deindividuation

what is deindividuation?

losing our sense of identity and responsibility in a crowd/large group causing us to behave in ways we wouldn’t usually

what are the two states of behavior?

• individuated state

• deindividuated state

what is the individuated state?

where our behaviour is generally rational and normative; we conform to social norms

what is the deindividuated state?

• where our behaviours are emotional, impulsive, and irrational; we stop regulating our own behaviour

• ignore social norms

aggression is a consequence of … due to two types of …

anonymity, self awareness

what is private self-awareness? (3)

• how we pay attention to our own feelings and behaviour

• reduced in a crowd as our attention is less focused on our own beliefs and feelings, instead on events around us

• less self-critical and thoughtful, encouraging a deindividuated state

what is public self-awareness? (3)

• how much we care about what other people think about our behaviour

• reduced in a crowd as we realise we are anonymous and less likely to be judged by others

• become less accountable for aggressive actions

what supporting evidence is there for deindividuation?

• researchers looked at aggressive online behaviours and found a strong positive correlation between anonymity and flaming

• most aggressive messages sent by those who hid their identities

• shows theres a link between anonymity, deindividuation, and aggression through real life application

why is the deindividuation explanation reductionist?

• only considers a single environmental factor in influencing aggression - being in a large crowd

• not only does it ignore other environmental factors, such as exposure to violence throughout life/upbringing

• also ignores internal factors like genes

• very limited explanation, can’t explain aggression fully