AQA Psychology - Aggression - Deindiviuation - Essay

When a person enters a large crowd or a situation of increased anonymity, they may enter a psychological state of decreased public awareness causing them to behave in ways they wouldn't normally. They become de-individuated , characterised by a loss of self identity. In public, we restrain from antisocial behaviour as we are easily identified. A survey of males in an American university showed 1/3 of males would commit **** if they knew they could get away with it, showing that anonymity leads to antisocial behaviour.A de-individuated person begins to follow the norms of those around (normative social influence) which often leads to antisocial and aggressive behaviour.

The theory fails to state whether it is the anonymity of the victim or the aggressor that leads to the aggressive behaviour. In the case of Zimbados prison experiment, the guards loss their own sense of identity as they were made to wear uniforms and reflecting sunglasses. Also, the prisoners were made to be dehumanized (smocks…