Research Studies into Deindividuation
TASK 1: Read the studies below
A study in 1974 by Harvard anthropologist John Watson evaluated 23 cultures to determine whether warriors who changed their appearance--such as with war paint or masks--treated their victims differently. As it turned out, 80 per cent of warriors in these cultures were found to be more destructive--for example, killing, torturing or mutilating their victims--than unpainted or unmasked warriors.
Diener et al, 1976 conducted a naturalistic study on Halloween to assess the effects of 3 deindividuation variables (anonymity vs. non-anonymity, alone vs. group, and groups with or without a child who was made responsible for the group's actions) on stealing by children. Hidden raters unobtrusively observed approximately 1,300 trick-or-treating children who were assigned to various conditions and given an opportunity to steal candy and money. Significantly more stealing was observed under conditions of anonymity and in the presence of a group, stealing was also greater with groups where an individual child had not been assigned responsibility.
In one of many studies conducted by Zimbardo, a group of participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. One group were required to wear long white gowns, white hoods with eye holes and were never referred to by name, the other group wore their day-to-day clothes, and had large name tags attached to them. When asked to deliver an electric shock (fake) to a victim, those in the white gowns and hoods gave higher levels of shocks than those with the name tags. Zimbardo claims this supports his theory, as those with the hidden identity gave the higher levels of shock, as is predicted by Deindividuation.
Contradictory evidence
Other researchers, unsure about the validity of this research, asked one group of participants to wear a medical gown and a surgical mark, giving the appearance of a nurse, whereas the other group wore their day-to-day clothes and wore a name tag. Those dressed as nurses gave significantly lower levels of shock than the other group. The researchers argued that the power of uniforms and the expected behaviour to role, is more powerful than deindividuation.
TASK 2: Answer the questions below
1)Explain why Watson’s study is evidence for deindividuation
2)Explain why Diener et al’s study is evidence for deindividuation
3)Explain why Zimbardo’s study is evidence for deindividuation
4)Using your knowledge of psychology, what methodological flaw is exposed in Zimbardo’s research, given that the participants were dressed in a similar way to the racist group, Ku Klux Klan?
5)Diener, in 1980, stated that Deindividuation was an insufficient explanation of aggression. For example, not everyone who is deindividuated will act aggressively, and not all individuated people are calm, what other factors could account for a person’s aggressive behaviour, that could not be account for by deindividuation?