crowd Behaviour Flashcards
Crowd Beh early theories
Lebon - in a crowd people become barbaric
Freud - crowds unlock unconscious
De individualisation
- In crowds theses anonymity = deindividuation= lowered self-observation = impulsive+ irrational beh
Individualisation - Stanford prison Experiment
Stanford uni students randomly assigned to prisoner or guard
- clothing created sense of anonymity
-results: guards humiliating prisoners through punishment+ prisoners became passive + accepted status
Deindividuation Evidence
- violence northern Ireland
offenders who wear a disguise are more likely to engage in criminal beh - Anonymity disguise creates deindiv effect
Deindiv + Halloweener et al
- Adult opens door tells them to take 1 sweet Heaves to go to work
- when ppts are in a group deindiv is more likely
- some kids asked name = more lively to follow rules
- 57 % broke rules when anonymous
Deindiv critiques
- Not all have disguise - can’t explain all cases
- Deindiv doesn’t explain why riots are contained to certain areas
- Doesn’t account for peaceful + rational crowd beh
social Identity Theory
- group members are motivated towards pos social identify/self-esteem
Does anonymity always lead to aggression Johnson + Downing
ppts assigned to KKK or nurse
- each group split again into wearing a name badge or not
- kkk assoc with neg beh
- Ask ppts to give electric shocks
- kkk anonymous gave more shocks
- nurses With a badge more likely to shock than anonymous
kkk shocked more than nurses
- deindiv doesn’t take into account social norms
social identity Theory
- group members motivated towards pos soc identity
membership of low status / devaIued group = neg identity + low self esteem - low self esteem motivates people to gain higher self esteem
low group self esteem
- indiv mobility : leave group + join better one
- social creativity : focus on pos + compare with even worse groups
- social comp : challenges status quo+ changes groups status
S IT - strategies + beliefs
- rioting is social comp strategy to improve self-esteem
- only possible if believe place in hierarchy is illegitimate
SIT + crowds: SIDE model
SIDE= social Identity model of deindividuation effects
- crowd situations involve intergroup conflict (us VS them)
- SIDE model states identity is a continuum
- scale of social identity to persenal identity
- position on continuum depends on context
- crowd situations: shift to social end
- we can shift between social + personal identity depending on situation
Principles of SIDE model-postmes + spears
1) deindiv leads to decreased focus on personal identity
2) deindiv increases responsiveness to group norms
3) deindiu is neutral to general social norms
SIDE model+crowd beh
- crowd beh is an us vS them context
- group norms explain why different groups beh differently in the same situation
-Beh is not random or chaotic but highly regulated - personal identity isnt lost it just shifts
Group norms postmes et al
-content analysis of student messages
-No difference in types of topics discussed
-Groups differed in lang + content
- content became more prototypical
-Drop prototypical beh at 9 weeks shows when they are aware there is a 10 week time limit, loose group identity as it comes to an end
