Deindividuation Flashcards
What are the 4 AO1 points for DEINDIVIDUATION?
1) What is deindividuation
2) Zimbardo
3) Anonymity
4) Prentice-Dunn, Reduced Self Awareness
What is deindividuation?
A social psychological concept based largely on Gustav Le Bons crowd theory
What is Gustav Le Bon’s crowd theory?
An individual is transformed when part of a crowd
Deindividuation is a psychological state…
- Lower self evaluation
- Decreased concerns about evaluation from others
Why might a person follow group norms rather than social norms without question?
Combination of anonymity, suggestibility and contagion means a person can lose all self control
Zimbardo states that a consequence of being within a crowd is diminished awareness of a persons own individuality…
- Normally social norms discourage antisocial behaviour
- Each person is faceless and anonymous, weakening the metaphorical barrier to antisocial behaviour based on guilt and shame
Who was involved in Zimbardo’s study and what were they wearing?
- 4 female undergraduates, half of which were dressed anonymously with loose lab coats, hoods etc, half of which were identifiable with normal clothes and name tags
In Zimbardo’s study, what were the female participants required to do?
- Required to deliver electric shocks to aid learning
- Both conditions were able to see the person being shocked
What were the findings of Zimbardo’s study?
Those in the deindividuated condition shocked leaners for twice as long
What does Zimbardo’s study show? (Proper AO2 point)
-Therefore demonstrates role of deindividuation as participants felt their costumes allowed them to act in a socially-unacceptable manner, thus supporting deindividuation as a socio-psychological explanation of aggression
However, it is important to note that Zimbardos study is open to gender bias…
- Participants were female
- Cannot generalise results, limiting such research into deindividuation
Anonymity is thought to play a…
significant role in deindividuation and thus an increase in aggression
What was Rehm’s hypothesis in relation to anonymity?
- He explored the hypothesis that wearing a uniform as a sports team could increase aggressive acts
What was Rehm’s study into anonymity?
- German school children randomly assigned to handball teams of 5, half wearing same orange shirt, half wearing their normal street clothes
Why did half wear orange uniforms?
More difficult to distinguish from one another
What were the findings of Rehm’s study?
- Orange shirts played handball in a consistently more aggressive manner
This provides more evidence supporting the notion of anonymity - leading from deindividuation - does indeed increase aggressive behaviour,
consequently lending support to deindividuation as an explanation of aggressive behaviour
Mullen and Mann also found evidence of deindividuated individuals behaving more aggressively..
Mullen - newspaper cuttings of 60 US lynchings finding the more people in the mob, the greater savagery
Mann - used deindividuation concept to explain the baiting crowd, 10 out of 21 suicides involved the presence of a baiting crowd
What is a baiting crowd?
A collective behaviour, may be large, some distance away and at night which call out malicious words of encouragement
Cross cultural evidence?
Additionally validates the deindividuation theory…
Where does some cross cultural evidence come from?
Warriors in 23 societies who changed their appearance prior to war were more destructive
What is the proper AO2 for cross cultural evidence?
It would appear, therefore, that the theory of deindividuation as an explanation of aggression can be applied to other, even contrasting cultures, giving credit to the explanation
Who gave an alternative perspective to anonymity being a determinant of deindividuation
Prentice-Dunn
What does Prentice-Dunn believe?
reduced self awareness that leads to deindividuation rather than anonymity - individual becomes less focused and less self aware
What does reduced-self awareness (PD) result in?
Less able to regulate their own behaviour, conflicting with the theory that anonymity leads to aggression
However, both theorists maintain..
that deindividuation leads to aggression, but with opposing root causes. Would be difficult to ascertain whether deindividuation was due to anonymity or reduced self awareness, as it is not possible to test objectively for this.
When evaluating deindivudation as a psychological theory of aggression it is clear that not all research is in support…which researchers found evidence against?
Johnson and Downing & Postmes and Spears
What idea did Johnson and Downing propose?
Rather than deindividuation directly increasing aggression, it may be produced as a result of local group norms
What did Johnson and Downing do in their study?
- Modified Zimbardo’s study so one group wore masks and overalls and the other wore nurses uniforms
What did Johnson and Downing find?
- Those in masks and overalls shocked more than control condition
- Nurses shocked less than control conditions
What do the results of Johnson and Downings study show?
- Participants had responded to normative social cues
- Nurses costumes held connotations of caring, whereas masks and overalls had negative connotations, thus explaining why contrasting behaviours were exhibited
What is the the proper AO2 for Johnson and Downings study?
The results of this study demonstrate the importance of local group norms rather than deindividuation, hence goes against deindividuation theory as an explanation of aggression
A further lack of support for the deindividuation theory comes from Postmes and Spears,
- disinhibition and antisocial behaviour are not more common in large groups and anonymous settings
- limited evidence to show that deindividuation is associated with reduced self awareness
What, overall, is shown by Johnson and Downings study and Postmes and Spears study?
-There is, therefore, mixed evidence for deindividuation as an explanation of aggression, thus limiting it’s credibility
Although the focus is generally on undesirable behaviours that result from deindividuation,…
there may also be prosocial consequences, dependent upon situational factors.
What did Spivey suggest regarding pro-socialness?
- deindividuation is limited as a sole explanation of aggression as it can be applied to prosocial behaviours
- mental health forums
What does the application of deindividuation in prosocial conditions show?
deindividuation theory as an explanation of aggressive behaviour is limited in that it can also lead to prosocial behaviour
What is a final limitation of the deindividuation theory?
There are gender differences in aggressive behaviour
What did Cannavale and Diener state?
- Males and females respond differently under deindividuation conditions
- Increase in aggression found only in male groups
What, overall is suggested by Cannavale and Dieners findings?
- We cannot generalise findings of deindividuation to all groups of society
- Cannot create further hypotheses based on findings as may encourage false stereotypical beliefs about female behaviour
What are the 6 AO2 points for this essay?
1) Zimbardo’s gender bias
2) Mullen and Mann
3) Cross cultural evidence
4) Unsupportive research: J&D, P&S
5) Prosocial consequences - Spivey
6) Gender differences in aggressive behaviour
