Deindividuation

1. Environmental cues and disinhibited behavior

"Prentice-Dunn and Rogers propose that two types of environmental cues produce deviant behavior. Accountability cues, such as anonymity, make deviant behavior less costly and more rewarding by signaling the likelihood that the individual can get away with it. This increases the probablity that the individual will deliberately choose to engage in this behavior. Attentional cues, such as intense environmental stimulation, reduce (private) self-awareness and trigger a deindividuated state--in which cognitive controls are diminished and the individual acts impulsively." (Brehm & Kassin, 1997)

2. Two routes to disinhibited behavior in groups