DEINDIVIDUATION

Le Bon 1896

When part of a large anonymous group,

individuals are more likely to behave in an anti-

social and aggressive manner- ‘collective

mindset’ or ‘mob’

Uniforms reduce personal identity, creating

anonymity and contributing to aggressive

behaviour as the individual identifies with the role

created by the uniform and loses their sense of

individuality- agentic shift

Self-awareness

Diener 1980

Deindividuation occurs when self-awareness is

blocked by environmental events; because they

are focusing on external events rather than their

own feelings, there is a greater risk of aggression

RESEARCH

Zimbardo 1973

Uses deindividuation to explain the rapid degeneration

of behaviour in his Stanford Prison Experiment

Students were recruited to play the role of prisoner or

guard; prisoners given numbers instead of names and

prison uniforms; guards were given reflective

sunglasses to avoid eye contact with prisoners

Deindividuation = increased aggression; the experiment

was supposed to last two weeks, but was stopped after

6 days due to the level of aggression shown by the

guards and the inhumane treatment of the prisoners

However, demand characteristics

Dodd 1985

“If you could be totally invisible for 24 hours and were

completely assured you wouldn’t be caught, what would

you do?”

36% of 229 participants described anti-social acts

Given the chance to be anonymous, even ‘normal’

college students could be capable of extreme anti-social

behaviour

However, lacks ecological validity; perception/reality

Ellison et al. 1995

Driving simulation experiment- Told to imagine they

were either non-identifiable (top up) or identifiable (top

down)

Aggression increased in anonymous condition

However, demand characteristics

Postmes and Spears 1998

Meta-analysis- anonymity = aggression

Loss of identity to people outside of a group was

consistent with the risk of aggressive behaviour

However, people can gather in large groups without

becoming aggressive, e.g. festivals or religious

gatherings

RESEARCH

Rehm et al. 1987

Real life research on aggression in sport using

11 year olds

Deindividuation- one team in bright orange shirts

and other team in own clothes

Boys’ team- orange team showed more

aggression; but the girls’ team showed no

difference in levels of aggression between teams

However, could be due to social identity theory;

want group to perform well and fulfil groups’ aim-

competitive aggression

Watson 1973

Cross-cultural study- 24 cultures

In conflict situations, warriors who concealed

their identity by wearing face and body paint

were more brutal and aggressive than those who

were identifiable

Silke 2003

Relationship between anonymity and aggression

in violent assaults in Northern Ireland; of the 500

assaults studied, 206 were carried out by

offender wearing a mask or disguise

However, cross-cultural bias, due to the cultural

time of turmoil in Northern Ireland