Deindividuation

Deindividuation theory is a social psychological account of the individual in the crowd/group. It would however be very important for us to first define ‘Deindividuation.’ Various definitions have been given for the term ‘Deindividuation,’ here are a few;

 Deindividuation is a process whereby normal constraints on behavior are weakened as people lose their sense of individuality. It typically involves conditions that lessen individual identifiability essentially individuals are not seen or paid attention to as individuals. (Baron & Richardson, 2004)
 It is a situation where anti-normative behavior is established in a group when the individual looses his/her sense of individuality as stated by Festinger and Diener in 1977.
 It is a psychological state of decreased self-evaluation, causing anti-normative and disinhibited behavior. It hinders reflection about the consequences of actions, rendering social norms impotent while increasing suggestibility to random outside influences.

Several causes of deindividuation have also been identified;
 Anonymity
 Large group size
 Arousal
 Decreased self-awareness
 Group cohesiveness
 Diffused responsibility
 Sensory overload
 New/unstructured situations
 Alcohol

Deindividuation is a major theory of group behavior in social psychology because it gives an explanation of collective behavior of violent crowds, football hooligans, cults, etc. According to Alvarez and Bachman (2008), deindividuation refers to individuals who lose their selves and their identity when they are involved in a group. This loss of a personal identity means that individuals are more capable of acting outside of the boundaries of their normal behavior. While being in a group there is a sense of freedom that is felt by the individuals which lets them to do things that they otherwise wouldn’t do if they were alone. we will be using sport especially the game of football as a mirror through which we can view/explain