deindividuation
Summary
Deindividuation is a loss of self-awareness and personal accountability when a person is in a group or anonymous, so behavior often departs from usual standards. The classic account stresses lost self-awareness; the social identity view says people follow group norms instead.
Detail
Meaning: Deindividuation is a loss of self-awareness and personal accountability when a person is in a group or anonymous, so behavior may depart from the person's usual standards. Anonymity, large group size, diffused responsibility and high arousal promote it. In the classic account, weaker self-awareness loosens internal restraints. In the social identity account, anonymity makes group identity more prominent, so people follow the group's norms.
On the MCAT: Passages describe mobs, riots, masked or uniformed participants, or anonymous online comments. A typical experiment compares anonymous participants (hoods, dim room) with identifiable ones (name tags) and measures aggression or rule breaking; anonymous participants often show more norm-violating behavior. Expect links to diffusion of responsibility and social facilitation.
Common confusion: Deindividuation is not conformity or groupthink. Conformity is adjusting to group pressure; groupthink is poor group decision-making driven by a wish for harmony. Deindividuation is about lost individual identity. It also does not always produce aggression: when the group's norms are prosocial, behavior can be prosocial too.
Sources
- Psychology (Myers)
- Social Psychology (Aronson, Wilson, Akert)
Written for the MCAT and checked before it was published. For study reference only. Spotted an error? Let us know.