social psych explanations - de-individuation

Question 1

what is de-individuation?

Answer 1

a psychological state in which an individual loses identity + takes on the identity of the group e.g. in a crowd/ uniform
- result may cause individual to feel they are free from constraints of social norms

Question 2

what 4 things must we remember for social-psych exp of agg?

Answer 2

• de-individuation + Zimbardo
• self-awareness expl.
• crowd behaviour
• Dodd research

Question 3

how can de-individuation lead to aggression?

Answer 3

• in a ‘normal’ society we are discouraged from aggression by social norms, guilt and because we can be easily identified
• in groups/uniform, we can’t be easily identified = lose restraint and don’t feel personally responsible
• responsibilities become shared with the group

Question 4

what did Zimbardo propose?

Answer 4

that individuated behaviour and de-individuated behaviour are hugely different

Question 5

outline typical individuated behaviour

Answer 5

• behaviour is rational
• behaviour is normative
• in line with long-term plans/goals

Question 6

outline typical de-individuated behaviour

Answer 6

• behaviour is emotional, impulsive and irrational
• behaviour is anti-normative
• focused on ‘living in the moment’, doesn’t link to any long-term plans

Question 7

what did Dixon and Mahendran propose?

Answer 7

that the main reason for the difference in aggressive behaviour, when de-individualised, is due to anonymity

Question 8

how did Dixon and Mahendran explain anonymity as an explanation for agg.?

Answer 8

• in a crowd, there are fewer opportunities for people to judge us negatively
• this means we are more likely to behave in an aggressive manner, as we are not fearful of consequences

Question 9

what did Prentice-Dunn and Rogers propose?

Answer 9

that the reason for more aggression, when de-individualised, is due to reduction of self-awareness, not anonymity

Question 10

what are the two types of self-awareness that Prentice-Dunn and Rogers proposed?

Answer 10

1. private self-awareness
2. public self-awareness

Question 11

what is private self-awareness?

Answer 11

in a crowd, we are likely to pay less attention to personal feelings, instead focus on events around us
- less self-critical = behave in ways we wouldn’t normally

Question 12

what is public self-awareness?

Answer 12

in a crowd, we are just ‘one among many’, and less worried about what other people think about us
= less accountable for aggressive behaviour

Question 13

what did Dodds’ research do?

Answer 13

developed a technique to demonstrate de-individuation

Question 14

outline Dodd’s research

Answer 14

• asked 229 undergrad psychology students: ‘if you could do anything humanly possible, with complete assurance that you wouldn’t be caught, what would you do?’
• 3 independent raters, rated the students’ responses into categories

Question 15

outline Dodd’s findings

Answer 15

• 36% of responses were anti-social
• 26% were criminal e.g. ‘robbing a bank’
• only 9% would act righteously e.g. ‘helping the poor’

Question 16

evaluation: real-life applications

Answer 16

ID: there are practical applications associated with an improved understanding of de-individuation,
particularly in the media
Q: Douglas and MacGarty found that anonymity online correlates with posting threatening or hostile messages
EV: for example, it has been suggested that the use of usernames on online gaming services, such as Xbox, may lead to a state of de-individuation and therefore increase the likelihood of aggressive behaviour towards other players
AN: this suggests that the idea of individuation may be even more relevant today due to the increased use of social media and online gaming. this increases the credibility of explanation as we can see how aggressive behaviour links to anonymity

Question 17

evaluation: conflicting evidence

Answer 17

ID: however, a weakness of de-individuation as an explanation for aggression is that there is conflicting evidence
Q: research by Gergen. shows that de-individuation may lead to increased sexual or romantic behaviours
EV: ppt’s were put together in a dark room so they couldn’t see each other and told to do whatever they wanted, guaranteeing that they wouldn’t see each other again. rather than behaving aggressively, more than 1/2 hugged someone, 1/3 ended up kissing, and 80% reported feeling sexually excited. in another condition, where ppt’s were told they would see each other after the experiment, the amount of physical actions significantly declined.
AN: this is a limitation of the explanation as it suggests that de-individuation may not lead to aggression, but other forms of behaviour

Question 18

evaluation: research support + ELAB

Answer 18

ID: despite conflicting evidence, there are also multiple studies to provide research support for de-individuation
Q: Dodd conducted research to demonstrate de-individuation and found that people behave more aggressively when de-individuated
EV: for example, he asked 229 undergrad psychology students: ‘if you could do anything humanly possible, with complete assurance that you wouldn’t be caught, what would you do?’
he found that 36% of responses were anti-social, 26% were criminal e.g. ‘robbing a bank’ and only 9% would act righteously e.g. ‘helping the poor’
AN: therefore, this supports the theory that de-individuation leads to increased aggression because it suggests that when you are un-identifiable, you are more likely to act aggressively or anti-socially
ELAB: however, a possible weakness of this research is that is used a small sample size of 229 undergrad psychology students. this decreases the population validity as the sample could be considered bias, and therefore not representational to the wider population.