Elena Botezatu

B1049015
Explain the place of anonymity in theories of crowd behaviour.
s it always associated with a !loss of self" #$ixon and
%ahendran& '01'& p. 1()*
Over the years, psychologists have studied the behaviour of
crowds, wanting to understand what drives the members of the crowd
to behave so violently, like the baiting crowds, football fans and other
riots. Le Bon and other psychologists that followed his work, explains
it in terms of loss of self anonymity. Other psychologists explained
crowd behaviour in terms of social identity. Looking at these different
explanations, what is the role of anonymity in explaining crowd
behaviour and in what situations it is associated with a loss of self?
Le Bon argued that even though it also exists positive outcome
from crowds, at the basis, crowd behaviour is negative and barbaric.
e said that individuals lose their ration, behave primitively and with
aggressive instinct, their individual rationality being replaced with the
!group mind" #$ixon % &ahendran, '()', p. *+. Because they become
easier to be influenced by other members of the crowd, their
behaviour is contagious, as Le Bon calls it #$ixon % &ahendran, '()',
p. *+, meaning their emotions and thoughts run along each member
of the crowd. aving the same feelings and thoughts as the rest of
the group, they lose what defines them as uni,ue individuals and
become more the same like other members of the crowd. -hey
experience the estate of being one among many. .nd how bigger the
crowd is, how more anonymous they feel. -his theory of Le Bon, of
group mind, was taken over by /estinger, 0epitone and 1ewcomb
#)2*2+ and renamed the concept of !group mind" with the
deindividuation theory. -hey say that the main cause for the process
of deindividuation is anonymity. By becoming anonymous, crowd
members become less accountable for their actions. -hey behave with
disinhibitions and instinctively, and ready to respond to whatever the
given situation re,uires. -he role of anonymity here is that together
with group immersion, it produces inevitably deindividuation, which
can be measured in the observable changed behaviour. 3o anonymity
has a strong connection with aggression, an idea that was further
developed by 4imbardo. e sais that the moral responsibility is
spreading across the group, and because each individual is less moral
responsible, they produce acts of violence. -aking the example of
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baiting crowds, it was discovered that the crowd is more likely to
encourage the suicider to 5ump when some environmental conditions
exist6 the crowd is large, it is happening on night time and the victim
is above the )'
th
floor. /rom this view, it can be sais that anonymity
has an input in shaping crowd behaviour. Other psychologists, like
$einer, 0rentice7$unn % 8ogers, argue that anonymity doesn"t
inevitably cause deindividuation, meaning people lose the sense of
self, as separate individuals. .nd to support this claim it is given the
example of bank robbers. -hey hide their identity with masks, but still
they behave like they are aware of the responsibility they have for
their actions. $einer speculated that by becoming less self7focused
and less self7aware #an estate of anonymity+, common features of
becoming part of a group cause emotional arousal, group cohesion
and focus on external events which concern the group life. -he idea
that anonymity is increasing the level of brutality is also agreed by
&uller #)29:+, 8obert ;atson #)2<=+ and 3ilke #'((=+. &uller
discovered that how bigger the crowd, how bigger the level of
brutality. 8obert ;atson and 3ilke mentioned that in a battle #inter7
group violence or paramilitary attacks+, when the members are
disguised, the level of violence is increasing. 3o the deindividuation
theory sais that anonymity makes crowd members behave with
disinhibitions in response to whatever the given situation re,uires
#from the external environment of the crowd+. -he most common
response is antinormative behaviour implusive, violent. -his
behaviour is contagious between members of the crowd, 5ust like
laughter #everyone in these times knows that laughter is contagious+,
because members become easier to influence by other crowd
members. -o test this idea that anonymity increases aggression,
>ergen, >ergen and Barton #)2<=+ developed a study with a mixed
gender group members. #$ixon % &ahendran, '()', p. )(+ -hey
placed them in a light room and in a dark room, waiting to see what is
happening. -he dark room was to increase anonymity between
participants and the light room was to compare situations. -hey find
out that anonymity leads also to increase of affection? understanding
and disinhibitions in opening up and sharing thoughts and feelings to
strangers. -he idea that anonymity lead to aggression and
antinormative behaviour was very critici@ed mainly because it lacks
the insider point of view also also because it doesn"t take into account
the social identity if individuals. Aohnson and $owning #)2<2+ say that
deindividuation is a conformity to group norms and not a
nonconformity to social norms.
3ocial identity theory sais that actually an individual is in the same
time an individual self and a social individual. -he idea of !loss of self"
presupposes that identities can be defined only by individuality and as
separate from others, denying the existence of group immersion.
-a5fel and -urner developed the 3ocial Bdentity -heory #)2<(7)29(+
with the purpose to understand intergroup relations. -hey say that
the individual doesn"t experience a loss of self, but rather a switch to
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social self. CBndividuals in crowds often act in terms of their social
identityD #$ixon % &ahendran, '()', p. )=+. /or example football
fans. Bt is observable that their behaviour is uniform and spontaneous
because they have shared pre7scripted group norms #dress code,
songs, gestures, etc.+. 3ocial Bdentity -heory is describing this
concept as Cinductive categori@ationD #$ixon % &ahendran, '()', p.
)E+, instead of CcontagionD. Bnductive categori@ation means that when
a representative? prototypical person from the group is singing or has
a specific behaviour, the other group members take that as
normative. .nd the level of conformity to that norm depends on how
much members feel that they belong to that group. Bf the
deindividuation theory explains the level of brutality in terms of
anonymity, meaning crowd members lose their sense of individuality
loss of self and that makes them less responsible for their actions,
behaving instinctively, brutal and anti7social, the 3ocial Bdentity
-heory explains it in terms of social self and that their violence is
directed and have a reason for their behaviour. /or example, 8eicher
and 3tott"s analysis about the riot from .ugust '()) identified some
key elements. .s $ixon and &ahendran sais6 C)+ a sense of grievance
about police action and about wider form of socioeconomic
deprivationF '+ a perception that local communities were left with few
alternatives to confrontationF =+ the emergence of a shared sense of
identity, a sense of !we"F and E+ a growing confidence in the power of
collective action to change, or at least to challenge, the status ,uo.D
#'()', p. '(+.
-o conclude, the place of anonymity in crowd behaviour is an
important one, if we look from the deindividuation point of view.
Growd members lose their sense of self and become anonymous, that
increasing the level of violence. On the other hand, the social identity
theory sais that actually anonymity is the social self. Bndividuals act
according with their social self, since individual identity is about self
and social. -his is also the reason that the deindividuation theory was
much criticised, it didn"t take into account that people are social and
uni,ue individuals in the same time. 3till, social identity theory,
doesn"t really give an explanation about the behaviour of baiting
crowds. ;hy are they encouraging the person who is on the step to
commit suicide, to 5ump? ;here does that come from?
;ord count6 )'EE
8eferences6
ollway, ;., Lucey, ., 0hoenix, .. and Lewis, >. #Hds.+ #'()'+
Social Psychology matters. &ilton Ieynes6 -he Open Jniversity
+art ' ,eflexive comment
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;rite a brief reflexive comment reflecting on what you think social
psychology is about and your expectations for the module.
3ocial psychology is about understanding relations between people
and groups of people. Bs about understanding that we are in the same
time self7individuals and also social individuals. Being part of a society
means being part of a group. &y expectations on this module is to
develop a better understanding about the importance and level of
emitted energy from groups and also about the power a group has
comparing with a single individual.
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