De-individuation

Question 1

What theory is de-individuation largely based on?

Answer 1

Crowd theory by Le Bon

Anonymity (e.g covered faces or uniform, or just a packed crowd) led to a ‘collective mind’ taking over the individual.
Individual loses self control and becomes capable of acting in a way that goes against personal or social norms.

Question 2

Other than anonymity, what else leads to a state of de-individuation according to Zimbardo?

Answer 2

Altered consciousness due to drugs or alcohol

Question 3

Why does being in a large crowd diminish self-awareness?

Answer 3

People are/ feel faceless and anonymous

The larger the group, the more anonymity

Diminished fear of repercussions, reduced sense of guilt

Question 4

What prevents people acting aggressively normally?

Answer 4

Social norms or not being uncivilised, and the fact that they are identifiable

Question 5

What two Zimbardo studies demonstrated effects of de-individualisation?

Answer 5

Stanford prison experiment

Electric shock study

Question 6

What did Stanford prison experiment show?

Answer 6

Ppts who played the role of the guards (who wore uniform) acted aggressively towards the ‘prisoners’.

Guards wore mirrored sunglasses which increased de-individuation (through anonymity)

Question 7

Procedure of the electric shock study

Answer 7

Groups of 4 female students were required to give electric shocks to another student to ‘aid learning’.

Half of ppts wore lab coats, sat in separate rooms and were never referred to by their names.
Other half wore normal clothes, were given name tags and were able to see eachother.

Question 8

Findings of electric shock study

Answer 8

Ppts in the de-individuated condition were more likely to give out a ‘shock’ in another room

They also held the ‘shock’ down for 2x longer than those who were identifiable.

Question 9

AO3
Anonymity and de-individuation (supporting)

Answer 9

Rahm

Investigated 30 games of handball in German schools.
One team had bring orange team shirts, one team wore their own clothes.

Uniformed teams showed significantly more aggressive behaviour than the non-uniformed team

Supports anonymity and de-individuation

Question 10

AO3
Cultural differences (support)

Answer 10

Robert Watson

Researches the extent to which warriors from 23 societies changed their appearance before engaging in conflict, and how that affected the way they killed, tortured or mutilated victims.

Countries where warriors changed their appearance (through wearing face paint,
masks or costumes) were more violent towards their victims than those who did not change appearance

Supports uniform idea of de-individuation