Effects of deindividuating situational cues and aggressive models on subjective deindividuation and aggression.

Demonstrated that a subjective state of deindividuation mediates the effect of deindividuating situational cues on aggression displayed by small groups of coacting aggressors. 72 male university students were instructed to administer shocks to another person in what they thought were studies of biofeedback and behavior modification. The deindividuated state was composed of 2 factors, Self-Awareness and Altered Experiencing, both of which had a causal influence on aggressive behavior. These data are interpreted in terms of deindividuation theories that assume that certain input variables reduce self-awareness and concern about social evaluation and thereby weaken the restraints against expressing antisocial behavior. As predicted, compared with a no-model control condition, a high-aggressive model disinhibited overt displays of aggression, whereas a low-aggressive model inhibited aggression among both individuated and deindividuated group members. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of public and private self-awareness on deindividuation and aggression.

Tested the proposition, derived from the authors' (in press) differential self-awareness theory, that only 1 type of antecedent variable traditionally associated with deindividuation (attentional cues) and a single aspect of self-awareness (private) are involved in the deindividuation process. 48 male undergraduates were assigned to groups of 4 and were exposed to factorial combinations of attentional cues (internal vs external focus of attention) and accountability cues (potential accountability to authority figures and victims) and then allowed to aggress against a victim. As predicted, attentional cues affected private but not public self-awareness, whereas accountability cues altered public but not private self-attention. External attentional cues and low accountability cues disinhibited aggression relative to internal attentional cues and high accountability cues, respectively. Exposure to external attentional cues created an internal state of deindividuation, composed of reduced private self-awareness and altered experience, that mediated aggression. Two major types of collective aggression were identified: One category resulted from group members' assessments of the possibility of an authority figure's and the victim's surveillance of their attacks; the other category resulted from the decreased cognitive mediation of behavior evoked by the deindividuation process. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Deindividuation and anger-mediated interracial aggression: Unmasking regressive racism.

Investigated the effects of deindividuation, anger, and race-of-victim on aggression displayed by 96 White male undergraduates. Deindividuating situational cues produced an internal state of deindividuation that mediated aggressive behavior. Deindividuation theories are extended by the finding that the internal state of deindividuation was composed not only of the factors Self-Awareness and Altered Experience, but also Group Cohesiveness, Responsibility, and Time Distortion. As predicted, nonangered Whites were less aggressive toward Black than White victims, but angered Whites were more aggressive toward Blacks than Whites. Interracial behavior was consistent with new, egalitarian norms if anger was not aroused, but regressed to the old, historical pattern of racial discrimination if anger was aroused. This pattern of interracial behavior was interpreted in terms of a new form of racism: regressive racism. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Curvilinear effects of severity of punishment on species-typical aggressive display in Betta splendens..

Three experiments examined the effects of the severity of punishment, defined in terms of intensity/voltage (Exp I), duration (Exp II), and frequency combined with 2 levels of intensity (Exp III), on the aggressive display of Siamese fighting fish. Findings show that display duration was a curvilinear function of punishment severity regardless of whether severity was defined as intensity, duration, or frequency. Relative to nonpunished conditions, moderate levels of punishment increased display duration, whereas strong punishment led to suppression. Increased biting was observed with moderate levels of punishment frequency. Results are discussed in terms of adaptive significance of the organism's reaction to counteraggression. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)