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Crowds and collective behaviour
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Crowds can riot, but they can also hold vigils, raise money and help strangers. What changes in people when they are part of a crowd?
Deindividuation in crowds
In a large group, people may feel anonymous and less self-aware, and feel less personally responsible (deindividuation).
Zimbardo (1969): women wearing hoods that hid their identity gave longer electric shocks (not real) than women with name tags.
Diener et al. (1976): children trick-or-treating at Halloween were more likely to take extra sweets when they were anonymous and in groups.
Deindividuation can lead to anti-social behaviour such as violence at football matches or rioting.
Zimbardo (1969): women wearing hoods that hid their identity gave longer electric shocks (not real) than women with name tags.
Diener et al. (1976): children trick-or-treating at Halloween were more likely to take extra sweets when they were anonymous and in groups.
Deindividuation can lead to anti-social behaviour such as violence at football matches or rioting.
Collective behaviour: pro- and anti-social
Collective behaviour is how a group acts together, often in an unplanned way.
Anti-social: riots, looting, football violence, online abuse by anonymous groups.
Pro-social: vigils, peaceful protests, charity events, crowds helping in emergencies.
Deindividuation does not always lead to bad behaviour. Johnson and Downing (1979) found that participants dressed in nurses' uniforms gave fewer shocks than those in costumes resembling the Ku Klux Klan: people follow the norms suggested by the situation.
Anti-social: riots, looting, football violence, online abuse by anonymous groups.
Pro-social: vigils, peaceful protests, charity events, crowds helping in emergencies.
Deindividuation does not always lead to bad behaviour. Johnson and Downing (1979) found that participants dressed in nurses' uniforms gave fewer shocks than those in costumes resembling the Ku Klux Klan: people follow the norms suggested by the situation.
Social identity in crowds
Social identity: in a crowd, people may take on the group's identity and its norms, rather than losing control completely.
Levine et al. (2005): Manchester United fans were more likely to help an injured stranger wearing a Manchester United shirt than one wearing a plain shirt or a rival team's shirt. Shared identity increased helping.
Evaluation: crowd research often uses field studies with good real-life validity, but crowds are hard to study, and it is difficult to control variables.
Levine et al. (2005): Manchester United fans were more likely to help an injured stranger wearing a Manchester United shirt than one wearing a plain shirt or a rival team's shirt. Shared identity increased helping.
Evaluation: crowd research often uses field studies with good real-life validity, but crowds are hard to study, and it is difficult to control variables.
Explain why deindividuation might lead to anti-social behaviour in a riot.
- In a large crowd, people feel anonymous.
- They lose self-awareness and feel less personally responsible.
- So they may do things they would not do alone, such as looting.
Answer: Anonymity in the crowd reduces self-awareness and personal responsibility, so people act in ways they normally would not.
In crowds, deindividuation (anonymity, less self-awareness) can lead to anti-social acts such as riots. But crowds also act pro-socially, as people follow group norms and shared social identity (Johnson and Downing; Levine et al.).
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