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

Abstract

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) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1982 American Psychological Association.