L7 Social Psychology - Deindividuation

DeindividuationWhen the presence of others can influence us in multiple ways. - Deindividuation can inhibit or facilitate ceratin behaviour when in large groups.- E.g. When a crowd watches someone attempt suicide individuals often taunt the suicidee What does being in a crowd do to people to make them act so differently from their everyday selves?- Crowd behaviour = mass madness- People in crowds give vent to their primitive impulses. Le Bron believed that emotion spread through crowds as a contagion. - The key to crowd behaviour is deindividuation where an indvidual looses awareness of herself as a separate individual. This is likely to occur when there is high arousal and anonymity - deindividuation  tends to release impulses that are usually under restraint, the impulses depend on the group. - deindividuation  makes it easier to let us give in to our impulses  cued by situation and the nature of those impulses depend on the circumstances. - deindividuation  is a result of being part of a big group, anonymity, and taking on a role. The Stanford Prison Experiment  -Phillip Zimbardo-Study had to be terminated early because of the inhumane behaviour shown by the guards. - Being in a group often influences us negatively/for the worse

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