In a crowd, individuals may experience loss of self-awareness and self-restraint due to anonymity and arousal. Which term describes this tendency?

• A. Norm
• B. Groupthink
• C. Culture
• D. Deindividuation

Answer: (D)

Deindividuation occurs when people in a crowd become anonymous and aroused, which reduces self-awareness and self-restraint. With anonymity, individuals feel less personally identifiable and less accountable, so internal checks against impulsive or disinhibited behavior weaken. Arousal further short-circuits careful thought, making them more likely to act in line with the crowd or immediate impulses rather than their usual norms. This explains why someone might engage in actions they wouldn’t when alone—hot emotions and the sense of being just another face in the group override personal inhibitions. This is different from a norm (an expected standard of behavior), groupthink (conformity to avoid conflict in a decision-making group), or culture (shared beliefs and practices of a group), none of which capture the specific drop in self-awareness and restraint due to anonymity and arousal in crowds.