Deindividuation Studies

Zimbardo et al

White Lab Coat Study

4 female undergraduates
2 were wearing white lab coats and were made to be anonymous, but 2 of them were made so that they could be recognized
the participants were able asked to shock others to aid them with their learning
the undergraduates that were made anonymous and deindividuated gave more shocks than those who were made recognizable

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Stanford Prison Experiment

a 'prison' was built underneath Stanford Prison
students at the university became guards and prisoners in the prison
the guards were given customes including blacked out sunglasses so that they were unrecognizable to the prisoners
the prisoners were recognized by numbers - they were dehumanised to the guards
the dehumanisation of all of the prisoners and the anonymity of the guards made it much easier for the guards to be aggressive towards the prisoners
the study was meant to last for two weeks but due to the aggressive behaviour shown by all of the participants it was cancelled after just 6 days

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Halloween Trick or Treaters

A study conducted using 1300 children in USA
it was a natural experiment - the IV was naturally occuring
people who were in large groups and wearing costumes were a lot more likely to be involved in antisocial behaviour, steal money and steal sweets etc
as they were in large groups and costumes it made them a lot harder to be identified personally

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looked at data relating to 23 traditional societies
they looked at whether they changed their appearances before they went into war and how they treated their victims (did they kill, mutilate and torture them)
out of 13 societies which killed, mutilated and tortured their victims, 12 of them changed their apperances
10 societies which didn't kill, mutilate or torute their victims, 7 of them didn't change their apperances

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looked at data relating to 23 traditional societies
they looked at whether they changed their appearances before they went into war and how they treated their victims (did they kill, mutilate and torture them)
out of 13 societies which killed, mutilated and tortured their victims, 12 of them changed their apperances
10 societies which didn't kill, mutilate or torute their victims, 7 of them didn't change their apperances

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