Hello and good morning, night, or evening. Hope you are having a wonderful day and are strapped in.
If you read the tags and are wondering what you are about to get yourself into, the topic I want to bring up is how being anonymous affects how we behave in social settings. A hood or mask can be the difference between someone committing a crime and just keeping their thoughts to themselves. But how is it possible for something as simple as a mask, or a bigger crowd, to drastically change our behavior? This sense of empowerment can be due to deindividuation and the lack of accountability to our actions.
Deindividuation in short is the effect anonymity (or secrecy) gives people, allowing them to engage in behaviors they would otherwise choose to normally not do (Gruman et al., 2017, pg. 289). These influenced behaviors can be something as simple as someone being able to dance in front of a huge crowd, to doing crimes like robbery or even assault. Some of the ways we can act deindividuated can be with a mask, being in the dark, or amongst a crowd of people. For example, in 1969, Zimbardo did an experiment where he gave women hoods like the Ku-Klux-Klan’s (wild right!?) and compared to a group without hoods but dawning large name tags, they shocked the confederate, an actor, for twice as long (Zimbardo, 1969). So, case closed, all we must do is ban face coverings to avoid bad behaviors, right? The quick answer is no, longer answer is it is not as simple as just deindividuation but also the accountability someone is held to.
Accountability is defined as the state of being responsible, or liable, for one’s own actions. So, if you danced on a table inside a food court or blasted music in a library with your face showing, it is easy to hold you accountable. We are more likely to avoid such behaviors, but what if someone waived your accountability for you? Taking all the responsibility from you and only holding themselves accountable, what you might get is some of the worst social conduct to be seen and documented.
Marina Abramović, an artist and famous public performer decided to do their next big performance, “Rhythm 0.” Abramovic would stand still for 6 hours allowing the audience to do whatever they wanted to do to her without any accountability, giving them 72 items ranging from safe and extremely dangerous (Graf, 2022). Some of the harmless items were feathers, flowers, a bell, while on the other hand there were knives, razors, and a loaded gun. At first photos were taken, body parts were moved, or water dumped on her head. But as time went on and no one was punished for their actions, the crowd became more daring, cutting her clothes, tying rope around her, cutting her skin, undressing her fully, and even having her hold the gun to her head. Once the time ran out and she started moving, no one could look her in the eyes. Abramović stated that some of the audience even fled the scene once she left her “passive” state. While some of the audience helped and supported her through her performance, even having a fight break out, she still had both physical and mental scars.
In conclusion, the impact of anonymity on human behavior, often referred to as deindividuation, is a complex and interesting phenomenon. It can be influenced by factors such as wearing masks, being in the presence of a large crowd, or engaging in activities under the cover of darkness. Deindividuation can empower individuals to exhibit behaviors they might not otherwise engage in when their identities are readily apparent. As discussed, accountability is an important thing to consider when it comes to lowering crime and antisocial behaviors. Understanding the interplay between these factors is crucial in our exploration of human behavior in social settings.
References:
Graf, S. (2022, June 29). Rhythm 0: A scandalous performance by Marina Abramović. TheCollector. https://www.thecollector.com/rhythm-0-by-marina-abramovic/
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.