Agg- Deindividuation (Social Psychological expl) Flashcards
Name the researcher who developed the theory of ‘deindividuation’ and a 5 word explanation to outline it
Le Bon- explain the ‘behaviour of individuals in crowds’
Define deindividuation
Deindividuation is when individuals experience a loss of their identity, due to the loss of their autonomous state (deciding things for yourself) when a part of a crowd
In relation to change of psychological state
What is believed to occur due to the ‘Deindividuation Theory’ to an individual
The researcher who suggested this is - Fe
The psychological state in which individuals lose their personal identity and takes on the identity of the crown/ social group
Festinger 1952
Name the three contributing factors to deindividuation
- Uniform
- Anonymity
- Drugs or alcohol
Explain how losing our sense of identity and own responsibility of behaviour can lead to aggressive behaviour
The norms and laws of society are disregarded because the responsibility becomes shared throughout the crowd, therefore have less guilt when aggression is directed at others eg. opposing football fans
Zimbardo found two differences between individuated and deindividuated behaviour
Individuated behaviour consists of rational behaviour and conforming to social norms
Deindividuated behaviour consists of impulsive behaviour and are anti-normative
name the three things individuals loss/stop doing when in a deindividuated state
- Loss self- awareness
- stop regulating our own behaviour
- ignore social norms
Explain why anonymity is such an important asset to deindividuation
Anonymity is important because individuals have less fear of consequences because they are such a small part of a crowd, where they are unidentifiable (anonymous)
However, name the research who argued that anonymity does not lead directly to aggression
Prentice-Dunn and Rodgers 1982
What does Prentice-dunn and Rodger believe aggression is due to
suggests that it is due to the consequences of anonymity
Outline the two types of Self awareness
And what happens to each when exposed to a crowd
- Private self awareness- your awareness of your own personality which diminishes in a crowd
- Public self awareness- your view of what other people think of you, which also decreases when in a crowd
What was the findings of Dodd’s research when he asked 229 psych students, what would you do if you were completely anonymous and no one would ever detect that action was you
- 36%- antisocial behaviour
-26% answers were criminal acts e.g. rob a bank - a few for rape, murder
- only 9% answered with prosocial behaviour
AO3- evaluating deindividuation
support
- peel on Research support for deindividuation- one study
- peel on real life application supporting it- eg football
- Zimbardo’s prison study 1972 - assigned roles they conformed to guards and prisons- responsibility of actions were seen as ‘i was just playing my role’ - shows their loss of identity
- Football crowd violence example in reality were aggression increases- link maybe this is anonymity instead
AO3- Evaluating deindividuation
P- Suggesting aggression comes from anonymity and not deindividuation
Research supporting this claim
- P- Suggesting aggression comes from anonymity and not deindividuation
E- Zimbardo’s 1969 study- robes, large hoods, no name tags, dim lighting- one half of ppts and other half were indentifiable
E= females shocked the first group more because they were un-indentifiable
L- Therefore, the longer the electric shock went on for (aggression), was more frequent in the deindividuated group
AO3- Evaluating deindividuation
It’s suggested that there are gender differences between deindividuation and aggression
P- It’s suggested that there are gender differences between deindividuation and aggression
E- cannavale et al 1970
E- Males are found to be more aggressive that females in deindividuated situations
L- But other biological or social factors have not been considered, making this theory reductionist.
