Basking in Reflected Glory - Role of Deindividuation

Role of Deindividuation

Another equally important contributing influence is deindividuation, a psychological state characterized by partial or complete loss of self-awareness, diffused responsibility, and decreased concern about our own behavior resulting in the abandonment of norms, restraints and inhibitions. Deindividuation involves a loss of self-awareness which is essentially the degree to which one’s attention is focused on the self, resulting in comparisons against meaningful standards. When spectators’ become deindividuated, their self-awareness plummets and they cease comparing their behavior against these standards, the consequence being increased responsively to situational forces. Without the comparison process of self-awareness, people’s behavior is more likely to be inconsistent with their attitudes.