Deindividuation
Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30
CORE DEFINITION
In groups (such as riot crowds, online trolls), individuals lose self-awareness and self-monitoring due to anonymity and diffusion of responsibility, exhibiting antisocial behaviors they would not normally do.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Online survival: Understand why a mild-mannered person can turn into a thug online. Do not reason with a 'deindividuated' group, because at that moment they are not 'people' but 'carriers of emotion'.
Anchor fast decisions
In groups (anonymity, uniforms, large gatherings), individual self-awareness and self-monitoring are weakened, and diffusion of responsibility lowers the threshold for behavioral inhibition, making it easier to release impulses that are normally restrained. Zimbardo's prison experiment and anonymous shock experiments show that deindividuation significantly increases aggression and rule-breaking tendencies.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/3Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deindividuationverified
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