Question If you could be invisible for 24

Question �If you could be invisible for 24 hours with no chance of being caught and held responsible for your actions, what would you do?

Results Winter Prosocial 7/56 38/56 12. 5% 67. 9% Neutral 16/56 Illegal 38/56 30/56 67. 9% 53. 5% Pranks 29/56 Antisocial 28. 6% 51. 8% Theft/goods Theft/Services Aggression Spying

Deindividuation �A social process in which social conditions lead to a change in perception of self and other people such that behavior that is normally restrained and inhibited is “released” in violation of norms and appropriateness - Philip Zimbardo

�Percieved anonymity is a MAJOR contributing factor to deindividuation ◦ Group size can contribute �The individual is lost in the group and the action is perceived as the responsibility of the GROUP �Mobs, rioters, threatening crowds, etc. ◦ Physical anonymity also contributes �When you are hidden or invisible to others deindividuation can result �Internet aggression, uniforms, masks, etc.

�Anonymity increases attention to situational cues and decreases self-consciousness and individuality ◦ Cues may be positive or negative �Name tags, small groups or towns, mirrors, cameras, and other factors that increase selfawareness reduce deindividuation

General Psychology Journal Topic #7 Based on the deindividuation exercise (If you could be invisible… ), and the material presented in lecture and chapter 13 of your textbook discuss how the real or implied presence of other people affects your behavior. Why did so many students give answers that were nonnormative and antisocial? Several of the studies and activities for this unit have startling or even alarming results? Do you think they highlight real concerns and flaws in human nature or something else?