Step 2: Research about deindividuation in large gatherings, mobs and high-arousal situations
A reminder from my first two blog posts that deindividuation is where individuals lose self control, awareness and personal accountability in a group setting. These are environments, where people are susceptible to mob mentality as your personal actions can be justified if everybody else is doing it. Individuals then participe in actions and trends, showing impulsive behaviours that they would typically avoid if alone. The larger the group, the greater sense of deindividuation, and loss of one’s self.
In this blog post, I will be looking specifically at deindividuation in large groups, mobs and situations that are emotionally intense and stimulating.
I first starting looking into the theme of deindividuation after reading a story about suicide attempts all around New York City. During 10 of those attempts, crowds had gathered around the individual on a tall building, and started to chant, ‘jump’, encouraging the individual to jump to their death. These actions were due deindividuation, specifically since there was a big crowd, where individuals felt anonymous, and it was late at night. This is an example of a large gathering that turned into a mob where individuals lost their sense of identity, moral compass and accountability. The individuals were all baited into encouraging the person to jump, which is known as the ‘baiting crowd’, a term coined by Mann in 1981.
This term of a ‘baiting crowd’ is a concept where a crowd of people assemble near a suicidal individual on a tall building threatening the individual to jump, instead of attempting to prevent the suicide. The overarching reason is the psychology behind deindividuation, a theory created by Zimbardo in 1969, to explain the extreme and inhumane behaviours exhibited by the crowd. The theory suggests ‘input variables’ that create a reduced self-awareness, such as experiencing sensory overload, being in a large group and a big distance between the individual threatening to jump. (1)
That was one case of how individuals reacted differently in a group, rather than following their own morals if they were alone, showing how humans lose themselves due to deindividuation. Mobs, such as the suicide attempts, are high-arousal situations, with high emotion, rapid escalation and the loss of individual responsibility within a group setting. Other forms of mobs or high-arousal situations are protests, concerts, sporting events and festivals, where the energy of the crowd can cause reckless and impulsive behaviours. During these events, physiological changes are happening in your body, such as increased heart rate, sweating and rapid breathing because of the release of stress hormones like adrenaline. (2)
Deindividuation is present in these situations, because of mob mentality. Mob mentality is “a large and disorderly crowd of people, especially one bent on riotous or destructive action.” (2) Otherwise known as individuals in a group that adopt behaviours and attitudes based on a crowd’s collective mindset as they bypass their personal beliefs, morals and judgement. (2) There are everyday mob mentalities where humans do casual acts that conform with a group to make decision-making easier, but we are specifically looking at how humans lose themselves in crowd behaviour, whether gathering to grive, protest, or cheer on a sports team. (3)
Deindividuation theory argues that when the size of the group increases, the degree of anonymity increasing, which creates a heightened sense of emotions and lack of accountability for one’s actions. The size of the group is the biggest factor in face-to-face large group settings. (4) It is important to note our behaviours when we are in group settings, because of the many consequences. I started this blog post with a extreme case of suicide attempts, but in everyday cases, deindividuation leads to impulsive, risky and unethical behaviour that you wouldn’t normally enagage in. (5) It is important to note the signs and take control of your proper thinking and decisions.
Sources:
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15534510.2019.1669488#abstract
- https://psychology.town/motivation-emotion/arousal-theory-emotion-beyond-simple-stimuli/
- https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-a-mob-mentality
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deindividuation
- https://www.verywellmind.com/deindividuation-7546896
