Also, private self-awareness, or awareness of internal norms and standards, decreases because of the physiological arousal of being in a group and the high levels of group cohesiveness. Deindividuation is often associated with crimes, such as rioting when people lose a sense of identity in a crowd, but also things like robbery and burglary where individuals don’t think they can be recognized at night. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Because everyone experiences those basic emotions and because people are less likely to have more complex emotions in common, the basic emotions will spread rapidly within a crowd as people express them. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Log in, Le Bon, G. (1995). Deindividualization is the process in which an individual loses their “sense of self” when they’re in a group. Deindividuation, then, is said to influence behaviour by reducing the level of explicit control that people have over their thoughts and actions. Becoming a part of a large group, such as a mob or army. Becoming engrossed in an interesting task, such as a hobby. Deindividuation is a concept in social psychology that is generally thought of as the loss of self-awareness in groups, although this is a matter of contention (resistance) (see below). Explain the process of deindividuation (e.g., how it works, what changes happen within the individual to allow for unusual behavior). Over the subsequent decades, deindividuation theory was developed and expanded. Deindividuation is a psychological state characterized by reduced self-awareness and social identity, brought on by conditions such as being an anonymous member of a large crowd. Deindividuation is caused by a reduction in objective self-awareness, and factors that can reduce self-awareness (e.g., anonymity or being in a group) can bring about deindividuation. “Disorderly” conduct: Social psychology and the control of football hooliganism at “Euro-2004.” The Psychologist, 17,318-319. Please select which sections you would like to print: While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Deindividuation is a characteristic of the individual in the crowd. The earliest theory of crowd psychology was, in essence, that people “lost themselves” through a process of deindividuation and subsequent loss or ceding of control to others. 6, pp. Some deindividuated situations can reduce accountability, because people who are hidden within a group cannot be easily traced or blamed for their actions. Chichester, UK: Wiley. Corrections? This process is called deindividuation. It was argued that that process, similar to Le Bon’s idea of contagion, leads to uncontrolled and impulsive behaviour. The answer lay in the lack of accountability in the crowd, inducing a feeling among people in the crowd of being unaware of themselves. Theories of crowd behaviour provided the origins of modern deindividuation theory. They instead identify with the group’s mentality, even if it would normally clash with their own. 3. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds. The more the person becomes involved in the group, the less self-awareness they have, which includes knowing their morals, characters, and beliefs. In deindividuation: Origins of deindividuation theory. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. They are in a sense liberated to do what they like. Deindividuation can occur in as varied instances as in the police force, the milit… The impact of deindividuation theory in science and society (especially twentieth century politics) make it one of social science's more influential contributions. 17, pp. They may also identify so strongly with a group that their individual feelings matter less. Deindividuation occurs when people can't be identified, like when they are in a crowd or wearing masks, and their morals become blurry. The bigger the crowd, the more this will be. But not all people behave poorly in crowds or at night. 237-307). Explain the process of deindividuation (e.g., how it works, what changes happen within the individual to allow for unusual behavior). Results revealed that deindividuated children and children in groups were more than twice as likely to take more than one candy. Zimbardo and his colleagues also carried out what became a landmark experiment, the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which student participants were deindividuated as prisoners or prison guards in a simulated prison setting at Stanford University. Include at least 3 sources in your paper. In each situation, a giant crowd of people followed the natural path to deindividuation. Deindividuation, in most cases, leads to anti-normative, aggressive, or negative behavior. There are many instances in which the effects of deindividuation can be seen in real-world instances. Include at least 3 sources in your paper. https://www.britannica.com/topic/deindividuation. In the 1970s Zimbardo conducted a series of experiments in which participants were deindividuated by being dressed in robes in the style of the Ku Klux Klan. In W. J. Arnold & D. Levine (Eds. Updates? Le Bon believed that being in a crowd allowed individuals to act on impulses that would normally be controlled or self-censored. Background and motivation Deindividuation. In a study conducted on deindividuation, female participants who wore hoods covering their faces, which created a sense of anonymity, were more likely to press a button that they believed would administer electric shock to their "victims" who were in another room. They become less aware of self and who they are as an individual. In the 1920s the British-born American psychologist William McDougall argued that crowds bring out people’s instinctive primary emotions, such as anger and fear. Public self-awareness is said to decrease as a result of anonymity, so that people become less aware of how they appear publicly to others. Thus, the effects of deindividuation are sometimes viewed as socially undesirable (e.g., rioting). Discuss how individualization might also occur outside the presence of a crowd, such as in other settings in which a person feels anonymous. Under conditions of deindividuation, attention is therefore drawn away from the self, and people are less capable of monitoring their behaviour in relation to internal norms and standards. Discuss how deindividuation might also occur outside the presence of a crowd, such as in other settings in which a person feels anonymous. Zimbardo claimed that those factors and others act to minimize self-observation and evaluation, reduce concern for social evaluation, and weaken controls based on feelings of guilt, shame, fear, and commitment. People in groups often feel less individual responsibility for their behavior, and may feel that they will be able to act with more anonymity. Hurricane Katrina badly damaged New Orleans and its surrounding areas. People therefore become less aware of their internal standards of behaviour, which will also lead them to behave more impulsively. Zimbardo, P. G. (1969). Reicher, S., Spears, R., & Postmes, T. (1995). Include at least 3 sources in your paper. The human choice: Individuation, reason, and order vs. deindividuation, impulse and chaos. Her contributions to SAGE Publications's. Often, when under the influence of a crowd, individuals will engage in behavior they would not normally participate in. Deindividuation is a theory that has been the subject of much discussion over past decades, and is to a large extent based on the crowd theory of Gustave Le Bon (1895/1995). Omissions? (2004). Le Bon’s work described group behaviour as irrational and fickle, and it therefore found much support at the time. Deindividuation, phenomenon in which people engage in seemingly impulsive, deviant, and sometimes violent acts in situations in which they believe they cannot be personally identified (e.g., in groups and crowds and on the Internet). The individual loses their ability to step away from the group and assess their own actions, feelings, and beliefs. Modern theories have applied and extended early principles to understand people’s behaviour in smaller groups and in other contexts, such as when people have the opportunity to interact with others while concealing their identity and remaining anonymous. In the 1960s and ’70s the American psychologist Philip Zimbardo investigated the variables that lead to deindividuation and the behaviours that result from it. Results revealed that the deindividuated participants gave shocks that were twice as long in duration as those given by participants who were not dressed in the deindividuating clothing. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership. ), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (Vol. 161-198). In one experiment, female participants were asked to deliver shocks to another female participant (who was in fact a confederate) as a response to incorrect answers in a learning task. Deindividuation occurs when a persons identity with a group overrides his or her own identity and self-awareness. Explain the process of deindividuation (e.g., how it works, what changes happen within the individual to allow for unusual behavior). Shortly after the hurricane, there were news reports of groups of looters. Anonymous individuals, for example, are less aware of how they present themselves, and, as a result, their behaviour will tend to be antinormative, or against accepted norms and standards. This is because people feel a stronger sense of anonymity when in a group. Deindividuation refers to when a person becomes part of a crowd or group and then begins to lose their individual identity. To support this idea, Diener and his colleagues observed the behaviour of more than 1,300 children one Halloween in the 1970s, focusing on 27 homes where, on their visit, the trick-or-treating children were invited to take one candy from a table. We normally carry our sense of identity around with us andare thus well aware of how we are relating to other people. Deindividuation, phenomenon in which people engage in seemingly impulsive, deviant, and sometimes violent acts in situations in which they believe they cannot be personally identified (e.g., in groups and crowds and on the Internet). Include at least 3 peer-reviewed journal articles in your paper. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. In particular, the work of Gustave Le Bon in 19th-century France promulgated a politically motivated criticism of crowd behaviour. At the time, French society was volatile, and protests and riots were commonplace. In the 1980s the American psychologists Steven Prentice-Dunn and Ronald Rogers reformulated Diener’s theory by introducing the distinction between public and private self-awareness in deindividuated contexts. Deindividuation and anti-normative behavior: A meta-analysis. Deindividuation can also occur online where it is easy to hide behind a fake name, to avoid identification ("Everyday Psychology"). Stott, C. J., & Adang, O. M. J. The students in the position of guards were physically brutal to the students who were deindividuated as prisoners, so much so that the experiment had to be terminated early. According to Diener, objective self-awareness is high when attention is drawn inward toward the self and people actively monitor their own behaviour; it is low when focus is directed outward and behaviour is monitored less or not at all. in both deindividuation theory and SIDE model; and (2) evaluate deindividuation theory and SIDE with regard to how anonymity is measured within social contexts. Half of the children were asked where they lived and were asked for their names; half were not asked for this individuating information. Evidence is presented to show that deindividuation manipulations gain effect, firstly, through the … We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. Include at least 3 sources in your paper. A social identity model of deindividuation phenomena. 2. ), European Review of Social Psychology (Vol. According to Zimbardo, factors leading to a state of deindividuation include anonymity; shared, diffused, or abandoned responsibility; altered temporal perspective (so that the individual focuses more on the here and now than on the past or present); physiological arousal; sensory overload; novel or unstructured situations; and altered states of consciousness (such as those brought about by the use of alcohol or drugs). Sociologists also study the phenomenon of deindividuation, but the level of analysis is somewhat different. Postmes, T., & Spears, R. (1998). Professor of Social Psychology, University of Kent. 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