Download If you were totally invisible for 24 hours and were completely

Task
If you were totally invisible for 24 hours
and were completely assured that you
would not be detected or held
responsible for your actions, what would
you do?
Task:
Read the article by Jane McGee
Task
In the second paragraph of her article Jane McGee
says ‘ The state (of deindividuation) is characterised
by diminished awareness of self and individuality.
This in turn reduces an individual’s self-restraint and
normative regulation of behaviour’
What do you think are the key phrases
in this statement? Write a sentence on
2 of them explaining what they mean to
you.
Task:
On page 21, in the last paragraph of the third column,
McGee cites Zimbardo (1969) offering the following
as some of the key causal factors of deindividuation:
Anonymity, Reduction of responsibility,
arousal, sensory overload, lack of
contextual structure or predictability,
altered consciousness due to drugs or
alcohol.
Write a brief account of how these factors
could influence crowd behaviour in football or
music concert crowds or a political
demonstration.
Social psychological theories
: Deindividuation
The theory applies to aggression that
occurs when in a group.
A person loses their sense of
individuality and identity.
This can occur in 2 ways:
1. Becoming part of a crowd
2. Identifying with a particular role
Hogg and Vaughan (98) “ a process whereby
people lose their sense of socialised
individual identity and engage in unsocialised,
often antisocial behaviours”
I.e. we become faceless and anonymous and
therefore deindividuated
E.g. In a crowd we become faceless and
anonymous and are therefore less likely to
worry about evaluation by others - normal
controls based on guilt etc will be weakened.
Hoodies allow people to be faceless and
anonymous too
Zimbardo (69) Individual behaviour is
rational and conforms to acceptable
social norms.
Deindividuated behaviour is based on
primitive urges and does not conform.
Factors likely to encourage
Deindividuation:
Zimbardo (1969) suggests 2 factors:
1) Anonymity – e.g. wearing a uniform
This encourages the individual to
identify with the role created by the
uniform and causes them to lose their
sense of individuality
2) Altered consciousness due to
drugs or alcohol.
Supporting research
E.g. Zimbardo (1969)
Participants in the deindiviuated
condition (hood and no name tag)
shocked the learner for twice as long as
the identifiable participant.
E.g. Rehm et al (1987)
Children wearing the same colour shirt
(therefore harder to tell apart) played
handball more aggressively than the
children in their everyday clothes
Mann (81) investigated “baiting” of suicides ie
a crowd urging the potential suicide to jump.
He analysed 21 incidents of suicides reported
in American papers in the 60s and 70s
In 10/21 cases baiting occurred
It was more likely to occur :


at night
when the crowd was large and
the crowd was further away from the person
attempting to commit suicide.
Therefore this supports deindividuation as
these factors led to the people in the crowd
being more anonymous ie deindividuated and
therefore more aggresssive
Self awareness
Anonymity may not be the only cause of
deindividuation
An awareness of our own attitudes,
feelings and behaviour is used for self
regulation.
Prentice-Dunn et al (1982)
Self-focused individuals – focus on and
act according to internalised attitudes
and moral standards
This therefore reduces anti-social
behaviour
Less privately self aware – as people
become emerged in groups they
become less able to regulate their own
behaviour,
Gender differences
E.g. Cannavale et al (1970)
Found that male and female groups
respond differently under deindividuated
conditions.
An increase in aggressive behaviour
was only found in ALL male groups
Diener et al (1973)
Found that males were more likely to
lose their normal inhibitions concerning
aggression in deindividuated situations
This therefore suggests that males are
more prone to aggressive behaviour
when deindividuated.
Cultural differences
E.g. Watson (1973)
Found that societies where warriors
changed their appearance were more
aggressive towards their victims than
those who didn’t.
Problems with the
theory….
The theory doesn’t explain why not all
crowds/groups act aggressively
E.g. Gergen et al (1973)
Found that lower levels of individuality didn’t
result in aggressive behaviour.
12 participants were put into a dark room
12 participants were put into a well lit room
(control)
No specific instructions were given to
either group.
Their behaviour was observed
During the first 15mins the participants
in the dark room talked politely to each
other
After 60mins their inhibitions were
lowered
Barriers to intimate contact were
overcome
50% of the group cuddled and 80%
reported feelings of sexually arousal
Computer Mediated
Communication (CMC)
CMC is becoming increasingly common
Increases feelings of deindividuation (e.g. you
don’t need to show anyone a picture)
Francis et al (2006) found that adolescents
felt more comfortable asking for help with
mental health problems in Internet chat
rooms compared to asking professionals face
to face.
Bloodstein (2003)
Found that people with speech
problems (e.g. stuttering) showed fewer
problems when wearing a mask
Therefore not being identified might
increase self esteem and decrease
opportunities for evaluation
apprehension.
Postmes and Spears (1998)
Meta-analysis of deindividuation research
Looked at 60 studies
They didn’t find any consistent findings of
deindividuation acting as an influence on an
individual’s behaviour
They found no consistent findings to support
the argument that decreased inhibitions and
anti-social behaviour are more likely to be
seen in large groups
Suggests that aggressive behaviour may be
more to do with group norms.
Group norms
E.g. Johnson and Downing (1979)
Used the same experimental conditions
as Zimbardo (1969)
Group 1 –anonymous through masks
and overall (Ku Klux Klan)
Group 2 – anonymous through nurses
uniform
Compared to a control group, more
shocks were given when participants
were dressed in the Ku Klux Klan
uniforms
Less shocks were given when dressed
in the nurses uniforms
They concluded that people respond to
the social context in which they find
themselves in.