Does anyone notice this happening in various forums at this site?

Deindividuation is a concept in social psychology that is generally thought of as the losing of self-awareness[1] in groups, although this is a matter of contention (see below).

Philip Zimbardo (1971)[edit]

Now a more widely recognized study since the publication of his book, The Lucifer Effect, the Stanford Prison Experiment is infamous for its blatant display of aggression in deindividuated situations. Zimbardo created a mock prison environment in the basement of Stanford University’s psychology building in which he randomly assigned 24 men to undertake the role of either guard or prisoner. These men were specifically chosen because they had no abnormal personality traits (e.g.: narcissistic, authoritarian, antisocial, etc.) The experiment, originally planned to span over two weeks, ended after only six days because of the sadistic treatment of the prisoners from the guards. Zimbardo attributed this behavior to deindividuation due to immersion within the group and creation of a strong group dynamic.

Then there's the Milgram experiment, etc.

Deindividuation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

These aren't things I'm asking about reporting, I'm just wondering if the PC team is aware of these concepts and if others have seen this here at all.

[sabby]

I have seen mention of this before. Is there a particular concern you have with it skies_?

[Gus1234U]

my particular concern is what it's done to the chats....

[Can't Stop Crying]

yes, i have noticed it...

Originally Posted by sabby

I have seen mention of this before. Is there a particular concern you have with it skies_?

Yea, I asked if the PC team is aware of these group dynamics do that if things got really escalated, they'd know what's going on in the thread and intervene.

[DocJohn]

There's a concept that's also relevant to what you're seeing here in online groups of this nature versus offline groups -- the disinhibition effect. That is, people feel more comfortable expressing themselves in ways they wouldn't ordinarily do so in a face-to-face situation. This can be both good and bad, and sometimes leads to online behavior that a person wouldn't dream of doing in real life.

The community support team is indeed aware of these concepts, and like many other things, help guide our reactions and responses to situations in our community.

Best,
DocJohn

[MoxieDoxie]

Oh I have been the brunt of this effect a few times.

The community support team is indeed aware of these concepts, and like many other things, help guide our reactions and responses to situations in our community.

Thanks for letting me know.

I wasn't thinking of any specific events here but recently was thinking about why I get freaked out by certain scary movies and not others and my reaction to the movie "An American Crime" came to mind...which led to thinking about group dynamics.

****The movie is hugely triggering.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/mo...ewanted=1&_r=0

Based on a true story, this sociopathic woman scapegoated a neighborhood teenage girl, and a multitude of others in the neighborhood, by her lead, systematically tortured and killed this girl. It is known as the most horrific crime in the state.

The sadistic sociopathic woman wasn't as terrifying as the fact that so many other 'average' people allowed it to happen. I guess because it's not as difficult to imagine the disturbed woman doing it because you expect criminals to do such things. The difficulty is understanding why average people went along with it. It's unimaginable and hard to believe this and other related stories.

I still don't understand how people can lose their humanity in a group setting and wonder if there is some form of that happening here at times and what would it be like if it were to escalate? Anyway, it's a relief to hear that everyone here knows about such things. The disinhibition effect is interesting too.