(Hard to follow if you don't play World of Warcraft but go to 2:40 to hear how gamers rage)
Lose yourself in the:
-music
-moment
-art
-feeling of it all
-emotion
These are all common phrases that people sometimes use to tell others, "Loosen up a little, stop holding yourself back and just live a little, FEEL ALIVE".
As we are all repressed daily by social, cultural and other institutional standards of how to act, think and feel, it seems important to just sometimes let go of that inhibition.
However, can letting go of that inhibition we use to guide ourselves day in and day out become more than just a "feeling" and become "action"?
Gabriel Tarde (1890) and Gustave Le Bon (1895) certainly do believe so. These 19th century French scholars argue that when people are in a crowd, they can become uncontrollable and mindless, to the point of losing oneself.
Philip Zimbardo (1969) refined this concept and coined it as "deindividuation", a social psychological phenomena that occurs when a person loses their sense of their own individuality in a crowd. In other words, a person may feel or realize that they are just one of dozens or hundreds of others in a crowd of people. When people lose their sense of individuality it makes them feel much more anonymous and this feeling can lead to an increase in impulsive or deviant acts. Literally, it becomes 'losing oneself' to a moment (it can be any length of time) in a crowd and acting in ways that you would never act otherwise if you were not feeling 'anonymous'
Deindividualtion does not necessarily have to be a negative phenomena where we only act 'deviantly' or 'badly', although sometimes it does lead to people flipping over cars, smashing windows and starting fires. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see how that as social beings in a social world we are constantly monitoring our behavior so that it matches correct and orderly social norms. We wait our turn in a line, we do not scream obscenities to random people on the street or lift up women's skirts in public. However, when we let go of these restraints in our behavior, we can suddenly become an entirely 'different' person from the one that is normally cordial and orderly.
One particularly new social environment in which this phenomena is observed is on the internet. Millions of people use the internet every day to search, read and post information. Nonetheless, our identity on the internet becomes deindividuated as our identities and place in the world (Bob Smith, Math teacher at XYZ School in XYZ Town, USA) becomes nothing more than just a username (Boblovesburgers123). Thus, people feel deindividuated in the sea of the masses on the world wide web.
The reduced accountability for our actions and self-awareness become the driving factors behind deindividuation. Personally, I have experienced many moments of deindividuation on the internet through online gaming. By using an avatar, I am able to lose a part of my usual identity and individuality and become an anonymous player on the internet. Therefore, I am less inhibited to act in ways that a part of my usual demeanor. Whereas I would normally never tell someone that they are a complete failure for failing to do a task correctly, on the internet I let other players know when they are not playing to my standards. Do I do this in a nice and cordial, "Keep up the good work, don't worry we'll just try it again!" attitude like I normally do in real world social situations? No! I would say things like, (Excuse my language) "What the fuck! Are you shitting me you fucking twat? L2P or ALT+ F4**"
*L2P : Means 'Learn to Play' (the game)
*When you press Alt + F4 on a Windows computer, it quits whatever program you're using
Using derogatory language to insult other players was something I experienced every day and I am rather certain that most players would never outlandishly insult other people they interacted with in real life in such a way. However, on the internet you lose a part of your individuality and thus that sense of responsibility for your actions is also lost. Therefore, many players become much more hostile online that they would be in real life.
n = 703
(Side Note: However, not all online video games allow such behavior to be carried out without consequences. In fact, much of the social rules and norms that we have in our real lives are also replicated in the virtual, online communities of games such as World of Warcraft. If you're interested in knowing more, check out research from Dr. Nick Yee at www.nickyee.com )
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Le Bon, G. (1895). Psychologie des foules. Paris: Félix Alcan.
Tarde, G. (1890). Les lois de l’imitation. Étude sociologique. Paris: Félix Alcan.
Zimbardo, P. G. (1969). The human choice: Individuation, reason, and order versus deindividuation, impulse, and chaos. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 17, 237–307.
One particularly new social environment in which this phenomena is observed is on the internet. Millions of people use the internet every day to search, read and post information. Nonetheless, our identity on the internet becomes deindividuated as our identities and place in the world (Bob Smith, Math teacher at XYZ School in XYZ Town, USA) becomes nothing more than just a username (Boblovesburgers123). Thus, people feel deindividuated in the sea of the masses on the world wide web.
The reduced accountability for our actions and self-awareness become the driving factors behind deindividuation. Personally, I have experienced many moments of deindividuation on the internet through online gaming. By using an avatar, I am able to lose a part of my usual identity and individuality and become an anonymous player on the internet. Therefore, I am less inhibited to act in ways that a part of my usual demeanor. Whereas I would normally never tell someone that they are a complete failure for failing to do a task correctly, on the internet I let other players know when they are not playing to my standards. Do I do this in a nice and cordial, "Keep up the good work, don't worry we'll just try it again!" attitude like I normally do in real world social situations? No! I would say things like, (Excuse my language) "What the fuck! Are you shitting me you fucking twat? L2P or ALT+ F4**"
*L2P : Means 'Learn to Play' (the game)
*When you press Alt + F4 on a Windows computer, it quits whatever program you're using
Using derogatory language to insult other players was something I experienced every day and I am rather certain that most players would never outlandishly insult other people they interacted with in real life in such a way. However, on the internet you lose a part of your individuality and thus that sense of responsibility for your actions is also lost. Therefore, many players become much more hostile online that they would be in real life.
n = 703
(Side Note: However, not all online video games allow such behavior to be carried out without consequences. In fact, much of the social rules and norms that we have in our real lives are also replicated in the virtual, online communities of games such as World of Warcraft. If you're interested in knowing more, check out research from Dr. Nick Yee at www.nickyee.com )
------
Le Bon, G. (1895). Psychologie des foules. Paris: Félix Alcan.
Tarde, G. (1890). Les lois de l’imitation. Étude sociologique. Paris: Félix Alcan.
Zimbardo, P. G. (1969). The human choice: Individuation, reason, and order versus deindividuation, impulse, and chaos. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 17, 237–307.
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