Aggression: Deindividuation

Aggression: Deindividuation

1. Festinger et al (1952): a person becomes disinhibited when anonymous/part of a crowd. People feel less personally responsible and less fear of public disapproval when part of a group.

2. Real- world evidence:

   • Mullen (1986): newspaper reports of lynch mob violence in the US, found the more people in the mob= greater level of violence.
   • Mann (1981): 21 reports of suicide, identified 10 cases where a crowd had baited the person, e.g. shouting 'jump'. Baiting more likely to happen at night, when a crowd was at a distance, and when the crowd was large (more than 300).

3. Supporting research studies:

   • Milgram (1963): participants more likely to give another human a high electric shock which could kill them if they couldn't see them and did not have to directly administer it, i.e. through a machine.
   • Diener et al (1976): observed 1300 trick or treating children in the US. If they were anonymous, e.g. mask, costume= more likely to steal money and sweets.
   • Zimardo's Stanford Prison experiment: intended to last for 2 weeks but stopped after 6 days because got out of hand. Pp's assigned roles of prisoners and guards- guards wore uniform and mirrored sunglasses so they became unidentified with themselves. Punishments and treatment of prisoners got too aggressive and harsh and prisoners began to plot revenge.

4. HOWEVER evidence supports the idea that deindividuation INCREASES AGGRESSION. But there are also examples of it having no effect or even reducing it, e.g. individuals in crowds at religious festivals expressing goodwill to others.

   • It is possible that being in a group means that you simply conform to the group norms, therefore if the group are prosocial then the individual may behave that way too.

5. Connevale et al: male and female groups responded differently under deindividuation situations. Noticable higher aggression in males= obvious gender difference.