Aggression- Deindividuation theory Flashcards
Who suggested the deindividuation theory?
Le Bon
Define individuation
refers to the tendency for people to lose their inhibitions and their sense of personal identity when they are part of a crowd
Define anonymity
Lacking individuality, distinction or recognisability or a situation in which the person is not known by or spoken by name
What are some factors that contribute to deindividuation
-Anonymity
-Uniform
-Drugs/alcohol
Why does deindividuation make us more aggressive?
-People feel less constrained by social norms (most forms of aggressive behaviour are discouraged)
Define private self-awareness
individuals generally exercise this type of self-awareness as it involves constant self-monitoring i.e. acting according to social/personal/cultural moral codes or norms
Define public self-awareness
once an individual is part of a crowd their private self-awareness is reduced: they are less likely to be noticed (and thus judged) by others; they can break societal or cultural rules; they stop caring about how their behaviour would be perceived by others (as, presumably, everyone else is behaving badly too)
What do Prentice-Dunn and Rodgers (1982) argue
-Not anonymity which directly which leads to aggression but the consequences of anonymity
-Make the distinction between two types of self-awareness
Why does anonymity impact aggression?
-Less fear of retribution because we are small and unidentifiable part of a faceless crowd (the bigger the crowd, the more anonymous we are)
Give an evaluation point (Anonymity rather than deindividuation)
-Aggression comes from anonymity rather than deindividuation
-Zimbardo Asked female students to shock a confederate half were deindividuated, other half were easily identifiable
-The deindivated group were more aggressive, shows deindividuation does impact aggresssion
-However the group that were in the deindividuated condition were wearing clothes that disguised them, had no name tage and were not clearly cisible as they were in a dimly lit room
-Anonymity is described as lacking recognisibiltyb
-Lacks population vvaldity- all female sample, cant generealise findings to males
Give an evaluation point (anonymity + deindividuation effect aggression)
-anonymity + deindividuation both effect aggression
-In zimbardos stanford prison experiment, the gurads had tinted sunglasses + gurad uniforms so looked the same as each other an example of deindividuation
-Also shows that uniform is factor that affects deindividuation
-Suggests that deindividuation results in high levels of conformity as guards (as a group) conformed to their aggressive roles
-Shows that anonymity also influences aggression as a result of deindividuation
Give an evaluation point (Gender differences)
-Gender differences in aggression
-Cannavale et al
-found that male and female groups respond differently under deindividuation conditions, where an increase in aggression was only obtained in the all-male group.
-Diener et al (1973) similarly found that the disinhibition of aggression was greater in males than females.
-This suggests a gender bias in the theory, therefore it cannot be applied to female aggression.
-Also ignores other factors such a biological differences or socialisation
Give an evaluation point (real-world application)
-Real-world application
-Football crowd violence
-In a large crowd you have greater anonymity and therefore have less individual responsibility or private/public awareness
-Although it could be down to both anonymity and deindividuation
