Editing Crowd psychology (section)

===Deindividuation theory===
[[Deindividuation]] theory is largely based on the ideas of Gustave Le Bon<ref name=":0" /> and argues that in typical crowd situations, factors such as anonymity, group unity, and arousal can weaken personal controls (e.g. guilt, shame, self-evaluating behavior) by distancing people from their personal identities and reducing their concern for social evaluation.<ref name=Ref.2/><ref name=Ref.1/> This lack of restraint increases individual sensitivity to the environment and lessens rational forethought, which can lead to antisocial behavior.<ref name=Ref.2/><ref name=Ref.1/> More recent theories have stated that deindividuation hinges upon a person being unable, due to situation, to have strong awareness of their self as an object of attention.  This lack of attention frees the individual from the necessity of normal social behavior.<ref name=Ref.2/>

American social psychologist Leon Festinger and colleagues first elaborated the concept of deindividuation in 1952. It was further refined by American psychologist [[Philip Zimbardo]], who detailed why mental input and output became blurred by such factors as anonymity, lack of social constraints, and sensory overload.<ref>Zimbardo, Philip (1969). "The human choice – Individuation, reason and order versus Deindividuation, impulse and chaos". ''Nebraska Symposium on Motivation'', Vol. 17, pp.&nbsp;237–307.</ref> Zimbardo's [[Stanford Prison Experiment]] has been presented as a strong argument for the power of deindividuation,<ref name=Ref.2/> although it was later criticised as unscientific.<ref name = "LeTexier">{{cite journal | url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31380664/ | pmid=31380664 | doi=10.1037/amp0000401 | title=Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment | journal=The American Psychologist | date=October 2019 | volume=74 | issue=7 | pages=823–839 | last1=Le Texier | first1=Thibault | s2cid=199437070 }}</ref> Further experimentation has had mixed results when it comes to aggressive behaviors, and has instead shown that the normative expectations surrounding the situations of deindividuation influence behavior (i.e. if one is deindividuated as a [[Ku Klux Klan|KKK]] member, aggression increases, but if it is as a nurse, aggression does not increase).<ref name=Ref.2/>

A further distinction has been proposed between public and private deindividuation. When private aspects of self are weakened, one becomes more subject to crowd impulses, but not necessarily in a negative way. It is when one no longer attends to the public reaction and judgement of individual behavior that antisocial behavior is elicited.<ref name=Ref.2/> Philip Zimbardo also did not view deindividuation exclusively as a group phenomenon, and applied the concept to suicide, murder, and interpersonal hostility.<ref name=":0" />