Deindividuation Flashcards
what factors did zimbardo say contribute to deindividuation?
anonymity (e.g. wearing a uniform) and losing consciousness due to drugs and alcohol
deindividuation tends to happen in _______________?
large crowds
what study did zimbardo do?
he got four female ppts half of the ppts were in bulky lab coats in separate cubicles and they weren’t referred to by their name the other half were in normal clothes with big name tags and they were introduced to the ‘the learner’ he found that the deindividuated group shocked twice as longer than the non deindividuated group
what did Mullen do and find?
he analysed newspaper cutting of sixty lynchings in the US between the 19th and 20th century. He found that the greater the mob the greater the savagery to which they killed their victims
what did prentice-Dunn et al say?
reduced self awareness is a factor contributing to deindividuation rather than simply anonymity
what ideas did Johnson and downing explore?
they explored the idea that rather than deindividuation causing aggression, all behaviour is a product of local group norms
what did postmes and spears do and find?
they carried out a meta analysis on 60 studies and found that there was insufficient support for the deindividuation theory aswell as deindividuation was not more common in large crowds and anonymous settings
what did cannavele et al find?
males are more likely to be deindividuated than females and are more likely to show aggressive behaviour than females
why is the deindividuation theory deterministic?
it ignores peoples free will and assumes that those who are deindividuated will show aggressive behaviour however individuals have control over their own behaviour on whether they want to show the aggressive behaviour or not
what is deindividuation?
a psychological state characterised by lowered self-esteem and less concern about evaluation by others
what did spicey and prentice-Dunn find?
deindivivuduation can lead to prosocial behaviour. if prosocial environmental cues are present and individual will perform more altruistic acts and fewer antisocial acts
why is deindividuation theory reductionist?
large crowds don’t necessary mean aggression in religious festivals the large crowds show good will to other
how is deindividuation theory culturally bias?
in different cultures there are tribes who use makeup and masks to deindividuate themselves during war so they can fight the war more agressively and win
what did Mann et al do and find?
Mann et al analyse 21 suicide cases he found that in 10 out of the 21 there had been a ‘baiting crowd’ this is where the crowd had encouraged the suicide jumper to jump. This mainly happened during the night when the crowd was large and at some distance from the suicide jumper
what did Johnson and downing do and find?
they did a study similar to zimbardo in which they used participants who were nurses. In one half of the experiment they got the paticipants to dress similar to the kkk and in the second half dress in nurse uniforms. They found that the paticipants shocked more when they were dressed like the kkk compared to when they were dressed in nurse uniforms
