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Social Psychology: Self-Awareness, Deindividuation, and Group Behavior

Understanding the Self and Social Influence

Carl Jung's "Self" vs. "Ego"

  • Traditional Ego (19th Century Psychology): For psychologists like Carl Jung, the ego initially represented the process of self-analysis—sitting down and contemplating "who you are" and the thoughts and actions that drive you.
  • Shift to "Self" (Post-WWI): Jung observed atrocities during and after World War I, noting how governmental systems influenced individual interactions. This led him to distinguish the "conscious you" (making decisions) from the "self" (the broader personality). He believed personality became crucial because people behaved radically differently based on their cultural and social context.

Deindividuation

  • Concept Introduction: Deindividuation is a key concept, described as a "mask without a face" because the individual identity is lost, and the person behind the mask is unknown.
  • Nature of Self-Concept Accessibility: Different aspects of a person's self-concept become accessible at different times. Social situations can "prime" specific identities. For example, being in a church, even if it's not your own religion, tends to activate thoughts about one's religious identity.
  • Levels of Self-Awareness Primed by Social Situations:
    • Observational Self-Consciousness: Being aware of oneself in front of others (e.g., a camera pointed at you, making you conscious of appearance, gestures, etc.).
    • Auditory Self-Consciousness: Hearing one's own voice recorded, leading to awareness of speech patterns, repetitions, and clarity.
    • Performance Self-Consciousness: Being in front of an audience, leading to physiological arousal (shaking, adrenal response) due to direct personal scrutiny.
  • Impact of Mirrors on Self-Awareness (Bieman, Kleinke, Diner, & Svanum Halloween Experiment):
    • Setup: Kids trick-or-treating in Seattle faced a bowl of candy with a "please take one" sign. Some houses had a large mirror; others did not.
    • Results: Overall, 19\% of kids took more than one piece of candy (stole).
      • In houses with a mirror, only 14.4\% stole.
      • In houses without a mirror, 28\% stole (almost twice as many).
    • Conclusion: This experiment suggests that activating self-awareness (through a mirror) reduces antisocial behaviors like theft, even without external consequences or explicit moral instruction. The presence of the mirror prompted children to consciously confront their actions and align them with their self-concept ("Am I the type of person that steals?").
  • Book Definition of Deindividuation: "The loss of individual self-awareness and individual accountability in groups."
  • Conditions Promoting Deindividuation:
    • Disguise: Groups that allow anonymity, such as Halloween costumes or KKK hoods, make it easier for individuals to act out because they are not seen as individuals.
    • Uniforms: Wearing a uniform can also serve as a "mask," making individuals feel like part of a collective and less personally accountable (e.g., military, law enforcement).
    • Crowd Behavior: Being part of a large, similarly behaving crowd (e.g., recreational drinking) can lead individuals to think less about their individual identity and more about their role within the crowd.
  • Ethical and Political Implications:
    • Dehumanization Tactics: The lecture connects deindividuation to historical and contemporary examples of people committing unethical acts while under the influence of group identity.
    • ISIS Agents Example: Agents wearing masks or uniforms may feel less like a "person ripping apart a family" and more like an "agent doing their job," making it easier to perform inhumane actions.
    • Fascism and Dehumanization: The presenter emphasizes that those committing fascist acts are still people. Psychological tricks like deindividuation (through uniforms, masks, or collective ideology) depersonalize individuals, allowing them to act as part of a "mass consciousness." This makes it easier to target other groups, which are, in turn, also dehumanized and categorized (e.g., "illegally"), removing their individual humanity.
    • World War II (Nazis): Studies of WWII atrocities revealed the "banality of evil," where ordinary people participated in horrific acts. Jews were dehumanized by being made identifiable by a star, numbered instead of named, and stripped of their individual appearance and clothing, making it "easier" to kill them. This layered process of psychological dehumanization facilitates extreme cruelty.
  • Gustave Le Bon's "The Crowd" (1893): Described the psychological combination of anonymity, suggestibility, and contagion within crowds. This 19th-century view suggested a "bad idea" could spread through a crowd, leading to collective negative behavior.
  • Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE): This theory posits that deindividuation reinforces "group salience" (what comes to the forefront of one's mind), leading individuals to think more for the group than for themselves and to be more willing to make personal sacrifices for the group.

Understanding Riots

  • Traditional View vs. Psychological Perspective: Riots were often dismissed as mindless acts by "thugs." However, psychological research shows that participants often view their actions as a "rational progression of thought," with a sense of logic and purpose.
  • Factors Leading to Riots (Studies by Reicher & Stott, 1987 and 2011):
    • Feelings of Illegitimacy: Belief that the systems in power are not legitimate or have failed them (e.g., inability to advance, lack of basic rights).
    • Lack of Alternatives: Having tried conventional methods (e.g., police, job applications) without success.
    • Sense of Confidence and Collective Power: Feeling powerless individually, but powerful and capable of change as part of a united group.
  • Ineffective vs. Effective Riot Control:
    • Ineffective Responses: Labeling rioters as "thugs" or "mindless," and using indiscriminate force (e.g., firing into crowds) often suppress protests temporarily but can plant seeds for future riots or escalate violence.
    • Effective Responses: Law enforcement allowing for legal protest avenues provides an outlet for collective power and legitimacy. Accurate communication from police (e.g., designated areas, dispersal times, clear statements about use of force) also helps de-escalate situations.

Self-Consciousness and Self-Perception

  • Private Self-Consciousness: The tendency to think about one's own thoughts and feelings. Example: The instructor's friend having a negative thought about a grieving friend's happiness, then immediately feeling distress and examining that thought in relation to his ideal self.
  • Public Self-Consciousness: The tendency to focus on how one appears to other people (e.g., choosing clothes based on public perception, meeting societal standards).
  • Self-Observation and Ideal Behavior: When we observe ourselves (privately or publicly), we compare our current behavior to our "ideal behavior" or self-concept.
  • Self-Discrepancy: The difference between one's current behavior/thoughts and one's ideal self or desired behavior.
  • Cognitive Dissonance: The feeling of discomfort or distress that arises from self-discrepancy. Example: The instructor feeling distress from enjoying statistics after publicly disliking them, creating a conflict with his self-concept.

Self-Affirmation Theory

  • Mechanism: People try to reduce threats to their self-concept by focusing on a different, often positive, domain of their life.
  • Examples:
    • A substance abuser (e.g., smoking/drinking) might emphasize their consistent exercise routine (e.g., running marathons, going to the gym at 5\text{AM}) to psychologically offset the negative self-perception caused by their unhealthy habits. They affirm, "I'm not an unhealthy person; I exercise."
    • Someone neglecting schoolwork might meticulously clean their room to alleviate the distress of being irresponsible in one area.
  • Function: It's a coping mechanism to alleviate distress in one area of life by excelling or focusing on another.

Illusion of Transparency

  • Concept: We tend to have a poor idea of how much others care about or perceive our self-concept. We overestimate how much others can discern our internal states and thoughts.
  • Experiment: Teenagers either lied or told the truth. Liars, being highly self-conscious about their deception, assumed that 44\% of other people in the room knew they were lying. Actual observers, however, estimated only 25\% were lying.
  • Application: This illusion contributes to phenomena like stage fright, where performers believe their internal anxieties (e.g., sweating) are obvious to the audience, while the audience is often less attentive than perceived.

Self-Esteem

  • Definition: Refers to the feelings people have about themselves.
  • Fluctuating Nature: Self-esteem is not stable but fluctuates based on performance, appearance, satisfaction in relationships, and how others perceive us.

Narcissism (Personality Trait)

  • Definition: A personality trait characterized by overly high self-esteem, self-admiration, and self-centeredness. Individuals with high narcissism often struggle to have conversations not centered on themselves.
  • Distinction: This refers to narcissism as a personality trait, not Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), which is a clinical condition.
  • Societal Role: A normal "narcissistic bent" is necessary for identifying strengths (e.g., getting a job). However, excessive narcissism can lead to bullying and unpleasant social behavior.

Self-Verification Theory

  • Core Principle: Regardless of whether one has high or low self-esteem, individuals seek confirmation from others for their existing self-concept. If someone believes they are a "bad person," they desire others to affirm that perception.
  • Distress from Non-Verification: When external evaluations from others do not match one's internal self-evaluation, it often leads to a feeling of distress.
  • Therapeutic Implications (Sneaky F* Therapy):** The instructor, following Bob Mendelson's approach, suggests that instead of directly challenging a negative self-concept (e.g., telling a friend "No, you're great!"), listening allows individuals to articulate their negative self-perceptions until they may contradict themselves, leading to internal distress and potential self-correction. This indirect approach can help individuals slowly build up their own self-esteem."
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