Name: deindividuation in crowds and groups
Uploaded: 2020-02-12T11:07:47.000Z
Duration: 57 s
Channel: JoVE

K12 Standards

Pennsylvania State Academic Standards

9-12

Life Science

interdependent-relationships-in-ecosystems

Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

3.1.9-12.O

Deindividuation

When someone joins a group setting, such as a costume party, they may find themselves doing something &ldquo;out of character&rdquo;, like stealing glassware.

Moments earlier, that same person had witnessed others perform similar acts of theft, pocketing other accessories.

In this situation, everyone was disguised and completely anonymous&mdash;they could easily get away with the disruptive actions that provoked further excitement and group cohesiveness. With more people piling into the party and the music getting even louder, the thieves could avoid any sense of personal responsibility!

This depersonalizing process of losing both self-identity or awareness and self-restraint is called deindividuation.

Without face-to-face interaction, it&rsquo;s much easier to disinhibit a behavior when you&rsquo;re not &ldquo;personally&rdquo; responsible for the actions&mdash;you&rsquo;re lost in the mob&rsquo;s demise.

deindividuation

Deindividuation is a form of social influence on an individual&rsquo;s behavior such that the individual engages in unusual or non-normal behavior while in a group setting. Why? Because in these group settings, the individual no longer sees themselves as an individual anymore, disinhibiting their behavior and personal restraint.

History

In the late 1800s, social psychologist Gustave Le Bon first posited the hypothesis that an individual&rsquo;s behavior can differ between being in a crowd versus being alone. According to him, when several individuals gather together in a group, there is a shift of consciousness away from the individual and to the group. As the individual&rsquo;s conscious personality fades away, the characteristics of the group&rsquo;s unconscious personality triumph. This change results in the individual assuming whatever qualities the personality of the group takes on&mdash;like destructive, political, or tyrannical&mdash;even if the individual would not normally engage in such behavior.

In the 1950s, a prominent psychologist named Leon Festinger further explored deindividuation. He asked a group of students to first read a fictional text about how most people deeply resent of one or both parents and those who deny such resentment are the ones who hate their parents the most. The group of students was then allowed to sit together and discuss their feelings towards their parents. At the end, the students took a test in which they had to read ten sentences, some of which were spoken during the group session and some of which were not spoken at all. The students had to correctly determine if the sentence was spoken and if so, who said it. They also responded to a questionnaire about how likely they were to discuss this subject matter again with the group. The researchers found that those who had the harshest opinions towards parents in the group setting made the most errors in attributing who said what in the group meeting. This finding suggests that there was a positive correlation between relaxing personal restraint in the group and not recognizing individuals as distinct individuals. The researchers also found that those who had the harshest opinions towards parents in the group setting also rated the group as more attractive, suggesting that losing one&rsquo;s individuality to the group also related to the the group seeming more attractive.

Together, Le Bon laid the groundwork for deindividuation as a concept, and Festinger demonstrated that it could be studied in a laboratory setting, opening the doors to better understanding crowd psychology (Vilanova et al., 2017).

Explaining Deindividuation

Since these prominent psychologists have introduced the concept of deindividuation, numerous social psychologists have attempted to explain how this process actually takes place. Social psychologists do this by proposing models&mdash;theoretical frameworks representing a concept or phenomenon.

For example, Dr. Phil Zimbardo proposed a model that deindividuation occurs when self-observation of the individual is reduced and value of social evaluation is increased, rendering the individual more likely to engage in behaviors that are socially valuable. His model suggests that deindividuation could be a form of pro-social behavior.

Social psychologists have built upon this idea by introducing concepts like anonymity&mdash;individuals are vulnerable to deindividuation and crowd dynamics if they are anonymous&mdash;as well as self-awareness&mdash;individuals are vulnerable to deindividuation if they are in situations where awareness of self is reduced (Vilanova et al., 2017).

With so many models investigated, researchers can use a meta-analysis&mdash;a statistical technique of combining data from multiple studies to understand commonalities and differences in effects&mdash;to get a better understanding of the variation. A meta-analysis of deindividuation studies by Postmes &amp; Spears (1998) found a strong association between deindividuation and situational norms. This means that crowds and groups situations trigger deindividuation because the individual is becoming more responsive to what the norms of that situation are. This finding was important because it challenges previous models that explained deindividuation as a function of less personal restraint and posits a model that explains deindividuation as a function of conformity.

Deindividuation is a form of social influence on an individual&rsquo;s behavior such that the individual engages in unusual or non-normal behavior while ...

Education

JoVE Core

Social Psychology

Foundations of Social Psychology

Group Dynamics

KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS

deindividuation in crowds and groups

Deindividuation is a social influence process that can change how people act in crowds and groups. In these settings, a person may show unusual or non-normal behavior because they no longer see themselves as a single individual. This loss of personal focus can reduce restraint and make behavior less inhibited.

The idea began in the late 1800s with social psychologist Gustave Le Bon. He proposed that behavior can differ when a person is in a crowd compared with being alone. Le Bon said that group life shifts consciousness away from the individual and toward the group. As the person’s conscious personality fades, the group’s unconscious personality can take over. He argued that people may then adopt the group’s traits, such as destructive, political, or tyrannical behavior, even if they would not act that way alone.

Leon Festinger extended this work in the 1950s by testing deindividuation in a lab. He asked students to read a fictional text claiming that most people deeply resent one or both parents and that people who deny this are the ones who hate their parents most. The students then sat together and discussed their feelings about their parents. Afterward, they completed a test on whether ten sentences had been spoken during the group discussion and who had said them. They also answered a questionnaire about whether they would discuss the topic with the group again. Students with the harshest opinions in the group made the most mistakes in identifying who said what. They also rated the group as more attractive. These results suggest that relaxing personal restraint in a group is linked to weaker recognition of each person as distinct and to a group that feels more appealing.

Later social psychologists built models to explain how deindividuation works. A model by Dr. Phil Zimbardo proposed that it happens when self-observation decreases and the value of social evaluation increases. In that view, deindividuation can even support pro-social behavior. Researchers also added ideas such as anonymity, which means a person is not identifiable, and self-awareness, which is awareness of the self. People may be more vulnerable to crowd effects when they are anonymous or when self-awareness is reduced.

Researchers can compare many studies with a meta-analysis, a statistical method that combines results from multiple studies. A meta-analysis by Postmes and Spears in 1998 found a strong link between deindividuation and situational norms. Situational norms are the expected behaviors in a setting. This means crowds may trigger deindividuation because people become more responsive to the norms of the situation. That result challenged older ideas that focused mainly on less personal restraint and supported a model based on conformity.

Deindividuation in Crowds and Groups

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Deindividuation is a social influence process that can change how people act in crowds and groups. In these settings, a person may show unusual or non-normal behavior because they no longer see themselves as a single individual. This loss of personal focus can reduce restraint and make behavior less inhibited. The idea began in the late 1800s with social psychologist Gustave Le Bon. He proposed that behavior can differ when a person is in a crowd compared with being alone. Le Bon said that...

key terms and concepts

Explore how deindividuation changes behavior in crowds, from Le Bon and Festinger to anonymity, self-awareness, and situational norms.

Deindividuation in Crowds and Groups | JoVE K12

JoVE Core Social Psychology offers a comprehensive learning experience on the principles of social behavior through concise, animated video lessons. The series explores key topics such as self-concept, social cognition, group dynamics, stereotypes, and relationships. It provides a structured foundation for understanding human behavior in social situations. Students gain insights into how individuals think, feel, and behave in social contexts while examining the psychological processes that influence interactions and judgments. By integrating theory with real-world applications, these lessons offer a clear and engaging approach to mastering essential concepts in social psychology.

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3.1.9-12.V

Deindividuation in Crowds and Groups

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