eval De-individuation Flashcards
Eval nature or nurture
De-individuation highlights factors related to nurture in aggressive behaviour. These include anything that reduces private and public self-awareness. For example darkness, masks and whatever else promotes anonymity as part of a faceless crowd all make aggression more likely. People who would not usually behave aggressively do so when part of a crowd (e.g. at a football match). They may have no personal or family history of aggressive behaviour but become disinhibited in a crowd. Perhaps the ultimate example of this is online behaviour (e.g. social media). Many people are much more aggressive online than they would ever consider being face-to-face.
However, we have seen on previous spreads that nature plays an important role in causing aggressive behaviour. These causes are genetic, ethological and evolutionary. For example, twin studies and research into the MAOA gene show that nature strongly influences aggression. People are aggressive in crowds because they are predisposed to be aggressive. There are plenty of people who remain individuated in a crowd because they are by nature not aggressive.
Therefore de-individuation is probably a less powerful influence on aggressive behaviour than factors related to nature, even in crowds.
Eval research support
One strength is research support for de individuation
Karen Douglas and Craig McCarty looked at aggressive online behaviour in chatrooms and uses of instant messaging. They found a string correlation between anonymity and flaming(posting hostile messages). They found that most aggressive messages were sent by those who chose to hide their real identities. This is a common behaviour of online trolls. It has been implicated in high profile cases of self harm and even suside. This supports a link between aggressive behaviour and anonymity a key element of deinviudlation.
Eval counterpoint
However there is also evidence that deinvidulation does not always lead to aggression. Kennen Green et al 1973 deviance in the dark study groups of eight strangers were placed in a completely darkened room for one hour they were told to do just whatever they wanted to, they could not identify each other and they would never meet again. They very quickly stopped talking and started touching and kissing each other intimately. In a second study Gergen et al told new participants they would come face to face afterwards. In this case the amount of touching/kissing was much lower. Therefore de indiviulation may not always lead to aggression.
Real world de individuation
Another strength is deindiviulation can explain the aggressive behaviour of baiting crowds
Leon Mann investigated instances of sucidal jumpers. He identified 21 cases reported in us newspapers of a crowd gathering to bait a jumper encourage him or her to jump. These incidents tended to occur in darkness the crowds were large and the jumpers were raltivly distant from the crowd. These are the conditions predicted by deindiviulation theory to lead to a state of de individulatrion in crowds which led to aggressive baiting
Therefore there is some validity to the idea that a large group can become aggressive in a deindivuated faceless crowd
Eval role of norms?
One limitation if that de-indiviuated behaviour is normative rather than anti normative
De individuation theory argues that we behave win ways that are contrary to social norms when we are less away of our private identity. However in their SIDE model Russel appears and Martin lea argue that deindiutaion actually leads to behaviour that confirms to group norms.
These may be antisocial norms but could equally well be prosocial norms this happens because anonymity shifts an indiuviulas attention from his or her private identity to their social identity as a group member. This suggests that people in a deindivuated state remain sensitive to norms rather than ignoring them.
