Psychology Unit 3- Aggression- Deindividuation

Social Theories of Agression

Deindivduation theory:

One Social Psychological theory of aggression suggest were disinhibited when were an anonymous part of a crowd. People may feel less personal responsibilty and less fear of public dissaproval when they're part of a group. Festinger et al (1952) coined the term deindividuation to describe this state.

Real- world evidence for this effect:

1) Mullen (1986) analysed newspaper reports of lynch mobs violence in the US. The more people there were in the mob, the greater the level of violence.

2) Mann (1981) analysed 21 reports of suicides and identifed ten cases where a crowd had bailed the person threatening suicide (e.g shouting 'jump'). Baiting was more likely to…