Deindividuation

Deindividuation is a psychological state in which anonymity and reduced self-awareness can weaken personal restraints on behavior, especially in groups.

Self-awareness: The capacity to direct attention toward and recognize oneself as an object of thought. Deindividuation theories link reduced attention to personal standards with weaker behavioral restraint.
Gustave Le Bon: A French social psychologist whose crowd theory emphasized anonymity, suggestibility, and collective behavior. His account of crowds helped establish ideas later associated with deindividuation.
Halloween candy studies: Experiments in which children’s trick-or-treating behavior was observed under varying anonymity and group conditions. These studies tested whether anonymity and group presence affected rule-breaking.
Social identity model of deindividuation effects: A theory that group settings shift behavior toward salient social identities and group norms. It predicts norm-guided behavior, challenging the idea that anonymity simply releases impulses.
Cyberbullying: Repeated aggression carried out through digital communication technologies. Anonymity and reduced social cues can contribute to disinhibited online aggression.
Anonymity: A condition in which a person’s identity is unknown or difficult to determine. Anonymity can reduce concern about personal evaluation and accountability.
Festinger, Pepitone, and Newcomb: The psychologists who introduced the term deindividuation in a 1952 study of group behavior. Their work gave the concept its name and an early social-psychological formulation.
Online disinhibition effect: The tendency for people to express themselves more openly or act less restrained online. Online anonymity and reduced face-to-face cues can resemble conditions proposed to foster deindividuation.
Diffusion of responsibility: The reduction in each person’s felt responsibility when responsibility is shared across a group. It can accompany anonymity but explains behavior through shared responsibility, not diminished self-awareness.
Deindividuated prosocial behavior: Helpful or cooperative conduct occurring under conditions associated with reduced individual self-focus. Deindividuation can strengthen adherence to generous group norms as well as harmful ones.

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