus on, act according to, internalised attitudes +
moral standards, thus reducing likelihood of antisocial behaviour
- If indivi. submerges themselves in group, may lose focus, becoming less
privately self-aware, therefore less able to regulate own behaviour
- A02
- Postmes + Spears
- Meta-analysis of 60 studies concludes there's
insufficient support for major claims of D theory
- Found D + antisocial behaviour aren't more
common in large groups + anonymous settings
- Nor was there much evidence that D is associated w/ reduced self-awareness, or
that reduced self-awareness increases aggressive behaviour
- Pro-social consequences
- Spivey + Prentice-Dunn
- Found D could lead to either pro-social or antisocial
behaviour depending on situational factors
- When pro-social cues where present, D ppts performed slightly more altruistic
acts + significantly fewer antisocial acts compared to control group