Deindividuation Theory

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Aggression has been and is still is a complex form of emotion to understand. This term aggression cannot be precisely defined due to the different attribute of behaviours presented amongst organisms. According to Buss (1961, p1) as cited in Green (1990, p2) the definition of aggression “is a response that delivers noxious stimuli to another organism”. This definition by Buss (1961) is now what psychologist have now generalised as the standard definition of aggression. Therefore aggression is a behaviour that aims to injure a directed individual. However Bandura (1973) suggests that a major limitation with these definition is that it recommends that aggression plays a single role and purpose which is to oppose injury to an individual. Hence …show more content…

This theory gives the idea of one losing their sense of individuality and their identity, this occurs when an individual feels they are anonymous is in a crowded area or even when they are part of a society wearing masks and uniform for example a police officer. The deindividuation theory can explain why aggression occurs in a group, as the individual believes they are less identified as there is a shared responsibility amongst the group, according to the Psychology Bulletin they lose self-awareness and behave more aggressively. This may be the reason why bank robbers and members of the Ku Klux Klan wear masks while committing crimes, why crowds at sporting events sometimes become violent and why violent crimes are mostly committed during night time hours than during daytime hours. According to the Psychological Bulletin (1998) the deindividuation theory supply explanation for different “expression of antinormative collective behaviour such as violent crowds, mindless hooligans, and the lynch mob”. Staub, 1996; Staub & Rosenthal, 1994 as cited in the Psychology Bulletin states that this theory is been “applied to social atrocities such as genocides”. Festinger, Pepitone and Newcomb (1952) cited in Review of general psychology (1997) proposed when a group is not looked at as an individual the sense of deindividuation arises. Studies conducted inside the laboratory carried out by (Zimbardo, 1969) cited in Review of general psychology (1997), showed that the deinividation group gave significantly longer shocks as they were not recognised and identified due to the hood they wore and their name being anonymous. Compared to the individuated group where they were identified with name tags. This proves how anonymity of a person can encourage them to portray high level of violence. Zimbardo (1969) cited in Psychology Bulletin stressed that “deindividuated

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